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Tight job market is good for felons, people with disabilities and others who are hard to employ. But can it last?
At 49, Marshall May Jr. could not remember whether he had ever taken his mom out for a meal.
Certainly not in the last 20 years when he was in and out of prison, serving seven separate terms for crimes like stealing to support his drug habit. He last held a regular job in 1994, as a front desk clerk in a Century City hotel.
But this spring May was hired as a part-time street sweeper by Chrysalis, a nonprofit serving the homeless, and that helped him land full-time work as a healthcare peer specialist for which he is now getting trained. He still does not have a place of his own, but with a job in hand, May figures he at least has a shot now. After getting back on his feet, he took his 83-year-old mom to dinner on Mother's Day.
"It was an incredible feeling," he said. "I spent a lot of time at the table crying."
As the nation enters its ninth year of economic expansion next month, the low unemployment and tightening labor market have begun to open doors for people like May, who not long ago had all but given up any hopes of returning to the workplace.
Thus far the improvement for the hard-to-employ has been relatively small and spotty, confined mostly to places with exceedingly low unemployment, like in the Midwest and states like Colorado, where the 2.3% jobless rate is the country's lowest. The nationwide unemployment figure was 4.3% in May, a 16-year low.
During the Great Recession and immediate aftermath, joblessness surged and reached a high of 10%. Millions of people in the prime of their work lives, mostly men, lost jobs in manufacturing, construction and other industries. Since then some have returned to the labor market, but many remain unaccounted for, as if they had vanished from the economy. An opioid epidemic in rural America and swelling numbers getting incarcerated or on government disability have added to the startling decline in employment levels.
But if decent job growth keeps up as most economists expect, groups with historically high unemployment — people with criminal records, disabilities, low skills or little education -- could make some real gains, as they did in the late 1990s.
Already, the jobless rate for adults with less than a high school diploma is down to 6.1%, less than half of the level five years ago and close to a quarter-century low of 5.8%, according to government data. For workers with just a high school education, unemployment most recently was 4.7%, compared with an all-time low of 3.2% in November 1999. These two groups represent about one-third of America's workforce of 160 million.
The labor shortage is pronounced in booming metros like Austin, Texas. Businesses are so desperate for workers there that they recently teamed up with community colleges, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to train people for jobs such as light industrial work, nursing assistants, information technology support and office clerical help.
"We have employers more open to hiring people with criminal backgrounds than we've ever seen before," said Traci Berry, a senior vice president at Goodwill Central Texas, part of the nationwide network of nonprofit community job-training and placement services.
Even in California where unemployment statewide is typically higher than the national average, the latest jobless rate of 4.7% in May -- the lowest since November 2000 — has begun to benefit job developers like Chrysalis. Last year it secured positions for 2,350 homeless, ex-offenders and other long-term unemployed, up 17% from 2013 and double the number placed into jobs in 2008. Chrysalis' support from private donors also is sharply higher.
"It's great that they're finding success now. It's great that employers are more open to bringing them on," says Chrysalis' chief executive, Mark Loranger. "But I do wonder, have they really changed their attitudes on hiring people with backgrounds? … When the economy turns on our clients, will things go back to being extraordinarily difficult?"
History is not too encouraging. Even during the record-long expansion of the 1990s, when unemployment was lower, productivity higher and wage growth stronger than the current growth period, hopes that rose toward the end of the decade were dashed as the economy tipped into recession in early 2001 with the tech-stock bust and later, the effects from 9/11.
Georgetown University economist Harry Holzer is less optimistic today than at the turn of the last century. More workers have multiple barriers to reentry, such as dependence on drugs and government disability programs, he said. And the labor market is not red hot as it was back then, when unemployment was below 4% during much of 2000.
"A lot of employers were so desperate for bodies that anyone who was marginally employable, they were willing to look at," said Holzer, who was chief economist in the Clinton administration's Labor Department in 1999.
More recently, Holzer and fellow researchers have advocated a range of policy steps, including changes in disability programs and expanded wage subsidies, to help jobless men get back to work.
How long the current job gains will last for those at the bottom is anybody's guess. Employers like Norm Sedelbauer, a manufacturer of electronic locks in Grand Rapids, Mich., isn't making any promises. Recently he hired Allen Helmer, 48, who is blind in one eye and has been mostly unemployed since he was laid off from a book-binding company in 2007.
Helmer says he hopes he can stay on at Bauer Products for awhile. He makes $10 an hour, barely enough to pay for groceries and the mortgage on a house his parents once owned. "I have to choose between eating and having fun," he said. At work, Helmer stands from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. assembling and jiggering locks with his muscular hands, but said he feels good at the end of the day when he takes the bus back home.
"I like working with my hands, I like putting things together," he said. "It doesn't pay extremely well, but it's well worth it."
The jobless rate for workers with disabilities reached nearly 17% in the summer of 2011 but has since dropped to 9.5%.
Helmer got his job at Bauer through Goodwill in western Michigan, but many job developers worry about cuts in public dollars to help people reenter the labor market. President Trump's budget has proposed substantial reductions, for example, in job-training funds that support efforts by outfits like Goodwill, although some of that federal money would be diverted to enhance apprenticeship programs.
"Now we ride the economic waves again, but the funding is not there today," said Kathy Crosby, a 38-year veteran of Goodwill.
Even so, Crosby and other experts are hopeful especially for those coming out of prison. Budget-conscious states and counties are increasingly looking at early-release programs and tying them to jobs, figuring that helping them find work will make it much less likely that they will return to prison.
Maine, for example, released a small number of inmates with nonviolent offenses to fill job openings that swell in the summer tourism season. Maine's unemployment is 3.2%.
In many parts of the country a worsening labor shortage in construction could open up job pathways for men with records. Employer attitudes toward hiring ex-offenders also seem to have softened somewhat as a growing number of states and cities have sought to remove employment barriers for former prisoners since the Great Recession.
Isaac Vallejo, 53, used to operate his own auto body shop in Austin. He lost the business when he went to prison several years ago for illegal possession of a firearm. Vallejo says he had carried it because he often had a lot of cash on him. It was his second felony offense and he was sentenced to three years.
After his release about two years ago, Vallejo bounced around in halfway houses, and then with help from Goodwill picked himself up. Last year he was hired at a paint and body shop, not far from where Vallejo had his shop. He makes $18 an hour now, and he is going to school two nights a week at a local community college for a certificate in auto refurbishing technology.
"I'm proof that it does work," he said.
Eight home Siena basketball games will air this season on WNYA (My-51), which is available to Capital Region subscribers of Spectrum on Ch. 4 and of DirecTV on Ch. 51.
That’s double the number of games the station carried last season.
Saturday, Dec. 29: Cal Poly, 2 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 5: Canisius, 7 p.m.
Monday, ?Jan. 14: Monmouth, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 26: Manhattan, 7 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 4: Fairfield?, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 17: Quinnipiac, 2 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 19: St. Peter’s?, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 24: Marist, 2 p.m.
Nancy Shaw of Ann Arbor will be the special guest at Seedlings’ open house 5-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29.
The author of the popular children’s book “Sheep in a Jeep” will be the special guest at Seedlings’ open house 5-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29.
Nancy Shaw of Ann Arbor will read and autograph copies of her books, which also include “Sheep Out to Eat,” “Sheep on a Ship,” “Sheep Go to Sleep,” “Sheep in a Shop” and “Sheep Trick or Treat.” The books will be available for sale at the open house, both with and without braille.
Shaw’s aunt, Lorma Gardner, who died in 2003, worked as a volunteer braillist, transcribing books for the Library of Congress. Shaw commends Seedlings for making children’s books accessible to those who are blind. “I love the idea of getting stories out to everybody,” she said.
Besides meeting Shaw, attendees will be able to tour Seedlings’ facility and watch as staff members and volunteers make braille books. Refreshments will be available.
Seedlings is located in the MetroPlex Office Complex, 14151 Farmington Road, Livonia. For more information, call 734-427-8552, go to www.seedlings.org or contact Karen Smith at Seedlink7@ameritech.net.
The apartments are designed to meet even the most demanding requirements.
What is success? The answer is a dozen definitions and interpretations. However, when you ask yourself, where in Bratislava can you find housing built for the needs of successful people, the answer is clear - Gansberg Koliba.
What do successful people desire?
Clear architecture, high-quality materials used in a residential building or an attractive location are among the frequent, but not the only, requirements of clients who know what they want. Those who want the best of the best desire uniqueness, even more than superlatives. Housing that’s perfectly compatible with their own lifestyle. A kind which will "breathe" with them.
The Gansberg Koliba is the first residential project in the Slovak environment which took the need for uniqueness into account in the apartment typology itself. It goes hand-in-hand with the current world-wide trend of tailor-made solutions and the attraction of future inhabitants to spaces soaked with individualisation.
First ask yourself – what in life stimulates and fulfils you the most. As soon as you name your comfort zone you’ll know what kind of apartment to look for in Gansberg.
Does it suit you to live in the heart of a bustling capital city, but when you come home do you want to leave all stress and excitement behind you, so that you can immerse yourself in silence? The QUIET apartment will give you exactly that - the possibility to uninhibitedly draw energy and inspiration in the comfortable peacefulness of your own home.
Do you enjoy 21st century achievements, but you’re afraid of alienation from nature? With the GARDEN apartment you’ll never be far from it. You can enjoy the home-grown gifts of the land in your town garden and once the barbecue season starts, your home will become a "hot spot" for famed garden parties.
Do you like it when you can see things from above? It’s exactly a change of perspective that opens up new horizons. In the CITY VIEW apartment your horizons will be expanded with every glance from the window or spacious terrace. Enjoy the imposing view of Bratislava and you can scheme big business plans or plan an adventure book over a glass of your favourite tipple. Your limit? There are none!
Do you live the life you dreamed of and do you belong to the lucky ones who can say that they lack nothing at all? If this is the case, you’ll want to settle on a spot with a seal of premium quality. The PREMIUM apartment represents the highest category of housing and the materialisation of success in its most concentrated form. No compromises, no setbacks, nothing less than perfection in every aspect.
I almost don’t like to talk about “bloggers,” per se, anymore as most of those creating good content these days are much more than bloggers; they’re social media content creators with active profiles on the major sites and on the less popular but just as important platforms in their own niches.
So, among these people in the business of content creation, quite often multi-media, there exists a rather large, and from a marketing standpoint, important niche of Foodies. I like foodies. I am a foodie … as in small “f” … I like food … but am hardly an expert. But Foodies with a capital “F” frequently are. They sport degrees and certificates. They operate restaurants and catering services. These use ingredients I keep forgetting how you spell.
As a marketer to moms, though, I am much more interested in “Foodie Moms” or “Recipe bloggers” or mom bloggers who write about food. There are a lot of them, like Full Plate and Eating on a Dime and My Judy the Foodie. They make me hungry.
But they also make me want to try their recipes, something I quite frequently can’t even begin to contemplate when reading complicated recipes posted by experts. I don’t have the time ... or the ingredients … or the equipment.
For many consumer brands, these Foodie Moms are right in the sweet spot. They use common foodstuffs one can find in the local supermarket … with perhaps an occasional field trip to an ethnic market or gourmet store. They make dishes that are replicable with a toddler hanging on your leg and homework help to provide. They speak to me as an equal … even though I’m not, and share their spills and mishaps.
As a brand marketer, I’ve enjoyed partnering with these entrepreneurs. I know they speak to my target market in a way which, as a brand, I cannot. They know I am happy to provide opportunities for them to grow their business, with back-links and visibility hard for them to achieve on their own.
Yes, I advise my clients to work with celebrity chefs and restaurateurs … but I encourage a healthy helping of Foodie moms to round out the meal.
2 comments about "There Are Foodies ...Then There Are Foodie Moms ".
Michael Robleto from Allrecipes.com, September 19, 2012 at 5:32 p.m.
I agree, a lot of the celeb chef type sites make unrealistic recipes. People in a rush, people that don't have ready access to foie gras or martian eggplant just get intimidated by that style.
Indy food bloggers and Allrecipes (nice plug ha ha) are way more attainable and do a great job of bringing new people into the kitchen.
Kudos on highlighting the food sites for us.
shari brooks from My Judy the Foodie, September 20, 2012 at 5:28 p.m.
thanks for the shout out!! appreciate it..
There is a wide spread view that targeted investment and implementation of information technology (IT) can help improve health system efficiency and effectiveness for patients, medical professionals, and related service providers. Yet the adoption of new approaches to facilitate quality-driven patient care, such as electronic health records (EHRs), has been slower than initially expected. Although progress is being made, there are still cultural, legal, and technical barriers that prevent full optimization of IT applications throughout the U.S. healthcare community. Plan to attend this half-day program, which will focus on the very practical and actionable steps needed to help transform the national healthcare infrastructure through IT. Learn about the thoughtful injection of technical innovation into existing information architectures, and explore innovative IT programs that are being funded to stimulate immediate and measurable health impact on a national scale. This is your opportunity to hear from subject matter experts who will discuss a bold vision for health IT that will lead to better patient care across the nation-- characterized by the secure collection, storage, and sharing of accurate health information. Attendees will hear from seasoned professionals serving the federal and state health community and learn how they are working individually and collectively to foster more efficient national systems that are designed to reduce administrative costs, enable broader access to quality care, and establish a trusted foundation for 21st century national healthcare. Register today to update your understanding on the role of IT in helping to: • Influence better medical decisions with complete information, when and where needed • Improve public health initiatives and response with more timely disease identification • Ensure patient privacy and more reliable clinical record-keeping • Deter false medical claims and strengthen fraud detection across the healthcare spectrum • Accelerate the efficiency and effectiveness of health systems across the nation Join this critically-important national dialogue and learn how your organization can leverage the power of IT and innovation to modernize your healthcare systems and processes. Mark your calendar for April 12th and register today. We look forward to meeting you.
Each white, oval-shaped, biconvex film-coated tablet, engraved "APO" on one side and "IRB 75" on the other side contains irbesartan 75 mg. Nonmedicinal ingredients: anhydrous dibasic calcium phosphate, crospovidone, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, and titanium dioxide.
Each white, oval-shaped, biconvex film-coated tablet, engraved "APO" on one side and "IRB 150" on the other side contains irbesartan 150 mg. Nonmedicinal ingredients: anhydrous dibasic calcium phosphate, crospovidone, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, and titanium dioxide.
Each white, oval-shaped, biconvex film-coated tablet, engraved "APO" on one side and "IRB 300" on the other side contains irbesartan 300 mg. Nonmedicinal ingredients: anhydrous dibasic calcium phosphate, crospovidone, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, and titanium dioxide.
PanARMENIAN.Net - Arsenal boss Unai Emery is ready to unleash Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Spanish player Denis Suarez on Huddersfield after admitting only three points will do, The Sun says.
The Arsenal boss landed the Barcelona midfielder on loan last month and saw him make his debut off the bench in the heavy defeat against Manchester City.
And Emery reckons his new man, 25, is settling in well, with Mkhitaryan providing another boost by returning to fitness ahead of Saturday, February 9's clash after six weeks out.
Asked if Suarez would start, he said: "The first day last week he was adapting to our style and also in the 25 minutes he played against Manchester City.
"From the first day with us, he was performing well but this week he worked with our coaches.
"Today he is working with different adaptation and better than last week. I hope he will continue, he is improving every day with us.
"Then I hope he can show in the next matches how he can help us better than in the first match against Manchester City.
"Mkhitaryan played 45 minutes on Monday with the Under-23s. Today, Aubameyang is sick but I think he's okay for Saturday.
"Laurent Koscielny was sick but today he is training well. I think the other players are well and will be OK for Saturday."
From his shop/studio in Warsaw, Skjold has been making extraordinary, handmade bass guitars for many years under the name Skjold Design Guitars LLC.
WARSAW – He uses words like burpy, sparkly and catacombed. And phrases like “One man’s ‘mud’ is another man’s ‘thump.’” Who is this guy? And what’s he talking about?
Well, he’s Pete Skjold (pronounced “Shold”), and he’s talking about bass guitars – something he knows a great deal about.
From his shop/studio in Warsaw, he’s been making extraordinary, handmade bass guitars for many years under the name Skjold Design Guitars LLC.
“It’s something I know really well after three decades of playing them,” he explained.
Skjold, now 49, grew up in Southern California. When he was 8, the family we moved up the coast to Atascadero, now home to some of the best vineyards in California. Colorado followed, then New Hampshire. He moved to Ohio in 1988.
All of Skjold’s designs stem from a bass guitar he designed in 1992. He’d already been a professional bassist for two years and that, he felt, gave him the inside perspective on what bassists want. He started building complete instruments in 1996. And in 2003, he went full time in the business.
Chadwick, a fellow musician, was there when Skjold started to build bass guitars in 1996.
Skjold Design Guitars LLC is located at 36728 U.S. Hwy. 36 in Warsaw. For more information, call 740-824-3598 or log on www.skjolddesign.com.
Despite all the advice suggesting that waiting can be smart, there are times when claiming your Social Security as early as possible is the right move.
Most of the advice that you read concerning Social Security advises that you consider waiting as long as you can before taking your benefits. Yet for some people, claiming at the earliest available age of 62 is actually the best thing they can do. Below, we'll run through three scenarios in which it's smart to take your benefits at 62.
Scenario 1: When you want to wait to take larger survivor benefits.
If your spouse has passed away, then you have the right to claim either your own retirement benefits based on your work history or survivor benefits based on your deceased spouse's work history. Even after recent law changes, you still have the right to choose to apply for one set of benefits while leaving the other untouched.
If your own retirement benefit is relatively small compared to the survivor benefit you're entitled to receive, then it often makes sense to collect your own retirement benefit first and later switch to your survivor benefit. That way, you'll avoid the reduction in the survivor benefit that would result if you claimed it early, but you can still collect at least some Social Security benefits because of your own work history.
Scenario 2: If a public pension will reduce or eliminate your Social Security later.
If you are entitled to a pension because of service as a public employee, two provisions can adversely affect your Social Security benefits. The Government Pension Offset can reduce spousal benefits you're entitled to receive if you worked at a job that didn't pay into the Social Security system through payroll taxes, cutting your benefits by as much as two-thirds of what you receive from your pension. The Windfall Elimination Provision does something similar with your own Social Security benefits, applying if you worked part of your career as a private employee paying Social Security payroll taxes but also worked as a public employee long enough to earn a pension.
If you know that your pension will eat up all of your Social Security benefits once you start receiving it, then claiming Social Security at 62 before your pension kicks in could be the only time you get benefits. As a result, it makes sense to get something rather than nothing -- no matter how small the something might be.