The Jewish Home
july 18, 2013
14
Job Seekers Still Suffering
LA’s lukewarm employment market means lower salaries and fewer opportunities for many in the Jewish community
While the economy may be showing an uptick, it’s still very much a rough world out there for Jewish job seekers and workers alike, as unemployment and underemployment continue to be rampant in the LA area. Salaries in many “frum” industries like accounting and law have dropped dramatically, and people who lost jobs two years ago are showing their desperation in interviews (which unfortunately hinders their chances of getting hired) or accepting jobs that they are overqualified for or don’t require a degree. “The euphoria is a bit misplaced, especially for people in upper management positions,” says Michael Rosner, International Director of the OU Job Board for the Orthodox Union, referring to news two weeks ago that the stock market jumped because more people found work. He estimates that 75% of the jobs driving the growth were low-end, such as waitressing jobs or fast food joint jobs, which may be good supplemental job, but can’t really feed a family of four. “In my personal view, mid-management jobs are becoming available, much more so than two years ago, but at a real cost,” Rosner says. He’s finding that the salaries being offered are dramatically lower than they were, so someone who got laid off from a job as a mid-manager in a production company, advertising agency, or accounting firm and who was making well into six figures, will now find that job available, but only at $75,000.
get new graduates – who may not be as experienced but are easily trainable and often have more technical skills – for very cheap. “It’s not a great story; it’s kind of sad,” he says. In the Los Angeles Orthodox community, these problems are exacerbated by the high cost of living here, even more so than in New York. Rosner estimates that LA families with two or three kids need to be grossing at least $200,000 to afford sending kids to yeshiva schools.
Do they accept the lower salary?
Which industries are strong and hiring in Los Angeles? Rosner says he does see an uptick in the entertainment industry, and companies like Disney and Warner Brothers are looking for analysts, accountants and HR reps. HR in general is strong in LA, as well as high tech, though that industry is still stronger in New York. Graphic design is a good option to consider if you’re artistic, since the multitude of advertising agencies here are always looking for design talent. IT never fell as an industry, but “you have to be really with IT,” he says. For those at the start of choosing a career, he recommends medical billing, web graphics, app development, and for those who haven’t gone to college, alarm wiring for public institutions, which is a niche but solid field that doesn’t require licensing and has a short training program, and allows you
“Unfortunately, after being unemployed for over one or two or even four years, there’s no other choice,” he says. At the same time, it’s a catch 22, because at that salary it’s not possible to make a living or support a family, plus they will no longer qualify for benefit programs. So either they need to take a second job or their spouse has to go on the job market, they may have to sell their house and move to a smaller house, and they may start second-guessing their tuition payments. Businesses can offer these lower salaries because employers now are essentially in the driver’s seat when it comes to hiring, Rosner says. Whereas three or four years ago you would have ten people applying for a job, today there are 100. And employers can also
And are there accounting jobs for $200,000? “The short and quick answer is ‘no,’” he says. For experienced lawyers with a clientele, it’s possible to find six-figure salaries, but for a three-year lawyer looking to make a job change, salaries are in the area of $75,000 and $95,000. “Wall Street and banking jobs may pick up, but it will never again be where a Harvard grad can get a job in a financial firm starting at $175,000,” he says. “Those days are gone. $75,00 or $100,000, that’s good. And that’s the problem.” He finds that in LA, interestingly enough, there are fewer unemployed people because they can’t last – it’s too expensive to stay here without a job. Instead, underemployment is the big thorn in the side for Angelenos. Some Industries Still Strong
to either work for someone else or start your own business. Marguerite Womack, Director of Workforce Development at Jewish Vocational Services of LA (www.jvsla. org), a nonsectarian agency that helps people overcome barriers to employment in order to find stable jobs, said that she’s found accounting jobs to be available but people may have to travel longer distances. In addition she sees technology as continuing to be strong, with certain jobs stronger than others. Web development isn’t as strong, since there are so many free programs that allow people to build their own websites, plus while social media manager was once considered to be a great position, that role has been folded into other jobs.
Healthcare continues to grow, not in nursing but in allied health, such as in rad tech (radiologic technology) and pharmacy tech. “We’re seeing growth and hiring there and that’s been hopeful – we’ve gotten people to do retraining,” she says.
As for lawyers, they may have to broaden their expertise to another area of law or take paralegal or freelance and pro bono work until a solid position opens up. Retraining is Vital Retraining or adding skills to your portfolio is a great way to change your luck in the job market or make you more suitable for a pay raise or promotion. While some industries are simply an unfortunate place to be and workers in those fields should consider a complete retraining, most of the time you just need to upgrade your skills or get an industry-recognized certification to enhance your prospects, says Womack. For example, getting a project management certification and showcasing that on your resume can be very attractive to employers. The OU Job Board offers many online courses in skills like Excel, web design, app design, CS5, and QuickBooks. If a typical administrative assistant learns how to do Photoshop, or goes the extra mile and learns QuickBooks, Rosner’s found that they can keep their job and get a bump up in salary. On the flip side, “A typical executive who loses his job can’t write an Excel spreadsheet – and they’re not hireable,” he says.
By Rachel Wizenfeld
In a recent survey of people who took OU retraining courses, 48% agreed that these skills enhancements had increased their job opportunities. “We’re very happy about that and that’s the way to go,” he says. “If someone is ten years at a company and in a dead end and can’t move up from that low management position, or if they’re an administrative assistant, add skills and those skills will help you move up.” He also advises that people who are still unemployed should volunteer at a shul, JCC or other organization so there’s no gap at all on their resume. And if they are in their 20’s or 30’s, they should take an internship at a company that matches what they want to do. “Paid or not, just take it for a couple months,” he says. “It gets on your resume, fills that gap, and enhances what the person is doing.” Womack also reiterates that if people keep themselves busy through volunteering with a school, synagogue or organization (not going to a food bank and bagging groceries, but really using their professional skills), it helps keep skills fresh, gives you a new reference and fills out your resume. For example, an accountant could help his or her synagogue with its bookkeeping, or someone in development or communications could help with a fundraising initiative. The Long-Term Effects of Unemployment Vivian Sauer, Chief Program Officer at Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles (www.jfsla.org) which helps 12,000 individuals a month (30% of them Jewish) with comprehensive social services, says that her agency is seeing the longer-term effects of the downturned economy. Two or three years ago, she says that many people in the community had lost jobs and lost their homes, and “the effects of that are very long-lasting... people who lost their homes might not have been able to get back into their homes; they may have found jobs but the jobs are not the same. There’s a lot of underemployment.” Those having the hardest time are people in their 50’s and 60’s who lost jobs, as it’s very difficult for people in that age group to resume employment. Even for people who initially lost jobs but were rehired, many of them burned through savings, and from a