20 unemployed vie for every one NYC position

No recovery here.

While economists say the Great Recession has ended and numbers out of Washington say the economy is growing at a robust pace, the local jobs picture remains bleak — with just 21,500 city jobs in the state Labor Department’s Jobs Bank for the 425,000 unemployed to fight over.

That works out to 20 people vying for every position.

“Our Jobs Bank is real low right now, mainly because the companies that are traditionally dependable job outlets, like retailers, are not there during this recession,” Henry Silverman, the manager of the Labor Dept.’s Brooklyn office, the busiest in the state, said in an interview last week.

Silverman said that while Labor worked hard and successfully added about 8,000 jobs to the Jobs Bank over the past year, the number of unemployed soared at the same rate, leaving job seekers facing the same long odds.

And Silverman said he doesn’t see the situation getting any better for the rest of the year.

Michael Graham, 28, who has worked in finance for 5½ years, said last week outside the employment office on 125th Street that his job search is frustrating because there are so few jobs available.

“No jobs are streamlined through this place,” said the Harlem father of a one-year-old. “It’s a nightmare in there. It’s sad. The Department of Labor didn’t provide me with anything beneficial. If you are in dire need of a job you may as well stick to Hotjobs.com.”

Out of work for several months, Graham found a job on his own — and claims that instead of getting callbacks from Labor, he was getting them from a temp agency.

While it may not help Graham and others, Labor does feel their pain.

“The staff is frustrated that there is not a lot to offer,” Silverman noted.

Donald Giavanni, with a Masters Degree on his resumé, was looking for a job last week.

The 43-year-old, who has worked in the legal-services sector, is frustrated, too — particularly with the lack of job offerings for those with college or advanced degrees.

“This place is good for people with a basic education,” said the father of two adult daughters. “It’s very awful that my daughter just graduated from college and she has a job before I do. She works in a hospital,” he said, laughing and shaking his head.

The Big Apple’s unemployment rate jumped to 10.6 percent in December, or 425,000 people, the latest figures available, from 10 percent the previous month and 7 percent a year earlier. In the past 12 months, 145,000 city residents have lost their jobs.

And the persistence of the stubbornly sluggish economy — the recession officially started in December, 2007 — combined with an expected ongoing bleak jobs picture, is bad news for thousands of New Yorkers. Unless Congress acts soon, roughly 51,000 jobless city residents will see their benefits run out on Mar. 28, the Labor Dept. said.

Across the state, 356,197 are expected to lose their benefits by June, according to the National Employment Law Project.

Adding to the gloomy outlook is the mostly sour mindset of small businesses here and across the country. A January optimism index poll, released earlier this month, resulted in a score of 89.3 — up from last January’s 84.1 score but below the 91.8 from two years ago.

“Optimism has clearly stalled in spite of the improvements in the economy in the second half of 2009. Small business owners entered 2010 the same way they left 2009 — depressed,” according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

Mike Elmendorf, the New York State director for NFIB, told The Post that “the number of people who we personally know that have ceased doing business is really pretty jarring. A lack of credit is not the main reason why small business is not creating jobs and expanding — it is a lack of sales, and a bad economy.”

Hit by increased unemployment, many states are also hiking unemployment-insurance rates charged to businesses.

In New York, unemployment-insurance rates are expected to grow by 11 percent this year, putting a further crimp in plans by small business to add to their payroll.

Number of jobs in state Labor Dept.’s Jobs Bank: 21,500*

With Ebony S. Clark
and
John
Aidan Byrne