These Trying Times : Job Security Evaporates as Economic Ripple Effect Hits Home
Until the turnaround comes, however, the South Bay will continue to feel the recession in several areas:
Job Market
Looking for a job during the economic slowdown currently plaguing the South Bay is a little like looking for a parking spot on a summer day along the beach: fierce competition for the few openings that exist.
That means getting the extra edge--whether it’s a resume with pizazz or a job placement counselor with connections.
“We do a pretty steady business, but in the last several months I’ve been especially busy,” said Margaret Dolphin, who types resumes at A-1 Resume Service in Redondo Beach.
Nick Stamatelatos, owner of the Temporary Job Mart in Torrance, said he has no problem attracting job applicants from the large pool of laid-off workers. But hiring freezes at many companies are making it difficult for him to come up with positions.
“The applicants are outnumbering the jobs out there by a 2-1 ratio,” Stamatelatos said.
Business at his small temporary agency has been dragging since August, but Stamatelatos has noticed a small upswing in the past month.
Judith Sommerstein, a Torrance career counselor, said the most frequent advice she gives is to remain flexible so a layoff will only be a temporary obstacle.
“The key is to be able to take your skills and go into other areas,” she said. “It’s the person that has tunnel vision in one field that is going to be in trouble.”
Cautioning that trends can change quickly, she cites the following as strong career choices in the South Bay: health care, paralegal work, geriatrics, fund raising and sales. Manufacturing jobs, on the other hand, are less secure.
Those looking for jobs, however, say it’s not that easy to switch to a new field.
Kari Kersheck, 23, an El Camino College business major from Redondo Beach, sat glumly on a sofa at a recent on-campus job fair. In search of a receptionist position, she estimated that she had talked to 20 firms without receiving any clear signs of a match.
She has worked as a child care worker and a waitress. Ideally, she would like to be a receptionist for a well-respected company with good benefits. But she’s been thinking about alternatives since last year.
“If worst comes to worst,” she said, “there’s always the Army. . . . The Army would pay my rent.”
Times staff writers Gerald Faris, Shawn Hubler, Deborah Schoch and Tim Waters contributed to this story.
Employment
Unemployment rates have shot up all over the South Bay in the past two years, but only in one city--Inglewood--does it exceed the countywide 7.4% rate. In Carson and Lawndale, however, the rates are at 7% or more. Officials say the hardest-hit cities feel the impacts of aerospace layoffs, cutbacks at a number of area manufacturing plants and cuts in businesses that served those industries. The figures compare February, 1989, and February, 1991.
City Employed Unemployed Rate 89/91 89/91 89/91 Avalon N/A N/A N/A Carson 42,843/44,631 1,886/3,372 4.2/7.0 El Segundo 9,249/9,635 149/267 1.6/2.7 Gardena 27,030/28,158 851/1,522 3.1/5.1 Hawthorne 33,699/35,105 1,286/2,299 3.7/6.1 Hermosa Beach 14,260/14,855 454/812 3.1/5.2 Inglewood 50,464/52,570 2,627/4,699 4.9/8.2 Lawndale 13,179/13,729 608/1,088 4.4/7.3 Lomita 11,177/11,644 323/586 2.9/4.8 Manhattan Beach 22,210/23,137 499/893 2.2/3.7 P.V. Estates N/A N/A N/A Rancho P.V. 21,089/ 21,969 386/691 1.8/3.0 Redondo Beach 39,188/40,824 1,180/2,110 2.9/4.9 Rolling Hills N/A N/A N/A R.H. Estates N/A N/A N/A Torrance 81,237/84,628 2,103/3,761 2.5/4.3 S. BAY 365,625/380,885 12,352/22,100 3.2/5.5 COUNTY 3,982,770/4,149,000 183,949/329,000 4.4/7.4
Source: California Employment Development Department, Employment Data and Research Division
