Up to 40,000 Out of Work After Unrest, Analysts Say : Unemployment: Many had low-paying positions and little savings. About 10,000 jobs may be gone forever.

By STUART SILVERSTEIN and TAMMERLIN DRUMMOND

May 6, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Haydee Pinate sat stiffly in a back room at the state employment office at 15th Street and Broadway, wondering aloud how she would manage to feed her three children. Pinate, a 43-year-old single mother, lost her $5-an-hour job as a meatpacker when the market where she worked burned to the ground during the Los Angeles riots.

“I have no savings--nothing,” she said in Spanish, her arms outstretched. “All I have are my hands.”

Pinate was one of the estimated 20,000 to 40,000 people out of work Tuesday as a result of the fires and looting that have closed droves of businesses, particularly stores, in the city. Although many of the unemployed are expected to return to work in coming days and weeks as damaged businesses rebuild and reopen, “at least 10,000 jobs are at long-term risk,” said Jack Kyser, director of research for the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County.

Making matters worse is that most of those affected “are not people who are likely to get great opportunities for benefits, retraining or access to other jobs,” said Goetz Wolff, a labor market analyst and former chief economist for Los Angeles County.

“These people were marginally employed to begin with,” added Wolff, noting the low wages commonly paid in retailing. “You’re pushing people over the edge.”

However low the pay in some cases, retailing has been one of the few sources of employment in much of hard-hit South Los Angeles, and store closings there will make the severe unemployment even worse. Although no government agency tracks unemployment in South Los Angeles or any other section of the city, the area’s jobless rate is believed to be far worse than the high 9% level recorded for all of Los Angeles County in March.

The California Employment Development Department said staff members at the agency’s offices near the heart of the destruction are prepared to work six-day weeks, if necessary, to handle claims from the expected onslaught of laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits. More than 100 people left jobless due to riot damage showed up at the downtown EDD office on Broadway within three hours after its doors reopened Monday morning.

“There are so many of them that we try to get them in one big group, do our spiel and get them through as soon as possible. It’s the same scenario, over and over. It’s really sad,” said Carlos Ramirez, an EDD interviewer, shaking his head.

One of the newly unemployed who showed up at the EDD office was 34-year-old Sung Park, who had been the manager of the Avalon Food Center at 7207 S. Avalon St., an early victim of the violence.

“There are about 10 of us out of work but I think the owner plans to rebuild and will take some of us back,” said Park, who has a wife and a 7-year-old son.

Still, there’s no telling when that will be. Until he can find another job, Park said, his family will have to squeeze by on his wife’s income as a waitress.

Another displaced worker, Richard Noriega, expressed hope that he will be able to return to his job at the fire-damaged Fedco store at 3535 S. La Cienega Ave. when it reopens. For its part, the company says it hopes to reopen the store and bring back all of its nearly 700 employees in two to three weeks.

For now, though, Noriega has child support to pay, along with medical expenses and phone and electric bills. So, he got in line at the EDD office, waiting to apply for the $230 a week that he is eligible to receive in unemployment assistance.

“I guess, after this, I’ll look in the want ads for a job,” said Noriega, 37, who has worked at Fedco for 19 years.

Although many people put out of work are expected to slip through government assistance “safety nets,” authorities said some extra aid would be available. Officials said some who ordinarily would not qualify for unemployment insurance--including self-employed workers and others unable to reach work because of the fires--would be eligible for federal disaster unemployment assistance.

Bill Butler, disaster services program manager for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, said his agency is looking into whether “disaster food stamps” can be made available, too.

At the same time, the county’s overburdened welfare system--which already provides aid to one of seven county residents--could find itself under further strain.

Private food banks, meanwhile, are busy. “A lot of people who came by said they had lost their jobs in the riots,” said Hubert Cowart, 52, a retiree who has been giving away food for the last few days. “We’re getting all kinds of people.”

Many of the permanent job losses are likely to come at damaged mom-and-pop shops that lack the money to restock their shelves and rebuild, said Wilfred L. Marshall, director of business and economic development for Mayor Tom Bradley’s office. Other small businesses may simply choose to reopen elsewhere.

Most of the retail chains in areas hit hardest by the rioting say they have tried to transfer employees from their closed operations to nearby stores remaining open. Still, many major chains acknowledge that a considerable number of employees have been laid off at least for a couple of weeks, and in some cases, permanently.

Fedco is optimistic that business will return to normal at its La Cienega store when it reopens, maybe late this month, said Michael Gantes, a company vice president. But, he acknowledged, there is a chance that economic damage to the neighborhood could mean fewer customers and, if so, possibly staff cuts later on.

Gas station operators and employees suffered heavy losses. Judy Roberson, legislative coordinator for the Southern California Service Station Assn., estimated that 70 gas stations were burned down or so heavily damaged that they have been closed--eliminating, at least temporarily, about 700 jobs.

She added that many of the service stations are staffed by members of the owner’s family who are not officially on the payroll--and who, consequently, cannot get unemployment benefits. “A lot of people are not only out of jobs, but they have nothing else. . . . They can’t go to the government for help,” Roberson said.

Food 4 Less, the operator of Boys, Viva and ABC supermarkets and one of the biggest retailers in South Los Angeles, is repairing about 20 stores still closed by riot damage. Although the company initially said it would transfer all of its affected employees to other stores, union officials say the chain is expected to announce a layoff within a week.

Already, some full-time employees have had their hours reduced. Eloise Hodges, a cashier transferred from the burned-out Viva store at Western Avenue and Venice Boulevard, said her workweek at her new store in Huntington Park was cut in half, to 20 hours.

The loss of income will hurt, said Hodges, a 17-year company employee who earns $14 an hour. “I can pay my mortgage and eat, but that’s about it,” she said. “I can’t pay my bills.”

She is single and has no children, but she sympathizes for her co-workers with families. “I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Hodges said.

Times staff writer Michael Parrish contributed to this story.

Disaster Application Offices

Los Angeles County Assessor Kenneth P. Hahn announced that county appraisers will staff seven disaster application offices that are expected to open by the end of the week to assist those with damaged property in applying for property tax refunds and reductions.

Hahn said he also is independently reassessing properties whose damage is reported by community groups or governmental agencies to be greater than $5,000. Reassessments can mean a refund of part of the taxes paid this year as well as a reduction in future tax bills until the property is rebuilt or repaired.

For additional information about the reassessment forms, known as misfortune or calamity claims, call the assessor’s office at (213) 974-8658.

The seven offices, which will include representatives of myriad government disaster assistance programs, are to be located at:

Ardmore Recreation Center

(Koreatown)

3250 San Marino St.

Los Angeles

Hollywood Recreation Center

1122 Cole Ave.

Hollywood

Roy Campanella County Park

14812 Stanford Ave.

Compton