Job Hungry : 2,000 Line Up for About 200 DMV Openings

After 3 1/2 hours on line and with at least another hour ahead of him, Devlen Davis sized up his enormous competition Thursday for jobs at the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Or to be more accurate, his competition just to receive an application to take a qualifying test to get on a long waiting list for $9.86-an-hour DMV clerkships.

“I’m feeling that everybody in L.A. that doesn’t have a job and would like one is here. And if the people have jobs that aren’t paying enough, they would like a better opportunity. So they’re here too,” said Davis, a 25-year-old student at Los Angeles Trade Tech.

It certainly seemed that way both outside and inside the state office building at 107 S. Broadway, where the DMV division for central Los Angeles County held its first job call in three years. Officials estimated that 2,000 applicants showed up for what could be about 200 job openings over the next year or two.

Even though the door wasn’t opened until 8 a.m., the unemployed and underemployed began queuing up around 6:30 a.m., state police reported. Within a few hours, the line snaked through a maze of corridors, half a block along Broadway and then up 1st Street to the next corner. And it moved slowly in the smoggy sunshine, painfully so.

“People are tired, they’re hungry and they’re hot. But they don’t care how long it takes. They just want to know that they’ll get that application,” said Stephanie Quintero, one of the state police officers supervising the line. One of her duties, she said, was to make sure that Downtown panhandlers didn’t get too aggressive with the captive audience of job-seekers.

Last in line at one point was Annie Chapman, 31, who has been out of work for more than a year. Asked if she felt discouraged, the former school clerk shook her head. “No,” she said. “It’s like this everywhere you apply for a job. You have to keep your determination, you have to keep your spirits up, you can’t give up, you got to keep trying.”

Federal statistics indicate that California finally is pulling out of its long recession. The February jobless rate in Los Angeles County dipped to 9.7%, down from 11% the month before. But many of those on line complained that such statistics mask other, and more widespread, pain--the hardship of working at near-minimum-wage jobs that offer no medical insurance or other benefits.

The DMV positions pay a starting monthly salary of $1,709, close to double minimum wage, and could rise over time to $2,405 a month, all with generous state government benefits. “You can’t find anything like this, $9.86 an hour, man, $1,700 a month. That’s not bad, plus benefits and everything,” said Angel Santos, a college student who was on the DMV line Thursday because a department store laid him off from a low-paying stock clerk job two months ago.

Currently, 42 jobs are open in the 11 DMV offices from Santa Monica to West Covina, helping drivers get licenses and register cars, according to Theresa Kirtley, regional manager. With retirements and transfers, the number of full- and part-time openings could grow to 200 or so over the next two years, she said. Candidates can remain on the waiting list for several years.

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The DMV took applications at three locations. The big turnout Thursday in Downtown Los Angeles, along with 1,300 in Pomona and 1,000 in West Los Angeles, didn’t surprise Kirtley. “Not at all. Not if you see the number of organizations that are downsizing and merging,” she said. “We have a feel for the fact that people need jobs out there.”

So the DMV can be choosy. Applicants needed a high school diploma or equivalency, plus at least one year of clerical service involving direct customer contact. Those qualifications were discussed during brief interviews with DMV counselors in a noisy auditorium that had all the privacy of a rodeo. Those who got past that hurdle were invited to take a written qualifying exam April 9. The next steps will be in-depth interviews and possible places on a waiting list.

But hundreds on line never got past the building’s front door, which state troopers closed at 4 p.m. Among those unlucky job-seekers was Gloria Claiborne, 44, who had waited 2 1/2 hours without getting inside. Out of work for two months, the former receptionist and single mother was clearly frustrated: “I need a job, anywhere, anything. I have responsibilities and bills to pay.”