High jobless rates help recruiters
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 20, 2007
There is an upside to an increase in jobless rates in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast: more available workers.
As Palm Beach County's unemployment rate dipped to a record-low 2.8 percent last year, employers griped that a shortage of workers made hiring a huge challenge. Now that the county's jobless rate has spiked to 4.8 percent, more people are looking for work and employers say recruiting is an easier task.
At least someone is benefiting from the rise in jobless rates in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. While unemployment held steady from August to September, according to a state report Friday, the figures are way up from the rock-bottom rates of early 2006.
Florida's seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained at 4 percent, unchanged from August, while Palm Beach County's unemployment rate stayed at 4.8 percent, also unchanged from August, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
Martin County's jobless rate dipped to 4.6 percent from 4.8 percent a month earlier, while St. Lucie County unemployment rose to 6.9 percent in September from 6.7 percent in August.
There was more bad news for Palm Beach County workers on Friday. Arbor E&T, a health care company in West Palm Beach, told state officials it would lay off 58 workers on Oct. 31. Eclipsys Corp., which announced this week it is relocating to Atlanta, said Friday its move from Boca Raton will result in 54 layoffs in February.
Higher jobless rates have helped employers such as Oxford International, a recruiting firm in Jupiter that had struggled to hire entry-level workers.
"It's much better," Oxford recruiter Dorothy Giannotti said. "Last year, it was like a graveyard."
West Palm Beach law firm Gunster Yoakley recently hired a receptionist in only two days. During the job market's record run in 2006, filling that position would have taken a month, said Marilyn Fong, the firm's human resources director.
Mike Meadows, co-owner of Big Mouth Advertising, a Wellington company that sells spots on trucks that serve as roving billboards, also is encouraged by the number of available workers. He attended a job fair Thursday in West Palm Beach to woo salespeople, and said he was heartened by the number of potential recruits who dropped off résumés.
"Mortgage brokers, real estate people - they were all there," Meadows said.
Indeed, the housing slump is largely responsible for weakness in the job market. Statewide, the construction industry shed 22,300 jobs over the past year. It's the first time since 1992 that the state has suffered seven consecutive months of year-over-year declines in construction jobs, the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation said.
Employers still find it a challenge to hire workers with specific skills such as accountants, teachers, nurses and technology experts. Jason Gorham of CareerMetaSearch.com in Boca Raton said $50,000 marks an important dividing line in the job market: Those who make more than $50,000 tend to be scarce, while workers who make less are more plentiful.