Unemployed strive to ‘find something’

By GINA SMITH - gnsmith@thestate.com
Even when other parts of the state have struggled economically, Midlands residents typically have been able to find steady work. But recession has come to the Midlands, and thousands are unemployed for the first time.
Here are some of their stories:
LOST BOAT, LITTLE HOPE


S.C.'s unemployment rate hit a generational high of 10.4 percent last month. Many never thought they would be in this position, laid off and not having many prospects of employment. Paulette Cunningham is a teacher with 10 years experience. Even she can't find work now. So she's starting a motivational speaking company and Thursday, appeared on a radio show hosted by Don Frierson of WGCV AM. on a radio show.
Steven McDowell of West Columbia relied on his green fishing boat to help him relax.
Every weekend, McDowell and his wife would grab their fishing poles, slide into the little boat and push off into the waters of the Saluda River.
The catfish, bream and bass they pulled into the boat made for a tasty breakfast the next day, served with fried eggs.
But after McDowell, 51, lost his job as a master electrician last month, he sold the boat.
“Now on the weekends, we just sit at the house and watch TV,” said McDowell, who is trying to make ends meet on a $215-a-week unemployment check. “This is the only time I’ve never been able to find work, the only time I’ve ever had to ask for help.”
While McDowell has worked as an electrician for 28 years, he says he would take any kind of work at this point.
“I’ve looked for jobs buffing floors, working in restaurants. I stop when I see people working on job sites and talk to the electricians, see if they need help,” McDowell said. “But no one is hiring. They’ve either got enough help or about to lay people off themselves.”
‘(THEY) DON’T WANT TO HIRE SOMEONE MY AGE’
Regina Boney of Gaston knows she is taking a big chance.
Boney lost her call center job in late 2007 and has not been able to land a new one since. So she has stopped taking her two most expensive medications.
“I had to cut costs,” said Boney, who suffers from emphysema and high blood pressure.
Being unemployed is a new experience for the 61-year-old, who landed her first job as a helper at a mechanics’ shop when she was 14.
Boney said she has worked steadily since, including a stint in which she owned her own dog-grooming company. “But I got to the point I couldn’t pick those big dogs up anymore,” she said.
Even as she rang in her 60th birthday last year and the call center closed, she didn’t anticipate trouble finding a new job.
“But I haven’t gotten any responses even though I’ve sent my resume out everywhere,” she said. “I’m older now. There’s a recession. And with all of the competition out there now, it’s tough. Lots of places don’t want to hire someone my age.”
Boney doesn’t want to retire. But she has almost given up on getting hired in this economy.
She turns 62 next month and will qualify for Social Security.
“I’m going to try and live off of it, but it’s not much,” she said, adding she still will not qualify for Medicare’s health benefits for another three years. “I just can’t go to the doctor until I’m 65,” she said.
‘IT FEELS LIKE I’M STUCK AT A STOP SIGN’
When you’re used to working full time, how do you occupy your time when you get laid off?
Lisa Ross, 47, is struggling to figure it out.
Ross, who lost her job in August, scans the newspaper and Web sites for job postings. She helps her sister with housework and caring for her dogs. She stops by restaurants and clothing stores to inquire about jobs.
“It feels like I’m stuck at a stop sign,” said Ross, who has worked as a cashier for the past 10 years.
The Michigan native is hesitant to return to that state, ranked No. 1 nationally in unemployment.
But staying in South Carolina — ranked No. 2 — isn’t working out either.
“I’ll find something. I’ve got to find something,” Ross said as she waited for her name to be called at the work force center in Columbia. There, the unemployed can sign up for benefits and search a job database.
‘YOU THINK YOU’RE SAFE, BUT THEN ...’
Nearby, Mark Green, 28, also waits to be called, his face hidden underneath a ball cap.
After losing his job as a supervisor in an ice machine factory in Fairfax, he packed up his car and moved to Columbia.
“I’d heard there were more jobs here,” said Green, who is living with his sister and brother-in-law and dipping into savings to make ends meet.
“You think you’re safe, but then something like this happens,” he said. “More and more people who’ve never been in this spot before are here now.”
‘SEARCH OUT MY CALLING’
When Barack Obama entered the presidential race, Eastover’s Paulette Cunningham knew she had to help get him elected.
“There was no way I wasn’t going to work for the first African-American (presidential) candidate,” said Cunningham, 38.
She quit her job of 10 years as a teacher at Southeast Middle School in Columbia and became an Obama field director in Orangeburg, speaking on college campuses, registering voters and manning the office.
Obama ascended to the White House.
But Cunningham couldn’t return to the classroom.
State budget cuts meant school districts were not hiring.
So Cunningham got creative.
She pulled money out of her retirement nest egg and started a motivational speaking company for youth.
It’s not paying the bills yet, but Cunningham is hopeful. She’s making contacts and has twice spoken on the “Urban Scene” radio program on WGCV.
“A lot of people go to work and they hate it,” she said. “But getting laid off can be a good thing, a time to tap into your passion.
“I don’t regret what’s happened to me,” she said. “It’s made me search out my calling.”

1. Are these people doing the right thing to gain a job?
2. What could they do to make themselves more appealing to prosepctive employers?
3. If you became unemployed, how would you go about finding a job?
4. Are those with degrees more able to get a job or is the economy so bad that it doesnt matter?