Last January, Brandy Planty had neither a job nor a high school education. Now she has both.
“I had to get my education and some training before I started to even think about finding a stable job,” Planty said.
Planty, 34, is one of roughly 5,700 welfare beneficiaries looking for work through JOBSPlus. It is a partnership between the Onondaga County’s social services department and Onondaga County Community College.
And in the lingering recession, JOBPlus has a growing population. But finding jobs for the out-of-work is getting more difficult, say welfare officials and beneficiaries.
The recession’s massive lay-offs have thrown experienced, educated workers into the pool of unemployed, said welfare administrators. Those veterans of the work force are steep competition for welfare beneficiaries, who may never have had a full-time job and who may lack much education. In addition, the growing selection of new hires lets employers set higher standards for jobseekers.
In January, unemployment in the Syracuse area was 9.1 percent.
The number of beneficiaries looking for work through JOBPlus has gone up 22.5 percent since January 2009, said Dave Wall, director of public and corporate partnerships at OCC.
JOBSPlus grew out of the welfare overhauls of the 1990s. Then Congress changed the decades-old welfare programs with time-limits on eligibility and requirements for beneficiaries to enroll in job-training programs. For 15 years, JOBSPlus has been helping people on public assistance find work, said Wall.
Anyone in Onondaga county who receives Food Stamps, Medicaid or Temporary Assistance must enroll in the JOBSPlus program. The program offers:
- A job coach who advises and monitors each beneficiary
- Job-hunting tools like Internet access
- Lists of places that are hiring and free or reduced transportation and child care.
- Classes that teach interviewing, resume-building and negotiation skills.
“The kinds of things that you’re learning in a college classroom give you the same benefit,” Wall said.
Right after they’re approved for cash assistance, welfare recipients must complete Job Club — two weeks of supervised job hunting and job-readiness classes. In the program, beneficiaries will search for work in-person and fill out applications online at the JOBSPlus center. In addition to 6 hours of job searching each day, beneficiaries in Job Club must also complete interviewing and resume-building classes through JOBSPlus, according to its Web site.
Despite the specialized training for the long-term unemployed through JOBSPlus, Wall said, employers are more likely to hire workers who haven’t been jobless for very long. That’s group gains new members each month as employers continue to lay off experienced workers. And those experienced workers add to the woes of JOBSPlus recipients.
“Most of the people receiving services through JOBSPlus are not qualified for higher-level jobs,” said Wall. “And now the competition for lower-level jobs is so fierce.”
Each month, JOBSPlus aims to find jobs for 200 people, said Janice Mayne, associate director of JOBSPlus. But in the last year, she has seen a decrease in the number of job placements.
Now, she said, employers want employees to have a high school diploma or a GED certificate and some evidence of job training. But many beneficiaries lack those credentials. Some welfare recipients have a criminal background, which also lowers their chances of landing employment, said Mayne.
To do this, JOBSPlus screens each beneficiary and decides the best way to help that person find the job that they want. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all program,” said Mayne. “The activities vary from individual to individual.”
For example, JOBSPlus referred Brandy Planty of Syracuse to BOCES, the state’s board of educational services. There, she sharpened her math skills and studied for her GED exam. On Feb. 5, Planty took the test for the second time. She passed.
In January 2009, Planty said, she quit her waitressing job at Skyline Grill in Liverpool because her dwindling tips no longer supported her and her daughter. After month, she applied for public assistance benefits, then for Food Stamps, Medicaid and cash from Family Assistance.
At JOBSPlus, Planty spent the seven months after Job Club volunteering at the Cab Horse Commons day care. There, she didn’t earn any wages. But she gained experience for her resume.
Now, Planty divides her time at JOBSPlus between working in the kitchen at the Salvation Army and looking for a permanent job at a day care center. Her job at the Salvation Army is a temporary position with her paycheck subsidized under a government program called Jumpstart. Now Planty if off cash-assistance from welfare. But she still gets Food Stamps and Medicaid for her and her daughter.
“I’ve already come this far,” Planty said. “I plan on running my own day care someday.”
(Valerie Crowder is a junior with triple majors in broadcast journalism, political science and international relations.)
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