{"id":6915,"date":"2012-04-30T06:30:19","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T12:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=6915"},"modified":"2013-05-13T17:48:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T23:48:40","slug":"jobless-in-idaho-ten-weeks-to-find-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/04\/30\/jobless-in-idaho-ten-weeks-to-find-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Jobless In Idaho: Ten Weeks To Find Work"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Early on a weekday morning, single mom Kelly Barker settles in at her computer. Ahead are hours of searching and applying for jobs.<\/p><\/div>\n

Idaho\u2019s economic picture has begun to brighten, but the state has yet to make up the jobs it lost in the downturn.\u00a0 Many in Idaho have watched their months of unemployment add up.\u00a0 Single mom Kelly Barker is one of them.\u00a0 She just reached an anniversary she\u2019d rather not observe.\u00a0 It has now been a full year since she lost her job.\u00a0 After several months of temp work, Barker is back to the full-time job search, and back to unemployment benefits.\u00a0 This is the latest report in our “Jobless In Idaho” series<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object>Jobless In Idaho: Ten Weeks To Find Work<\/a> <\/p>\n

It\u2019s 8:30 in the morning and Kelly Barker is starting this day the way she starts most weekdays: at her desk with a cup of coffee, and a list of job leads.\u00a0 “Let\u2019s see,” she says, pulling one up on her computer screen.\u00a0 “Office administrator…”<\/p>\n

She\u2019s following up on new job postings at the Idaho Department of Labor\u2019s website.\u00a0 “Relevant experience,” she reads.\u00a0 “Four plus years.\u00a0 I have that.\u00a0 Moderate to advanced Microsoft Office skills, I would have that.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Barker, out for a walk earlier this spring.<\/p><\/div>\n

She also has experience with filing and record keeping.\u00a0 Truthfully, Barker is probably overqualified for this job.\u00a0 She has a bachelor\u2019s degree and a lot of work experience.\u00a0 But this posting sounds promising.\u00a0 “So!” she says.\u00a0 “Competitive salary and benefits, health insurance and retirement plan.\u00a0 So, that would definitely be a yes.”<\/p>\n

In the end, of the nine jobs on Barker\u2019s list, only two seem like possibilities.\u00a0 Next, she\u2019ll do research, and tailor her resume and cover letter.\u00a0 She\u2019ll send off the applications with fingers crossed.\u00a0 Barker is down to the wire. She has just ten weeks of unemployment insurance benefits left.\u00a0 “I don\u2019t have a contingency plan,” she says.\u00a0 “You know, a mortgage payment \u2013 you\u2019d have to have a lot of savings to sustain you for a long period of time, and I don\u2019t.\u00a0 So, I have ten weeks to find a job.\u00a0 Period.”<\/p>\n

The economy is trending in her favor.\u00a0 In March, Idaho\u2019s unemployment rate dropped below the 8 percent mark for the first time in years, falling to 7.9 percent.\u00a0 That\u2019s good news.\u00a0 But Department of Labor spokesman Bob Fick says there\u2019s also no way around this fact: “People are still desperate,” he says.\u00a0 “There\u2019s no question about that.”<\/p>\n

Idaho\u2019s economy is creating jobs, Fick says.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that a daunting number of people are out there searching for them.\u00a0 “There\u2019s still over 60,000 people looking for work and over 30,000 people who have part-time jobs that want full-time jobs,” Fick explains.\u00a0 “You add another 3,000 or 4,000 people who\u2019ve just given up because they don\u2019t have any optimism about finding work, and you\u2019re pushing 100,000 people out there looking for jobs.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Valerie Alley says she the local job market appears to be just as competitive now as it was in the fall, before the state's unemployment rate began to drop.<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s 100,000 people looking, all hoping to land one of the roughly 20,000 jobs listed each month.\u00a0 In other words, the odds are tough.\u00a0 HR representative Valerie Alley knows this well.\u00a0 “We see talented, talented people\u2019s resumes out there,” she says.\u00a0 “Do we have an opening for them all?\u00a0 No.”<\/p>\n

Alley works for Boise, Inc., formerly a part of the wood products company Boise Cascade.\u00a0 Her position gives her insight into the local job market. \u00a0She says every time she posts a job, the response is immediate.\u00a0 She gets hundreds of resumes for some positions.\u00a0 She says the market seems just as competitive now as it was months ago.\u00a0 “I don\u2019t think it has changed,” she says.\u00a0 “The quality of the resumes is still very high, the quantity is still very high.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard for the candidates, because it\u2019s just a tough market.\u00a0 And I feel for them.”<\/p>\n

Kelly Barker is well-versed in the challenges of this job market and in the financial challenges of unemployment.\u00a0 Without a steady paycheck, she\u2019s been doing a lot of making do.\u00a0 Unemployment insurance is just enough to cover her mortgage and utilities, she says.\u00a0 The daily food budget for herself and her eight-year-old daughter is dictated by their food stamp allowance.\u00a0 When Barker drives somewhere, she plans trips carefully to economize on gas.\u00a0 She\u2019s growing vegetables in the backyard, and has the cheapest cell phone plan she can get.\u00a0 Under constant financial pressure, Barker says, there are moments when she falls apart.<\/p>\n

“I remember calling my dad, bawling,” she recalls.\u00a0 “And saying \u2013 I am so tired!\u00a0 I can\u2019t \u2013 I\u2019m tired of doing this!\u00a0 I\u2019m just tired!\u00a0 And I kept repeating that.”<\/p>\n

Barker sighs and shakes her head.\u00a0 Those feelings are just a reality of unemployment, she says.\u00a0 But she does her best to beat them back and push forward.\u00a0 “I mean, a job isn\u2019t going to come to me,” she says.\u00a0 “I\u2019ve got to keep forging on.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to trust that if I\u2019m putting forth the effort, something will come.”<\/p>\n

In this improving but still very tough economy, Barker says, this is the only thing to do.\u00a0 She has to keep trying, and she has to keep up hope.<\/p>\n

The “Jobless In Idaho” series was recently awarded a regional Edward R. Murrow Award.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Idaho\u2019s economic picture has begun to brighten, but the state has yet to make up the jobs it lost in the downturn.\u00a0 Many in Idaho have watched their months of unemployment add up.\u00a0 Single mom Kelly Barker is one of them.\u00a0 She just reached an anniversary she\u2019d rather not observe.\u00a0 It has now been a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":6919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[106,46,74,133],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}