A resurgent stock market and an increase in the index of leading economic indicators have some analysts pointing to a rebounding economy. While these signs, along with reports that Illinois employers are beginning to hire, may be positive factors, job seekers in Southern Illinois continue to face a tight market with a few pockets of growth.
"Even though the job creation numbers are positive, they will have little effect on someone who may be unemployed right now," Greg Rivara, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Employment Security, said. "Even though we've had three consecutive months of job growth, we had nearly two years of losses leading up to it."
Rivara said while nothing short of a new job feels good to someone who hasn't worked in a while, things will get better. "The three months of growth is a positive sign, we just don't know how positive yet," he said. "In the grand scheme of things it will be good news."
The job market may tighten even more as spring brings students looking for summer jobs and new graduates-both high school and college-into the mix.
Toby Misner, guidance counselor at Marion High School, said students who are looking for summer work are not finding it.
"We think summer employment is going to be limited, so we're pushing students to be eager to take any job, even if they are jobs the kids weren't originally interested in, maybe mowing lawns, fast food and babysitting," he explained. "We're telling them that they need to look at those fields."
Misner said with high levels of unemployment, many students are competing for jobs not only with other teenagers, but also with adults.
"Right now, a job is a job both for students and for adults," he said.
It's not just seasonal employment that is tough to find. Misner said students choosing to enter a trade or work after graduation are struggling to find employment.
"We're not hearing of a lot of them already lining up jobs. We have a lot of kids hoping and praying for something," he added.
The situation is no better for college students. Rob Miller, a sophomore from Johnsburg studying public relations at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said he had hoped to find a part-time position in the area so he could enroll in summer classes. His inability to find summer work has caused him to change his plans.
"I applied at a bunch of places, but I didn't hear back from any of them," he said. "So, I'm not going to school this summer. Instead, I'm going home, and I'll look for something there," he said.
There are some bright spots, however. John A. Logan College placement director Lisa Hudgens said the phones are beginning to ring more often in her office with employers looking to hire - both for the summer and in permanent positions.
"It's picking up. We are seeing employers calling us with both part-time and full-time positions," she said.
Hudgens explained that growth seems to be in specialized areas. She said she's seeing opportunities in fields such as accounting, health care and dental assisting.
She said there also has been an upswing in calls from contractors and construction firms, but those increases may be seasonal in nature.
Other hiring professionals are also seeing some growth. Jill Lewis of Extra Help, a Marion staffing agency, said the number of opportunities is starting to improve.
"We believe the market is coming back," she explained. "We've had a steady increase and we think we are on the way to a recovery."
Lewis said growth is coming in a number of sectors including manufacturing, general labor and transportation. She added that many companies are hiring for full-time, temporary positions, especially clerical and light industrial jobs.
"Employers are being very careful with hiring," she said. "They do not want to hire people just to lay them off later."
However, she explained that the temporary hires can point to longer-term improvements in the job outlook.
"Typically, when you see the number of temporary employees go up, that's the first sign of an economic recovery," she said.
Recovery can be a slow process, said IDES' Rivara.
"Illinois typically follows the nation into a recession and we tend to follow the nation out of one, too," he said. "When a recovery really takes hold, it may cause confusion because the national media will be talking about it, even when we may not be feeling it here yet."
He added that the same holds true for Southern Illinois compared to the rest of the state.
"That means as we come out of the recession, we may see slower recovery in some places."
Thom Shadle of Murphysboro said he understands that an uptick in indicators for the state does not necessarily mean all across the state.
"Those numbers mean that Chicago's doing better," Shadle said. "Right now, there's not that many large employers adding staff here and the small employers are not ready to jump in yet and bring people on."
Shadle, who has more than seven years experience in marketing, was laid off from a customer service and sales position more than a year ago. He has been unable to find similar work since.
"Jobs seem to be virtually non-existent outside of the entry level," he added. "There's really just not a lot out there."
Rivara said one of the best barometers is to look at what the region's top industries are doing on the national level. Those trends may be an indicator of what is to come locally, he said. He pointed to industries such as health care, which continues to expand both on the national and regional levels.
"It's definitely a stable field," said Kristin King, employment coordinator with Southern Illinois Healthcare. "In health care right now, employment is on the rise."
That is good news for job-seekers. King said her organization has an average of 55 positions open each month. The downside is that SIH receives about 2,000 applications for those jobs.
"It's great for us to see that many people interested in health care, but it is disheartening at the same time," she said.
Regardless of the industry, Rivara said people looking for work have to be flexible.
"We encourage individuals not to look at what job they had, but rather their skills and see what other industries those fit into. It's a matter of thinking about things differently," he said.
Lewis gave an example. She shared the story of a former fast food sandwich maker who used those skills to land a job in manufacturing because of his assembly experience.
"People need to look at all of their skills and how they may fit into a completely different industry," she said.
She said it should not matter whether a job seeker is a high school senior, a new college graduate, a laid-off executive or a miner looking for a new job; everyone looking for work should apply the same approach.
"You have to broaden your outlook and see how you can apply your skills into other industries that you haven't thought about before. Limited experience in a particular field should not hold you back," she said.
Rivara said it's all a matter of approach.
"Job growth will return to all of Illinois and those individuals who have not done anything to enhance their job skills will not be in a position to re-enter the workforce when jobs are available. It's all about thinking differently."
- Les O'Dell lives in Carbondale and is a freelance writer. He regularly is published in SBJ, The Southern Illinoisan and SI Magazine.
