By Taylor Aswell
A tight local job market for skilled, qualified adults means younger, entry-level workers are without options now and without experience later.
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photo by Ben Hillyer McKenzie’s Popcorn employee Lacie Hicks scoops up a box of popcorn for a customer Saturday night at the Natchez Mall. Hicks is one of many teenagers that are hired by the owners of the popular snack spot. |
And that lack of real-world opportunity for high school and college-aged students might be something that hurts the community in years to come, workforce experts said.
This problem is one that starts at the top and rolls down, Natchez Win Job Center Manager Peggy Ballard said.
Ballard said with the current local and national economy, she believes more and more workers are refusing to retire.
“Some of the more mature workers are not retiring as young as they use to,” she said. “People are afraid to give up their jobs.”
When retirement-age workers keep working, then middle-age workers can’t move up. When middle-age workers stay put in their current jobs, there’s not room for new hires.
Concordia Parish Economic and Industrial District Executive Director Heather Malone agreed saying many older workers are becoming unsure of their retirement.
“Many people are going back to work to supplement their income,” she said. “In some cases, older people are going back to work just so they can have health care.”
“There seems to be a lower turnover in these jobs. (Employers) are always looking for people to fill those positions, and that just doesn’t seem to be the case this year.”
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Trickle-down effect
Both the Natchez-Adams School District and the Concordia Parish schools have programs in place to train high school workers and put them to work.
But this year, that’s been easier said than done.
“My students are having a really hard time finding a job this year,” Fallin Career and Technology Center Mississippi Cooperative Education Teacher Martha Ratcliff said. “And you have to have a job to be in my class.”
Ratcliff teaches a class at Fallin — a vocational school run by the Natchez public schools — that gives juniors and seniors credit for working at least 15 hours a week while also taking classes on work-readiness preparation.
Twenty students are enrolled in the program this year and some of those students are even volunteering their 15 hours of work a week to get credit for the class.
“Even the traditional high-school jobs like McDonald’s and Burger King have stopped hiring them,” she said. “And most retail shops want someone 18 years of age or older.”
Ratcliff said she is constantly searching for employers for her students.
“I have not had any luck,” she said. “My students are not being helped.”
Vidalia High School Cooperative Education instructor Barb Crum expressed the same frustration.
“This has been one of the hardest years we have had,” she said. “No one is hiring, and no one is leaving their jobs.”
Crum said while she does hunt down job leads for the students, it is their responsibility to go out and apply for those jobs.
“Their first assignment is to find a job,” she said. “It has been very hard for many of my students to find work.”
Is older better?
Employers say there are some advantages to hiring older workers. Many times they come with more experience and a less hectic schedule.
Colleen Palmer, human resources manager for McDonalds in Natchez and Vidalia, said in the past year she has seen an increase in the number of adult employees coming through her orientation class, compared to the number of high school- or college-aged employees she has seen.
“In terms of those being hired, there has definitely been an increase,” Palmer said. “Like it or not, there is a belief that your older folks are going to be better employees.”
Palmer said that is usually because those adults have more work experience and understand the responsibility of having any job better than teenagers.
“There is a little bit more reliability, when you hire someone who is older,” she said. “They have the experience, usually, and don’t have the outside distractions and activities of students.”
Not having to work around a school schedule is a plus, but Jeff and Amy Gamberi, part owners of McKenzie’s Popcorn in the Natchez Mall, said they like being able to hire part-time teenage workers.
Amy said the workers need a chance to get work experience, and she is willing to work around schedules.
“We have some that are on dance teams, cheerleading squads, basketball or softball teams,” she said. “They will go to school and to their activities and come to work.
“We know it’s going to be difficult, but we do all we can to make it work for the ones that want to work.”
Amy said the employees she hires are often responsible for paying cell phone bills, car insurance, purchasing gas and providing their own spending money. For that reason, many of them understand the importance of coming to work.
But Jeff said there isn’t an exact science to picking a reliable and driven teenage worker.
“In the past year, I’d say it has gotten harder to find someone who will show up on a consistent basis,” he said. “Growing up, I worked with my dad in his grocery store, and Amy’s been working here since she was little, so we know what a work ethic is, (and) sometimes it seems like we are losing that in our teenagers now.”
Despite, the challenges that come from employing high school and college students, the Gamberi family said it is worth it when you find one that works hard to succeed.
“Most of the people who have been good workers for us, have gone on to finish college or are about to finish college,” Jeff said. “We think some of the responsibility and determination they learned here help them succeed in school, too.”
Job outlook
Though Malone points to new development such as the Vidalia port and municipal complex as things that will entice more industry and more jobs, major changes in the job market are never a guarantee.
Ballard hopes a new year brings new opportunities for workers of all ages, but said 2011 is still up in the air.
“I don’t know if I am expecting it to get better, but I am hoping for it to get better,” she said. “I just truly don’t know.”
Ratcliff said until things get better, she hopes area businesses consider hiring high school students for their openings.
“I would like for the community to know that my students are excellent part-time workers who choose to be in my program,” she said. “They have few discipline problems, if any, and 99 percent of my students go on to higher education. Any business, whether they need a runner or someone to sell, could benefit from hiring my students.”
