Layoffs Lead Workers Back to School
Thursday, July 31, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose by 44,000 last week to the highest level in more than five years. Experts say some out-of-work people may never find positions again in the industries they left, leading them to look for ways of re-training. As Diane Eastabrook reports, many former workers are already sprucing up their job skills with the help of local colleges.
DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: At United Airlines, anxiety is rampant among the carrier's 55,000 employees. Buffeted by high fuel prices and a sluggish U.S. economy, the carrier recently announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs. At a recent meeting of United's pilots union, furlough coordinator Todd Coomans discussed employment possibilities for the nearly 1,000 United pilots likely to lose their jobs. Coomans thinks he'll be among them and is weighing his options.
TODD COOMANS, PILOT, UNITED AIRLINES: Through my union work and stuff like that, I have all the office skills and management skills that I can do, but trying to convert that or convince a potential employer of what that could bring to them is pretty difficult, especially at a time when jobs are scarce.
EASTABROOK: According to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, U.S. firms cut nearly 476,000 jobs in the first half of this year. That is a 21 percent increase over the same period last year. The hardest hit industries have been financial services, automotive, government/non- profit, transportation and retail. Chief Executive Officer John Challenger says, for many workers in those fields, retraining may be their only option.
JOHN CHALLENGER, CEO, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: If you're in sales or admin or technology, you can move to another industry and we see about 40 percent of the people make those changes; maybe more, in a real decline in your industry. But if you're an airline pilot or a bond trader, much more difficult, because those skills just can't be moved to other types of jobs.
EASTABROOK: Forty-eight-year-old Linda Morse is among those laid off workers headed back to the classroom. Morse enrolled in a business administration program at Harper College last year after losing a job with a financial planning firm. She says her decade of experience didn't compensate for her lack of a college degree when interviewing with prospective employers.
LINDA MORSE, STUDENT: I think when they are comparing me to someone who has that four-year degree, I'm just not rising to the top.
EASTABROOK: Morse will get an associate's degree through Harper College's fast-track program. Fast track allows students to complete their degree by attending classes one night a week. Fast track is among a handful of new programs Harper is launching to help non-traditional students update their job skills or retrain for new careers. Nancy Wajler, Harper's adult learning specialist, says many colleges are offering innovative programs to accommodate a crush of non-traditional students.
NANCY WAJLER, ADULT LEARNING SPECIALIST, HARPER COLLEGE: They want to do well. They have seen the world work and they know they need this education. And they are also incredibly busy people, so they want to be able to have us accommodate their busy schedules.
EASTABROOK: Some experts think the U.S economy will continue to shed jobs for at least another year, making job retraining even more essential for many workers. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Chicago.
