About The Bay: The Unemployed In The Bay Area On Labor Day
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – As President Barack Obama gets set to lay out a new jobs plan this week, many of the unemployed in the Bay Area said it can't come soon enough.
According to a press release from California's Employment Development Department, "as a sign that the state is steadily emerging from the depths of recession, California has been gaining jobs at the fastest rate since the boom year of 2006."
KCBS' Mike Sugerman Reports:
But Janet Forst of San Francisco doesn't quite agree with that assessment.
"It is like a nightmare and it just doesn't end," she said. "It's like a bad dream."
Forst may have a point as the Office of Management and Budget is predicting that the unemployment rate will remain stuck at 9 percent in the United States all of next year.
"I would add another 7-8 percent above that at least," said Michael Burnick, who is the former director of the California Employment Development Department.
And on this Labor Day 2011, if you have a job, Victor Gresser of San Francisco said you should be grateful.
"Just this week, I got two responses from companies that I've applied to. They said they've been flooded with applications. They don't give numbers but I imagine easily 50-100 people applying for one position," he said.
Gressar is looking for office work and does his best everyday to keep his chin up.
"I just tell myself that the right job is there," he said. "It's just a matter of finding it. I'm even using that little mantra that every no is one step closer to a yes."
Forst, who worked in the employment industry, said she is also doing her best to stay positive.
"You have to stay focused and positive in order to be able to respond to these ads," she said.
The hard numbers? The press release from the state said California gained 200,000 jobs over the last few years. But Burnick said that's not the entire story.
"We lost 1.4 million and gained back somewhere under 200,000 jobs," he said.
So on this Labor Day, many of those that are unemployed aren't taking the day off. But instead, they are out there looking for that next opportunity.
You can hear Mike Sugerman's About the Bay reports on Mondays at 6:40am, 7:40am and 8:40am on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.
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