Laid-off workers change course

Starting over wasn’t easy for Jeff Bendowsky.

For the first time in his life, he was unemployed – laid off from his job of 25 years at Alcoa’s Northwest Alloys smelter in Addy, Wash.

“I was devastated,” he said, recalling how the magnesium smelter shut down three years ago. “I loved my job. I thought I was going to work there forever.”

At 46 and with only a high school diploma, the Deer Park resident had few options. So Bendowsky went back to school to launch a new career: He wanted to become a hearing instrument specialist.

Since 2000, Washington state has spent more than $162 million in state and federal funds to put people like Bendowsky through school. Nearly 60,000 people who have lost their jobs because of the tough economy have received help through the state’s worker retraining program, according to the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, or SBCTC. By helping with tuition, books and other school-related expenses, the program lets people learn new skills to help them find jobs.

Idaho, which uses only federal dollars for worker retraining, budgeted about $20 million for the same time period, according to the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor. Nearly $5 million of that total has been used to retrain about 1,000 people in North Idaho since 2000.

In Spokane, the number of students enrolled through worker retraining at Community Colleges of Spokane increased by about 20 percent – from 725 students during 2000-2001 to 910 in 2002-2003 – before tapering to 855 during this past school year.

“I was given an opportunity,” said Bendowsky, who was nervous about his lack of computer skills and the fact that he hadn’t been in a classroom for three decades.

Path to a new job

Students who go back to school using worker retraining money can’t pursue just any degree, said Carolyn Cummins, a policy associate for the SBCTC. They have to go into fields that will guarantee jobs, such as those in the health care field. Before offering specific training programs, the community colleges must collaborate with representatives from business and labor as well as local economic development officials to ensure that the colleges’ offerings will lead to employment, she said.

“We’re not setting students up to go into declining industries,” Cummins said. “We’re setting them up to succeed.”

While completing his courses at Spokane Falls Community College, Bendowsky got an internship with Affordable Hearing in Coeur d’Alene. After graduation, the small company offered him a part-time job testing people’s hearing and fitting them with hearing aids.

He also spends time traveling to senior centers and health fairs throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

In the late ‘90s, slightly more than 80 percent of Washington’s worker-retraining graduates were able to find employment within the state, according to the SBCTC. In 2001-2002 – the most recent year statistics are available – the rate of graduates who found jobs dropped to 77 percent because of the poor economy. That year, their median wage was $12.80 an hour.

Cummins said the numbers undercount how many people actually get jobs after retraining, because they don’t include people who have been hired outside the state.

But while many have found jobs, there are still a fair number of people struggling to find work.

Despite the skills he acquired through the mechanical engineering program at Spokane Community College, Mike Austin has had a rough time landing on his feet. Every day, the north Spokane resident checks the Internet, searches the classifieds, makes phone calls and visits the WorkSource Center near downtown Spokane.

So far, no prospects. His unemployment checks ran out a year ago. He still has a mortgage to pay and a family to feed.

“I’ve always had a job, and I know I’m a good worker,” said the 50-year-old, who in the past has worked as a machinist, a truck driver and mechanical equipment operator. “But it’s looking really grim out there.”

Now, Austin said he has no choice but to apply for jobs in the Seattle area.

Lowered expectations

Although the program has helped many retrained workers, the transition isn’t always so smooth. Some say their new careers don’t pay them the kind of money they had made in their old jobs. Others say that to find work, they have to leave Spokane.

Bendowsky – who makes the long commute from Deer Park to Coeur d’Alene at least once a week and travels frequently throughout North Idaho and Eastern Washington – is only earning a fraction of the $45,000 he once made at Alcoa.

“As far as income, I had to lower my expectations,” he said. He’s simply grateful to have a job, he added, especially one he enjoys.

Tim Farrand, one of Bendowsky’s classmates at SFCC, found a good-paying job as a hearing aid specialist, but he and his wife had to move to Yakima.

His employer, Hear USA, had other openings in Hawaii, Oregon, California and throughout the West Side. But Farrand chose Yakima because he didn’t want to be too far away from his grown kids and grandchildren, who live in Spokane.

Before going back to school, the 50-year-old had worked for 24 years at a Colville lumber mill. He quit for a job at Boeing in 2001, but he was laid off shortly after Sept. 11.

A tough market

Still, Farrand and Bendowsky are luckier than others.

“It’s a tough market out there, especially for older people and those who are injured,” said Linda Kraus-Perez, SFCC’s worker retraining coordinator.

In recent years, she has heard many success stories. But it pains her to learn about students who find work and are soon laid off again.

According to Washington’s Employment Security Department, which provides labor market information for the state, the unemployment rate in Washington state in July 2004 was 5.9 percent.

The rate for Spokane County is slightly lower at 5.2 percent, which is down from 6.7 percent compared with last year.

But it still means that about 11,400 people in Spokane County are looking for work. This number doesn’t reflect the people who have become discouraged and have stopped seeking employment.

In Idaho, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July 2004 was 4.9 percent, seven-tenths of a percentage point below the 5.6 percent rate a year ago, according to the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor.

Despite the recent layoffs at Spokane’s two major hospitals, the health-care field is still the way to go, said Joanne Murcar, the work force development manager at Community Colleges of Spokane.

In fact, eight of the 10 “hot jobs” in Washington are in the field of health care.

According to the Department of Employment Security, the occupations that offer the best chances for employment are nursing aides, orderlies and attendants. The health jobs that made Employment Security’s top 10 list are: registered nurses, medical secretaries, dental assistants and home health aides – jobs that the state’s retraining program targets. The only “hot” occupations that aren’t in health care are security guards and those in the field of cosmetology and hairstyling.

Liz Martin, 48, was planning on becoming a nurse, but an allergy to latex made it difficult for her to work in a hospital environment.

After taking various career tests, she ended up studying vision care at SCC. Even before graduating this spring, she was offered a job at the optical shop of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“I love the health care field,” said Martin, who has worked as a teacher, karate instructor and at Dick’s Drive-In. “I wish I could’ve been a nurse but working in vision care still lets me work with people.”

For Martin and many others, going back to school for retraining wasn’t just about getting a job to pay the bills; it’s another chance to learn more about themselves and find their life vocation.

“Change is good sometimes,” Martin said.

“I’ve had to make a lot of changes. I could have been bitter, but I chose not to be. When one door closes, another one opens.”