Faces of the unemployed
The 40-something man pushed back his chair and stood up from the computer desk. “Just send it to e-mail, OK?” he asked the teen sitting beside him. The pair had been looking at job listings at a state-run career center. From my vantage point, dad brought help to navigate the Internet in his job search. Others using the center’s computers were having similar problems. Something so simple as clicking on a Web page link was beyond them.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in this country rose to 8.9 percent in April, with a total of 13.7 million jobless. In the last year, 6 million people have lost their jobs. The losses cut across all population segments, with blacks seeing the highest unemployment at 15 percent. So where will these people find jobs? The bureau said Friday the service provider sector is expected to see the most job growth through 2016. That’s health care providers like hospitals, business consultants and the academic community to name a few.
But those jobs will need the training behind them.
