White-collar jobless prevalent in Richmond area

The worst recession in 70 years has ended. But tell that to people trying to find jobs.

"The recession is not over until everyone who wants to work is working and working at what they want to do," said Walter Courtney of Montpelier.

Courtney, 56, is an Internet technology professional who works as a security guard at a retirement home in Hanover County. He was a project manager at a bank, but was laid off early in the economic downturn.

He has picked up a few IT contracting jobs. He has taken classes to tune up his skills.

Still, nothing permanent has come through.

His part-time job as a security guard doesn't pay the bills. It doesn't use his skills. But it puts food on the table.

"Security is an honorable profession," he said. "I have a lot of respect for people who do it."

Courtney makes less than $10 an hour. He gets no health insurance, no paid sick days and no vacation.

"Surviving is one thing. But you want to do what you feel you are capable of doing, so you can contribute," he said. "I couldn't have made it without the support of my family."

His wife, Susan, works as a librarian associate. They have no children.

He said he would gladly take an IT job for less than what he was making before. "I'm willing to work for wages that people get right out of college. I don't have to be an operations officer."

Courtney comes close to fitting the description of most job seekers going through Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement firm.

Nearly 64 percent of its clients earned at least $85,000 in their previous positions, the highest percentage of high-income people looking for work since the firm began tracking data in 2000.

The number of unemployed who were in management and professional jobs has nearly tripled since the recession started in December 2007, rising from 1.1 million then to 2.9 million as of September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nearly half of long-term job seekers, those out of work for more than 27 weeks, come from the white-collar work force. Following the 2001 recession, white-collar job seekers accounted for about 30 percent of the long-term jobless at the unemployment peak.

The Richmond area has seen a rising percentage of white-collar jobless, with more than double the number of college-educated workers applying for unemployment insurance this year than during the 2001 recession.

Christine Chmura, president of Chmura Economics & Analytics in Richmond, attributed the increase to corporate layoffs, notably the demise of such major employers as consumer-electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. and LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., once the third-largest title insurance group in the U.S.

"White-collar workers make up about 60 percent of the labor force and their higher earnings give them spending power that is invaluable to the economy's health," said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

"Prolonged joblessness among these workers will be a definite drag on the recovery," he said.

That spending power is in danger of being lost forever if companies continue to outsource work, Courtney said.

"When jobs go overseas, there's no one left making things," he said. "We can't be a nation of consumers. We have to support our own people."

Companies may think they are saving money by sending jobs overseas, he said. But they are cutting their own customer base. Many U.S. employees who used to work at these jobs are not putting money in the bank or buying as many products.

"I'm not saying the government is at fault, and I am not pointing the finger at anyone, but we can't be a strong nation if we can't take care of our own households first," Courtney said.

The U.S. unemployment rate increased to 9.8 percent in September, the highest on record since June 1983.

If laid-off workers who have given up looking for work or who took part-time jobs are included, the unemployment rate would be 17 percent.

Although the recession has technically ended, based on gross domestic product growth, unemployment is expected to continue to rise as it did after the 2001 recession. That recession ended in November 2001, but unemployment rose through June 2003.

"As we move toward the holidays, people are willing to take anything," said Patricia Haynes, owner of Commonwealth Personnel Consultants Inc. "They are getting desperate."

She said she is beginning to get more requests to fill open positions, indicating that companies are beginning to hire, but they are very specific about qualifications and not willing to train.

Haynes said she was shocked at the response to a posting for a job at a manufacturing director level.

"We were getting calls from all over the country and as far away as Spain," she said. "Companies know there is a lot of talent out there, so they can take their time."

Jade Johnson, 26, a mother of two, holds undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Richmond and Liberty University. She said she had hoped to get into corporate communications or human resources, but after 10 months of looking for a job, she's not picky.

"I would take any position," Johnson said. "I just want to be able to feed my family and contribute to Richmond. We are on food stamps, and that is the greatest humiliation of my life."

Her husband, Bradley Johnson, cleans toilets at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.

Chad Ryan, a former financial-services representative at SunTrust Banks Inc., was offered an incentive package a year ago to leave his job in a corporate downsizing.

Ryan, 32, had contemplated opening a business, perhaps a restaurant. He took the bonus, waited tables and did odd jobs at a coffeehouse in Petersburg. When the restaurant shut down eight months later, he had to find something quickly.

"I needed income."

He was hired as a sales clerk in an antiques shop. "I didn't feel as important as I did in my other jobs, but it was a paycheck."

Since June, he's been working as a property manager, scheduling contractors to make sure work is done.

"I feel like I am accomplishing something," Ryan said. "Sometimes you have to start at the bottom again. I didn't want to do the unemployment thing. I didn't want to sit at home. That would drive me crazy."

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or .