Bare market

Unemployed workers in a region built on manufacturing and agriculture are confronting the challenges of the information age and an evolving economy still struggling to recover from recession.

Job searches are carried out on the Internet. Resumes are required. Computer skills are key. And rising to the top of the applicant pool is getting tougher.

For every Waynesboro job advertised this year, there are more than eight unemployed workers, according to Virginia Employment Commission statistics. In Augusta County, it’s 17 displaced workers for every one opening.

Two years ago, the ratio was one worker to one opening.

“The competition is fierce,” said Michelle Burnett, supervisor of the Fishersville office of the employment commission.

The unemployment rate increased across the area again in January, according to the latest commission data. Waynesboro’s January rate was 9.2 percent, up from 7.6 percent a month earlier, boosted in part by the closure of Mohawk Industries. Augusta County’s rate was 7.7 percent, and Staunton’s, 8.6.

Businesses employ about 3,000 fewer people than a year ago in those three localities.

Job seekers frequently form lines that snake out the door of the employment office on U.S. 250 in Fishersville, where computers, fax machines, sample resumes and interviewing tips are easily accessible.

Another place offering help is a job loss discussion group hosted by Shenandoah Valley Grief Services.

“I have a lot of friends who have lost their jobs,” said Cynthia Long, a grief support specialist who leads the group. “There are a lot of people out there hurting.”

Funded by grants totaling $6,300 from Augusta Health and United Way, Long is hosting the program in six-week rotations this year in Waynesboro, Staunton and Fishersville.

In addition to sharing job tips and preparing for interviews, the group helps attendees work through the emotions of being unemployed, Long said.

“There’s anger at the plant or company that let them go, depression and embarrassment and shame about not being able to find a job,” Long said.

After losing her job at an in-home health agency in June, Diane Harrell, 56, of Elkton, has found only part-time work.

As a result, her car was repossessed, she’s racking up interest on deferred student loans and is concerned she won’t have enough money to continue paying rent.

“It’s more than not being able to pay bills or buy groceries,” Long said. “A lot of folks feel like they’ve failed and have lost their confidence. We’re trying to build it back up so they can get their resume out there and have a positive interview.”

That’s just how attending the group in Staunton helped Harrell, she said.

“I was so depressed because no one was calling me back,” she said. “The group helped me be encouraged. It’s a place to be able to express how you feel and have someone sit and listen to your situation.”

Lee Thomas, 31, traveled last week from Goshen to the employment office for a fourth time. Out of work as a nurse for eight months, Thomas has lowered his standards in an increasingly desperate search, he said.

“Just anything,” Thomas said. “I don’t care.”

Thomas sends out about two applications per week. He has not had a callback in months.

“It really hurts me,” said Thomas, who is engaged and the father of a 4-year-old boy. “It hurts him, too.”

Employment commission statistics show that from 2007 to 2008, half as many job openings were posted online each month. Postings fell by almost another half the next year.

Burnett said her office can help job seekers with “little pointers” that could allow them to stand out to prospective employers.

“Looking for a job is so different than 15 years ago, maybe five years ago,” Burnett said.

Employment commission data can be searched online to help a worker prepare for interviews and find occupation-specific information.

“They haven’t had to go on an interview in 20 years,” Burnett said of some job seekers.

The closures of Tyco Electronics in Mount Sidney and Mohawk in Waynesboro inundated the employment commission, where resumes are required. Manufacturing losses have outpaced other industries’, Burnett said.

At least two area manufacturers have reversed layoffs.

McQuay International recalled almost 50 workers after cuts four months earlier.

In Waynesboro, a Southern Stainless official said Friday that seven of almost 40 employees laid off last week will return to work Monday.