As unemployment soars, “S.E. Works” responds, to help ever more job seekers
“S.E. Works” Executive Director Heidi Soderberg, and Employment Specialist Gwen Nothwang, see first-hand the evidence of how the unemployment rate in Oregon has surged. Recently-laid-off workers flock to the center at 6927 S.E. Foster Road to get help finding jobs, upgrading skills, and writing resumes.
Merry MacKinnon / THE BEE
For years, THE BEE has told you about the Inner Southeast Portland resource for job seekers — “S.E. Works”, a nonprofit funded by regional agencies, donations, and an annual soup auction.
Their work goes on. But now, as Oregon unemployment has risen above 10%, there is a greater air of urgency about the place, and the crowds of those seeking work have grown.
Each weekday “S.E. Works” and “WorkSource Portland Southeast” on S.E. Foster Road fill up with people looking for jobs, training, and advice.
“It’s not uncommon to see every one of our 30 computers being used at any given time,” says Sellwood resident and Southeast Works Executive Director Heidi Soderberg.
So many unemployed people are coming in these days looking for help finding work that it reminds one on-site employment specialist of Oregon’s deep early- to mid-’80s recession. The difference now, notes Gwen Nothwang, is that people have been losing jobs at which they’ve been employed for over a decade.
“We're getting many people in their 40s and 50s who worked in manufacturing, and had been in jobs for a long time — ten years and more,” Nothwang says. “A union painter came in who had worked all his life, and had never had to use employment services before.”
Another difference, these days, is that most jobs are posted on, and applications are sent on, computers. And that’s a problem, because many recently-laid-off workers come into the center not knowing how to use computers.
“One piece of training we give them is computer skills,” Nothwang explains. “Because in this day and age, you have to apply for jobs online, and you have to have an e-mail address.”
“I had one gentleman — he also didn’t have a high school diploma. He’s 55 years old, and he’s going to have a really hard time in this market," Nothwang adds.
But while Soderberg’s agency can’t change the economics of the marketplace, it can offer support for earning high school diplomas and for career training, including possibly short-term money for re-training — for instance, as a medical assistant, or in other fields that still seem promising in this economy.
And S.E. Works will soon receive additional funding for training and supportive services through the federal stimulus package, Soderberg adds.
“We have ceilings on what we’ll pay, but we can offer training through ‘skills upgrades’, and in Portland Community College certificate programs,” she says. “Now’s the time for people to increase their skills and get the training they need.”
“S.E. Works” and “WorkSource Portland Southeast” are both located at 6927 S.E. Foster Road.
For more information, call 503/772-2300, or visit online at: www.seworks.org.