Earlier stories in this series.
When Thomas Dana was laid off in March from his job as a systems operator for a cabinet company, he left everything in his office behind: computer programming manuals, amaryllis plant, calendar, stuffed duck. He had a feeling he’d be back.
Turns out he was right: Huggy Bear’s Cupboards, a Hayden Island manufacturer of high-end cabinets, rehired him in June — but only part-time and without benefits.
Faith Cathcart/The OregonianThomas Dana is working part-time at Huggy Bears Cupboards. He runs a Web design business on the side. Dana says the steady income makes him feel more relaxed than he was in May, when the stress of unemployment sent his blood pressure rising. Its now back down.
Dana, 66, is just happy he’s working.
“Unless a health catastrophe strikes, I’m in good shape,” he said. “When I see people at work, I’m hopeful. I worry a lot more when I’m alone at home.”
Dana is one of a dozen people who spoke to The Oregonian last spring about their financial fears during the recession. At the time, the state’s unemployment rate was 12.2 percent, the highest since the 1950s and the second-highest in the country behind Michigan. Trade, transportation and utility companies all were shedding jobs.
Since then, things have brightened somewhat: The Portland area’s jobless rate has dropped to 11.3 percent. Federal stimulus money has helped boost construction jobs and, though the economy hasn’t bounced back, it at least is no longer in free-fall.
“My overall sense is optimistic, but our crystal balls aren’t working really well these days,” said Christian Kaylor, a workforce analyst with the Oregon Employment Department. “You’d find it hard for any economist to find there’ll be the same economic difficulties in the next 12 months as in the last 12.”
Dana and four others found jobs this summer. The rest of the group are either in the same circumstances as they were in spring or are searching for work.
Refusing to spoil herself
The Associated PressSophia Hitti (left), shown with colleague Maddie Kershow, is working in New York, has her own office and plans to look for a place to live in Brooklyn.
Things began looking up in summer for Sophia Hitti, 24, as her internship in the Portland office of Fleishman-Hillard, a global public relations firm, was coming to an end.
She had flown to the company’s New York City office earlier to talk about a permanent position, and the company flew her back for an interview in July. She landed a job, and weeks later was on her way to Manhattan with plans to live with a cousin until she found her own place.
Hitti had been on food stamps before she left, with $20,000 in student loans to pay off from her time at the University of Oregon. Now, she has her own office and a gift membership to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She spends …
Read the original article at Oregonlive
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Tags: benefits, Business, Car, city, company, country, Economy, finance, financial, Job, Job Market, loans, money, pay, Recession, Unemployment
