Post Katrina businesses beg for employees

By David McRaney
After Katrina Newswire

HATTIESBURG — Area employers are feeling the effects of post-Katrina Hattiesburg in a surprising and unexpected form: They can't find people willing to work.

Across town, help wanted signs hang from windows and storefronts in an attempt to bring in new staff members, but as Off-Campus Employment Coordinator for USM Mandy Herrington laments, no one is taking them up on the offer.

“We have had an increase in jobs listed, but a decrease in students looking,” said Herrington. “I'm at a loss; I don't understand.”

Herrington said an above average number of openings are currently available through USM's Student Employment Office -- 179 in all. But, since Hurricane Katrina ripped through Hattiesburg, the number of students taking advantage of job openings through the office has dropped off significantly when compared to the same time last year.

“Employers all over town have the same impression,” she added, “lots of openings but fewer applicants. This is something we have only just seen since we came back to school after the storm.

Herrington said the employment gap may be because many of the positions are for part-time employment and many students are looking for full-time employment. But she said she couldn't be sure since many of the part-time positions were for good jobs such as bank tellers for Bancorp South.

Becky Regan, staffing specialist for Manpower in Hattiesburg, said she was experiencing the same problem, and the employers who use Manpower to fill empty positions are baffled.

“There are enough jobs going around right now that anyone who wanted to work could get a job,” said Regan.

Regan hypothesized people taking jobs with roofers and cleanup crews had put a dent in her business, and many people have also filed for unemployment.

“There's a lot of money floating around right now,” she said. “With FEMA, the Red Cross and other organizations, some people don't need to work.”

Regan added the current employment condition definitely ranks as a post-Katrina phenomenon for Manpower. The organization typically has more applicants than jobs available, a situation that had been reversed since the hurricane.

“You also have to consider all the new retail development like Target and Best Buy,” she said. “That's where a lot of students go for work because the know retail businesses will work around their schedule.”

William Gunther, professor of economics at USM, disagrees.

“Everything in the world is being blamed on Katrina,” said Gunther. “You can check around the country and compare our area with areas that were not impacted by Katrina and see a lot of low paying jobs not being filled. This is not Katrina related.”

America has been approaching a labor shortage for several years now as baby boomers age and people have fewer children than their parents, said Gunther. Hattiesburg is experiencing a change in the size of the labor force because there are not as many young people as there used to be, he said.

And it's likely to get worse, Gunther said, as the country continues to age.

Gunther said the only places not having labor shortage are places with large influxes of new employees like California and Arizona.

David McRaney is a senior journalism major at the University of Southern Mississippi. The After Katrina Newswire is a project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at USM (www.usm.edu/afterkatrina). This story can be reprinted with this credit included.