Chandler unemployment highest in 20 years

Chandler officials say the number of unemployed residents in the city recently hit its highest level in 20 years. And Liz Plotkin is about to become one of them.

Plotkin, 40, said she is approaching her last day as a court conciliator with the Maricopa County court system, where she provided therapy to children and families with mental health issues. The county notified her last month that she'd be laid off on June 26.

Sitting in front of a computer at the regional One-Stop Career Center Tuesday in Gilbert, Plotkin said the market seems to be flooded with people looking for work.

"It's really competitive," she said.

Last week, Chandler City Manager Mark Pentz informed the City Council that unemployment in the city is at a 20-year high, with 7,000 residents currently out of work.

Rebecca Howe, a Chandler economic development researcher, said the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures, from April, show the city's unemployment rate at about 5.2 percent.

Chandler's rate is lower than the Phoenix metro area, at 6.8 percent, and Arizona's, at 7.4 percent, Howe said. The nationwide unemployment rate stands at 8.9 percent, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce report, she said.

Historically, however, unemployment in Chandler has hovered between 2 percent and 3 percent.

"It's so hard to know what normal is, but in the recent years that's what it has been," Howe said.

There are services to help Chandler residents find employment, such as Maricopa Community Colleges' Center for Workforce Development, Maricopa Workforce Connection and the regional career center in Gilbert.

Pat Burkhart, assistant director of the Gilbert regional One-Stop Career Center, 735 N. Gilbert Road, said he's noticed a dramatic increase in the number of East Valley clients, from about 6,500 people a month more than a year ago, before the economic downturn, to about 14,000 a month now. The center provides personalized counseling to job seekers about how they can find new employment, potentially in a different industry.

The Gilbert center is one of four regional offices across the Valley funded by federal stimulus money, Burkhart said.

"When I arrived this morning, there were 30 people waiting to get in," he said Tuesday. "It's up nearly 100 percent in all four of our sites."

The Gilbert center recently received additional federal funding to hire a dozen more people on staff to help handle the increase, he said.

"It's been very demanding," Burkhart said.

At first, much of the increase came from the construction, financial services and real estate sectors. Then, starting last fall, it was "everyone else," Burkhart said.

"We've even seen layoffs in health care. Every sector," he said.

The center offers help to a variety of clients, including those just out of school, the recently unemployed, those with disabilities, and people who need retraining because they work in industries that are in decline and are not expected to recover, Burkhart said.

"We work with all kinds of job seekers," he said. "Everything to get someone ready to compete for a job in the marketplace."

Dennis Cleveland, the center's business accounts coordinator, said Wal-Mart recruiters are scheduled to be on site at the center from mid-June to mid-July, looking for people to fill 280 jobs at a store the company plans to open at Rural Road and Southern Avenue in Tempe.

Plotkin said she has taken advantage of the center's classes on interviewing and resume writing. It's reassuring to have the structure the center provides, rather than trying to search out everything on her own, she said.

"The workshops have been really helpful," Plotkin said.

A breakdown of Chandler's 2009 labor force:

> Sales and office, 28.2 percent

> Professional, technical and advanced manufacturing, 24.2 percent

> Management, business and financial operations, 17.1 percent

> Service, 11.8 percent

> Production, transportation and assembly, 10.5 percent

> Construction, extraction and maintenance, 7.8 percent

> Farming, fishing and forestry, 0.6 percent

Source: Chandler