Jobs aplenty, workers few

First in-person job fair attracts crowd, but openings still go unfilled

COEUR d’ALENE — There were many job opportunities outlined at Thursday’s job fair at the Lake City Center.

In-home health care, auto sales, law enforcement, a coffee shop and a call center offered information on full- and part-time employment. Some came with benefits and bonuses. Others offered training and work-at-home positions. A few came with offers of raises, paid holidays and prizes.

But there was one problem: A shortage of people interested in taking those jobs.

“They’re enjoying their unemployment benefits and staying home,” said one person, who asked their name not be used.

One person who came through said, “I’m getting paid more to be at home.”

When millions lost their jobs due to the ordered closure of nonessential businesses, the federal government boosted unemployment benefits. That meant, for some, they were making more money by not working than working.

So, as businesses have reopened, many positions remain unfilled. “Help Wanted” signs in restaurant windows are common.

“There’s tons of job out there,” said April Howard of North Idaho Events, which put on the three-hour job fair that saw a handful of job seekers checking things out.

It was the likely the first in-person job fair in Kootenai County since the coronavirus crunched the economy and kept people home.

She said websites like Indeed and Monster have many jobs posted.

“They have all these great job openings, but not many people applying,” she said.

New initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in Idaho totaled 4,285 for the week ending June 20, increasing 18 percent — or 654 claims — from the previous week, according to the Department of Labor.

Continued claims — the number of people who requested a benefit payment — dropped by 10 percent from the previous week to 33,060, the seventh consecutive week of declines.

Laid-off Idaho workers filed 157,143 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the 14 weeks since the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration — 2.7 times the total number of initial claims filed in all of 2019 in just three months. Seventy-five percent of the initial claims filed were in the first six weeks.

The department paid out $52.8 million in claims during the week of June 14-20, down from $86 million the week of June 7-13.

Of that, regular state unemployment benefit payouts were $10.4 million, up slightly from $10.3 million the previous week, but 9.4 times higher than the same week in 2019.

As of June 20, total benefit payments attributed to COVID-19 layoffs reached $522 million.

Gina Gies, North Idaho recruitment coordinator with SL Start, at the fair, said they have several job openings, both full and part time. They do “everything and anything someone may need assistance with” when it comes to in-home health care.

Workers are “definitely needed now more than ever,” she said.

The pay is about $11 an hour to start, with opportunities for advancement.

Gies believes people have gone through struggles and challenges and are trying to get back on their feet.

The changes in the economy brought on by the coronavirus have left many trying to restart their careers and figure out what to do.

“I think if anything, it’s put things into perspective for a lot of people in our area,” she said.

Rich DePalma, U.S. talent and acquisition manager with Inspiro, had information on jobs with Dish as a customer service/technical support representative in their call center, and an inbound sales agent.

Many expressed interested in the sales position that offered $18 to $36 an hour for mid- to top-performing sales agents. Benefits included full medical, dental, vision, paid time off, paid holidays, life insurance and retirement.

Asked if he thought that would land some applicants, he said, “I would hope so.”

Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Doug Goodman and Deputy Josh Ashenbrenner filled people in on opportunities. Some were curious, but others were serious.

“We let them know we don’t just hire patrol and detention deputies,” Goodman said.

Record clerks, animal control, marine division and motor vehicles are just a few of the areas with openings.

Some wanted to know what to do to increase their chances of being hired.

“A lot of it is just explaining to them what the mission or vision of the sheriff’s office is, and helping them to see where they fit in that,” Goodman said.

Luis Ponton stopped by the job fair, but didn’t find anything related to his preferred field of a language teacher and interpreter.

“This is not exactly what I was looking for,” he said.

Howard said there was a diversity of employment options at the fair, but did say some employers pulled out of the fair due to the recent rise of coronavirus cases.

Marcia McDowell, with Maximus, works with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to help people find employment.

She was at the fair to get information on companies, pay and benefits.

“A lot of these companies are hiring,” McDowell said. “So there are jobs.”

Many are offering work-from-home options and offering to pay for training.

Two men who stopped by the fair chatted on their way out to their car.

One said he landed union work in Wenatchee, where he’s earning “decent income.”

“Wages here are pretty depressed,” he said.

Those low wages, he said, have priced locals out of the housing market.

“That’s just the way it is. People buying houses are from out of state,” he said.

Another man said, “nobody wants to come back to work. They’re getting too much money on unemployment.”

He noted that many of the jobs at the fair offered fair starting wages and benefits.

“But a lot of the people aren’t really interested, I guess,” he said.