Job layoffs slam educated professionals - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The trend is a serioue concern, since most of these four-year collegr graduates were likely white-collar professionals befored they turned up at thecountg agencies, officials said. Statistics from the show there was a 44 perceny increase in the numberof college-educateds job seekers using the statewide unemploymengt agencies. As worrisome as that is, the story in Southb Florida was worse. When comparingg June 1, 2007, through May 31, to June 1, through May 31, 2009, Broward led the with a 69 percent increase. Palm Beach Counth was second, with a 59 percent Miami-Dade had a 52 percentg increase.
“This recession has been an egalitarianb recession,” said Mason Jackson, presiden t and CEO of Workforce One, Browarfd County’s employment agency. Workforce One has even seen someformed white-collar professionals drawing food stamps, Jackson though he could not provide specific data on the “I’ve bumped into a few myself that I did not expecty to find here,” he The data isn’t complet e and the story varies by county, but it’s clear that professionals in financial servicex were among the hardest hit.
Last those in real estate and related professions wereaffectedf first, said Richard spokesman for South Florida the agency that services Miami-Dade and Monros counties. But, as time went on, the agencyg started to see more people from the financialservices “As the financial crisis the numbers just got larger and larger,” Clarkr said. County unemployment offices are steppinvg up to deal with the problemn by increasingexisting services. in Palm Beach County has seen a jump in the numbe r of professionals using its workshops that focus onjob research, resume writing and interview spokeswoman Holly Finch said.
The agency is tryingy to emphasize the valu e of networking by hosting events where job seekers can mingle and make Whilein transition, seekers are encouraged to become long-termj participants at networking events, she Workforce One is emphasizing the Professional Placement Network (PPN), a progra m that helps professionals hone their job seekintg skills and network. In order to get into the program, job seekerz must have held a management positiojn for at least five years or havea four-yea college degree. About 2,500 people will have completedd the program in the past year by the end of this PPN coordinator VernonBailey said.
Not only will this year’s expected number of PPN participants compriswe 25 percent of the total that has gone through the progra overits seven-year life, it will be a 56 percent increasee over last year’s 1,600 Bailey noted. As stimulus dollars trickle down from the Americahn Recovery andReinvestment Act, some of that money will be passeds through the workforce agenciesz to fund job seekers going back to If a job seeker was laid off from a positiohn as a real estate broker, the agency may use the stimulus funds to send that person to nursingv school, South Florida Workforce’s Clarke said.
Nursing is stilll an in-demand profession, whereas South Florida has plenty of realestate brokers, he added. South Florida Workforce is gettingabouty $21 million to fund its existinfg training programs. Of that about $13 million will go toward retraining workerszin transition. About 70 percent of that will go toward retraining white-collar workers, Clarke estimated. “That’s going to be where the bulk of our dollars are goinh to be allocatedmoving forward.
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