Boomers struggle to find work

By LISA BERNARD-KUHN

The Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI

In Cincinnati, 55-year-old David McCarty feels fortunate to be hauling hazardous chemicals cross-country in a big 18-wheeler.

But the work and pay are far removed from the life he used to have as a well-paid telecom exec.

In Cleveland, 56-year-old Warren James lost his manufacturing job after three decades of hard work. Now, the father of two is retooling — learning advanced manufacturing from instructors half his age.

For tens of thousands of Ohio baby boomers, the recession has delivered the big bust. Once unemployed, the state’s oldest workers take longest to be rehired. In early February, half of everyone claiming unemployment benefits for 74 weeks or longer were age 45 to 64.

Now, instead of easing into retirement, boomers are drawing down savings and starting all over.

Instead of paying for their kids’ college, they’re competing with kids for jobs. Instead of being valued for their experience, they’re having to learn new skills in hopes of simply keeping up.

If they’re lucky, the jobless weeks won’t last too long. But for many, the relief is new work at half the pay and few of the old benefits. Others succumb to the stress and simply give up the fight.

Almost two years after the Great Recession’s end in June 2009, boomers are still feeling the squeeze. It’s evident at the Hyde Park Community Methodist Church in Cincinnati, where hundreds of boomers meet weekly to tap into resources of the Job Search Focus Group, a professional networking organization.

One by one, newcomers introduce themselves: laid-off lawyers, plant managers, marketing executives, nonprofit directors, professionals from every field. They share their r sum s and decades of work experience with the crowd.

“Every week I see people come in here and come to the realization that they are not a loser,” says Bob Pautke, president of the group. “There are very qualified and very talented candidates. And the fact is there are a lot of other people out there who are in their position.”

Reinventing a career

For the long-term unemployed, there are levels of low, David McCarty says.

There’s self-pity that leaves you asking: Why is this happening to me? There’s self-doubt that creeps in after being rejected by yet another employer.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” says McCarty, 55, a West Chester Township resident who spent nearly 20 lucrative years in the telecom industry before finding himself out of work in 2004.

During his career, McCarty had risen through the ranks, working in executive positions with major long-distance providers.

But with a r sum that touted vice president positions and hefty salaries, McCarty found his job search to be tougher than expected.

A string of commission-only positions, ranging from consulting work to selling office equipment, turned out to be worse. McCarty found himself digging into his own wallet to foot the bill for work and travel expenses.

“I went from making a six-figure salary at one time to nothing in two years,” he says.

Then McCarty’s wife, Mary, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2009. The family had no health insurance and little left in savings. They lost their home 10 days before Christmas in 2010.

The family packed up and moved into a condominium that they continue to rent today. McCarty went into survivor mode.

Rather than continue to hunt for a job that leveraged his experience as an executive, McCarty decided to refocus his search altogether. He had seen the signs numerous times, posted on the sides of semi-trucks: Drivers needed.

After a few months’ training, McCarty had his commercial driver’s license and a new career in front of him.

Now, McCarty spends up to six days a week in a big rig hauling 50,000 pounds of hazardous materials, mostly animal fats, across the U.S.

“I don’t love driving a truck, but there are trucking jobs available,” McCarty says.

The instructor in the shop looks younger than Warren James’ daughter.

James spent more than half his life working with specialty metals, running multimillion-dollar equipment. Now at 56, the Cleveland man is without a job and back in school, learning advanced manufacturing alongside teenagers.

“I would have topped out at about $27 [an hour] and change. I had 30 days of vacation. They had a good 401(k) program,” says James, who worked at CSM Industries from 1977 to 2009. “It was a good job. I was making decent money.”

After losing his job, James invested his severance pay in a new carpentry business that he eventually took a loss on. Despite his 30-plus years in manufacturing, all he could find was temporary work — a few months at one job, a few days at another. On top of that, his wife, Annette, had to take a pay cut.

Bills piled up, and the family lost their home to foreclosure. Retirement savings and money James had hoped to put toward his son and daughter’s college vanished as well.

James knew the skills he used in his old job weren’t going to help him find his next job. So now, he’s taking classes at Cuyahoga Community College’s Unified Technology Center, learning how to run CNC machines. The computer-programmed tools are used in almost every manufacturing plant in the country.

By April, he hopes to earn certifications for operating and programming the tools.

Already, James has landed a few interviews and assurances from companies that they need skilled CNC people.

“I don’t really view losing the job as such a bad thing. Now, I feel like I have another career, and I have an opportunity to do something I really wanted to do,” he says. CONTRIBUTOR: Robert Schoenberger of The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer.