With The Recession Refusing To Go Away, Unemployment Angst Becomes A Fact Of American Life -- Job Insecurity

You certainly can't escape the stories: layoff after layoff among white-collar businesses you probably never thought would do such things.

But they have. And people are on the streets because of it all, looking - some of them for the first times in their lives.

Several experts in this economy of ours say "get used to it" - we're going to see things get worse before they get better.

Age-old saying for a new-age angst.

What follows, on this Labor Day weekend, are stories from people involved in that angst, from those who see the impacts every day to those who have lived - and are still living - those impacts.

GETTING LAID OFF IS PAINFUL FOR EVERYBODY

When good, longstanding employees lose their jobs in a corporate reshuffle, it can be almost as devastating as a death in the family.

They may have a hard time even believing it's true when the boss first lowers the ax. Then comes anger and fear. They'd always assumed if they were loyal, excellent performers there'd be a place for them.

"Those are the people I've found who feel a profound sense of betrayal," says Alene H. Moris, a career consultant to corporations and individuals.

In the past, it was realistic to count on corporate benevolence.

"Many of your big, responsible, ethically oriented organizations . . . did everything in their power to keep people if they had a history of loyalty and competence," Moris says.

But rapid change, competition and tough economic times are forcing industries to fine-tune. In the process, they often can't find a place for valued, but no longer needed, employees.

Some companies fire unwanted people at will. But especially larger corporations usually try to make the ending better. They offer a severance package that includes not only money but outplacement counseling.

The counselor may coach the manager on how to humanely and legally fire the employee, then help those fired get past the anger.

"Otherwise, it gets rancid and can just make people bitter the rest of their lives," says Moris.

Some people have an exceptionally rough time.

One executive who lost his job didn't tell his wife right away. Instead, he left the house every morning as if he was heading for work, unable to "face the indignity of it all, the enormity of it," says Raymond Kevane, of R.A. Kevane & Associates, a career consulting firm.

Another man Kevane heard about "spent six months licking his wounds and in the process lost a house on the coast and one in town and was reduced pretty much to poverty."

People may find themselves uncontrollably weepy.

"I'm afraid I'm losing my mind," one former executive confided to Mary Lou Hunt, owner of the Individual Development Center Inc.

A few of the fired are upbeat, even relieved. They wanted out and their severance package was a better deal than if they'd left on their own.

A crucial role of the counselor is to help those fired stay on track emotionally. Say an employee starts out job hunting full of vigor and confidence.

"Then things don't happen. The doubts crop up again. The depression can come," says Hunt.

Counselors also encourage fired employees to learn from past mistakes.

If the layoff caught them by surprise, perhaps they failed or refused to recognize the signs that bad times were brewing - such as cost cutbacks and hiring freezes.

"People think: `Oh, well. Maybe it'll be OK for me.' Hope springs eternal," says Hunt.

It's also common that a good person who gets squeezed out has "either unwittingly or purposely chosen not to play politics," says Moris.

They didn't make sure the right people knew they were doing a good job and didn't align themselves with those in the power structure.

Most who've been laid off "pull out and go on to a much wiser life and a good life," says Moris.

"Where I really ache is when this happens to people in their 50s and they don't have easily marketable skills."

Starting over again in one's 50s or 60s, competing with younger people with better credentials who can do the job for less money can be grim.

"It was much easier in the '70s to change people from one profession to another," says Jo Mabin Peterson, manager of Snelling & Snelling personnel agency. In a recession, companies can't afford to retrain people. They're pickier about what skills people possess coming in.

Some of this trauma can be avoided by having a backup plan ahead of time, says Moris. People should develop expertise in a different field by taking courses on the side, reading or going back for an advanced degree.

The counselor also advises paying attention to how the business of the business is evolving and making sure your job is on the up-curve rather than becoming obsolete. - Marsha King

A BLESSING IN DISGUISE

Under optimal conditions, from downtown Bellevue it takes about 20 minutes to reach the peaceful chunk of civilization called Preston, an otherwise rustic outpost rimmed by trees, rolling hills and little else.

And that would be making good time indeed.

It took Myra Teng-Hodges nearly 15 months to get there - to both the peace of mind, which she now possesses, and the piece of property that contains the Fall City-Preston Florist, which she now owns.

Her journey was prompted three and a half years ago, when the local retailing chain Teng-Hodges worked for eliminated a management position that she happened to hold. At the time, she was 39 and the sole wage-earner in a family that included a 2-year-old son, Christopher.

Initially, Teng-Hodges searched for another job in retailing. Problem was, she said, "The kind of position I was looking for isn't the kind companies advertise in the newspapers."

When the unemployment benefits ran out, Teng-Hodges' family lived off their savings. Their situation never became desperate, she says, because the family learned to get by on less. Plus, she remained confident of her ability to earn money; she was just uncertain about how she'd like to go about it.

"It's hard to move away from something you've done for so long," Teng-Hodges said. "It's like the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. I needed to get all the kinks out of my system, so when I woke up in the morning, I didn't think about retailing, so I didn't think about all the things I used to do."

One thing stuck in her mind, however: flowers. Just out of college, Teng-Hodges attended a floral-design school in Portland, but determined then that the only way to make a living with flowers was to own a shop. Recalling that 15-year-old decision, she bought a flower shop a year and a half ago.

Today, business is up 80 percent, yielding a modest living, and the florist shop is truly a family affair. Myra sells and designs arrangements. Her husband, Dick, maintains the shop and makes deliveries. He also opens several mornings a week, allowing Myra to spend time with their children - Christopher, now 5, and Stephanie, 5 months - who hold court in the shop for several hours every day.

Though the result of a midlife career change, Christopher and Stephanie's floral-patterned childhood also bears the scent of genes-derived fate. After all, while growing up in Hong Kong, their mother couldn't wait to scrape up her coins every day and stop the flower man when he pedaled by with his wares.

"Sometimes I think I was predestined to work with flowers," Teng-Hodges said. "Now I get a lot of rewards from small things, not necessarily monetary - just knowing that something I created enhanced an occasion or brought comfort to someone.

"Like I told my husband recently, it's better to deliver flowers than bad messages to people."

The workplace has taught her a lot about both. - Glenn Nelson

STARTING OVER ISN'T EASY

Of all the places Bill thought of his career taking him, the Employment Security Department's Bellevue Job Service Center wasn't one of them.

But that's exactly where Bill found himself this June after his much-loved executive job with a law firm "was eliminated. I had no sense it was coming," he says.

So at age 61, Bill, who prefers his real name not be used, found himself visiting the squat, beige building to apply for unemployment benefits and begin his job search anew.

On a recent day, while babies squalled in the waiting room, job seekers like Bill searched for their futures among the posted job listings.

Brake mechanic: $7.25 an hour. Breakfast cook: $8 an hour. Cabinet maker: $6 an hour.

The voice of a woman floated through the air. "There are no positions in Bellevue. This is not really a job."

Not one for self-pity, Bill's not ready to concede to that kind of discouragement. But he does concede that finding a job matching his qualifications and a salary that was "significantly above average" won't be easy.

On the job board: Manager-trainee for $15,000 a year. Retail manager: $16,500. Pickings in the professional category are proving more lucrative.

About the best are a senior-level engineer, at $44,543, and a retirement analyst at $30,731.

But nothing, really, for Bill, who was once vice president of finance for a company. That years-ago job was eliminated, too.

So once again, he's on unemployment. "You'd rather you didn't have to, but the reality is it's there for a little bit of a safety net, and you need to use it," he says pragmatically.

"I have the feeling I'm a lot better off than a lot of people. There's a world of hurt (in the employment office). So many people don't look very encouraged about life."

At the Bellevue job service center, about a third of the roughly 1,000 job hunters seen each month are professionals. But only 20 percent of the job listings are.

"We tend to have a gap," acknowledges Barbara Ranger, the center's administrator. She wishes employers would realize "we have a lot of professional people in our area" and volunteer more job openings.

Bill is using every source he can. "There are not a lot of jobs, but you certainly respond to every ad and do the networking you can."

He's particularly high on the nonprofit organization Forty Plus, which helps professionals age 40 and older network together to find jobs.

Although Bill would very much like another job with a law firm, he knows that at his age, and with the market being what it is, he can't be too choosy.

So his second choice is "financial manager or an administrative position in a corporate or professional service organization, such as health-care facilities, engineering, architecture, or an accounting firm."

Employment Security's Ranger says many professionals lack that necessary flexibility. As far as Bill's age goes, however, she believes being over 60 is not as much of a drawback as it was five years ago.

"Employers are a lot more receptive to older workers because qualified workers are hard to find."

Bill has also adjusted his salary goals. He expects to earn two-thirds of his previous salary. But he still hopes to get medical benefits and "a major element is what kind of retirement contribution I can make for the years I have to work.

"I'll probably have to work several years more than I'd planned because I anticipate I won't be able to make the kind of money necessary to set aside what I'd planned. That may stretch things out a bit."

With his children grown and his wife working part time, that has eased the burden somewhat.

Through it all, Bill is sustained by two thoughts. First, his job loss wasn't his fault. And second, there will be a job out there for him.

"There's only one thing to do, and that's to keep working at it," which he does daily.

"If you don't work at it, you can be guaranteed nothing will come of it.

"I keep telling people there are a number of jobs out there. I only want one." - Elizabeth Rhodes

REDUCTIONS IN FORCE

In 1990, some 49,000 Washington residents lost their jobs involuntarily. This is only a portion of total unemployment, which includes those who quit voluntarily.

King Co. 12,000

Pierce Co. 5,000

Snohomish Co 38,000

Among the companies who've announced employment reductions in the greater Seattle area within the last year:

Alaska Airlines

National Semiconductor

Hawaiian Airlines

AT&T

Boeing

Westin Hotels & Resorts

Seafirst

Security Pacific

Neorx Corp.

Nationally, the top five industries announcing employment reductions in 1991:

Retailing

Defense

Computers

Transportation

Financial services

Employment cuts nationally, mostly from publicly held U.S. companies, as reported to the federal government:

3rd quarter, 1989: 24,085

4th quarter, 1989: 67,250

1st quarter, 1990: 107,052

2nd quarter, 1990: 87,686

3rd quarter, 1990: 49,104

4th quarter, 1990: 72,205

1st quarter, 1991: 110,856

2nd quarter, 1991: 76,622

3rd quarter x 1991: 98,042 x

x 1ST HALF OF 3RD QUARTER. THIS MAY SET A RECORD.

NOTE: THESE FIGURES CONSIDERED CONSERVATIVE.

Number of weeks it took last year to get a job in Washington (based on number of weeks of unemployment benefits claimed):

All occupations: 12.2 weeks

Professional, technical: 14.0 weeks

Clerical: 12.5 weeks

Sales: 12.7 weeks.

Machine trades: 9.6 weeks

Benchwork occupations: 11.7 weeks

Unemployment rates in King County:

1981 - 9.5 percent

1982 - 9.9 percent

1983 - 9.6 percent

1984 - 7.5 percent

1985 - 6.4 percent

1986 - 6.2 percent

1987 - 5.8 percent

1988 - 4.7 percent

1989 - 4.5 percent

1990 - 3.7 percent

In 1991 so far the King County unemployment rates are:

January - 4.4 percent

February - 4.5 percent

March - 4.9 percent

April - 4.7 percent

May -- 4.5 percent

June - 4.5 percent

Between June 1990 and June 1991 the unemployment rate in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties increased 44 percent. For the balance of the state, unemployment has increased 35 percent.

The number of residents in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties receiving unemployment insurance benefits this July was 63 percent higher than last July.

State unemployment insurance benefits range from $64 to $258 a week for up to 30 weeks, depending on previous work history. To qualify you must be unemployed through no fault of your own.

SOURCES: WA. STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPT.; WORKPLACE TRENDS NEWSLETTER; TIMES NEWS SERVICES.