Snohomish County offers atypical jobs fair

At the first of three job and resource fairs planned this week in Snohomish County, a young couple pushing a baby stroller tried to get a lead on low-income housing. Justin Mickelsen and Taira Landa are living with her parents, but her stepfather recently was laid off and now the couple don't know how long they'll have a roof over their heads.

What they learned Wednesday is there's a one-year waiting list to get into subsidized housing in the county.

"It's kind of stressful," said Mickelsen, who works as a server for a national restaurant chain. "Right now I have a job and we've got a place to live, but we don't know what's ahead."

Snohomish County has been particularly hard-hit by the recession.

Three years ago, its local economy was hot, with just 3.4 percent unemployment. Now it has one of the region's highest jobless rates — 10.3 percent in December, compared with 9.5 percent statewide and 8.5 percent in King County, said Sue Ambler, CEO of the Workforce Development Council of Snohomish County.

In the last three months of 2009, almost 15,000 calls came into the 211 line that directs people to social services and government assistance in the five-county area from Snohomish County north to the Canadian border.

"The calls for help are up dramatically," said Carl Zapora, president and CEO of United Way of Snohomish County. "What we're seeing are many more people who have never been out of work."

County Executive Aaron Reardon said the people seeking help typically haven't needed it before and don't know what's available or how to access it. His office joined with United Way and the Workforce Development Council to sponsor the three resource fairs this week.

About 200 people attended the first session Wednesday in Everett.

"Our hope is that people find their pathway forward in difficult times," Reardon said.

Unlike traditional job fairs, this one includes, in addition to employment support, social-service providers and government agencies with information about personal finances, energy assistance, child care and health care.

Snohomish County Legal Aid attorneys offered free advice on home foreclosure, bankruptcy and domestic violence. Edmonds and Everett community-college staff had information on training programs and tuition assistance.

Rebecca Kobernik, a case manager in the Edmonds Community College Graduation Equivalency Diploma program, said that the college is seeing more people who left high school without degrees yet made good money in jobs such as construction.

"They're telling us they can't compete in this market without a degree," she said.

John Kimble, 46, an unemployed restaurant worker, went from booth to booth at the resource fair, hoping that if someone couldn't help him, he might be directed to someone who could.

He said he's worked for a succession of restaurants here and in Montana that, because of the recession, have gone out of business.

"I've worked all my life in this field. It's like they say. I'm not looking for a handout, I'm looking for a hand up," Kimble said.

Sue Van Paepeghem, 58, who was laid off in June from Frontier Bank, attended the fair.

Before Frontier, she'd worked 18 years as a school secretary. Neither schools nor banks are hiring, she said, and the competition for the jobs that are advertised seems overwhelming.

"About 900 to 2,000 people are applying for every job I've applied for," she said. "It's been really hard."

Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com