Prospects for jobs tough

Bidding on jobs mowing lawns.

That’s what it’s come to for Lawrence D. Dancer, 53.

"There’s so many lawn guys nowadays, they take the cheapest bid," Dancer said.

Dancer said he’s gotten a couple lawn-mowing jobs, which pay about $35 each (for the back and front yards), since he was fired from his job as a warehouse supervisor at an oil-field-related company June 11.

But it’s not coming close to paying his mortgage or supporting his wife and 16 and 10-year-old daughters, the younger of which has juvenile diabetes, he said.

Dancer, who doesn’t have health insurance, said they had to cancel a recent trip to Lubbock for a checkup for his daughter because they didn’t have the money for gas. He’s also worried about losing his house, because his family will likely be three months late on the mortgage later this month.

West Texas Opportunities and Catholic Charities have helped with the bills, but Dancer said they are limited in what they can do. And he hasn’t been able to obtain unemployment insurance, which could pay up to $392 a week, because of an unresolved dispute with his former employer.

"My family and friends have done a great job helping us, but they’ve got their own thing to take care of," Dancer said.

His wife was working two days a week at a church day care, but Dancer said that’s ended for the summer.

"I’m just hoping that things will turn around soon," he said. "We’re sinkin’."

Dancer, of course, isn’t alone. Since April 2008, the unemployment rate in Odessa has grown from 2.8 percent to 9.1 percent last month. Did new number come out this week??

The flood of jobless people into the market hasn’t made it easy, but it hasn’t stopped Dancer from applying for jobs. He said he’s had a few "prospects," but it hasn’t been easy.

"The most frustrating part has been somebody telling me I’m overqualified," he said. "I told one guy, ‘If I’m so overqualified, let me take your job.’ That didn’t go so well. I was escorted out."

Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, said he advises anyone who’s unable to draw unemployment benefits because of a dispute with their former employer to take any job they can get.

He said businesses like Telvista and the Family Dollar distribution center are still hiring.

"When the employers protests, there’s no other recourse but to get back on the job as soon as possible," Taylor said. "When you’ve got a family at home, you’ve got to make ends meet."

Before the current recession, the average time for someone to receive unemployment insurance was around 12 to 15 weeks, Taylor said. Now, it can take six or seven months before someone finds a job.

But to Dancer, the best way to avoid a long search for a job is not to lose one. And that means being a "team player."

"If you’ve got a job now, you hang onto it," he said. "I never have been able to, but you’ve got to kiss some butt."