A group of long-term-unemployed people meet at the Platform to Employment program that was developed by Joe Carbone in Bridgeport, Conn.
Platform to Employment, Roger Salls Photography
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Joe Carbone can't sleep — and the odd thing is, he deals in hope. Carbone is the President and CEO of The WorkPlace, Inc., a non-profit workforce and economic development organization in Bridgeport, Conn. He developed an experimental program to help the long-term unemployed that was recently featured on "60 Minutes."
But the problem of the long-term unemployed in America is so large it weighs on him. "I can't tell you what this issue of long-term unemployment has done to me," Carbone said.
In the economic downturn, the Federal Government and some state governments have extended unemployment benefits beyond the standard 26 weeks — covering some people up to 99 weeks. But the way things currently stand, all extended benefits are set to expire at the end of 2012, putting everything back to a 26 week measure. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' June numbers has 5,370,000 people who have been unemployed 27 weeks or longer. The official unemployment rate is 8.2 percent, but if you add "discouraged workers" who have given up looking for a job, it jumps to 8.7 percent. "We are not talking about a small group of people," Carbone said. "I called it carnage on ('60 Minutes'). That's what it is."
And so Carbone set out to do something about it — developing a unique way to put the long-term unemployed at the top of the hiring pool by making the employers an offer they couldn't refuse.
DIFFERENT NEEDS
Justine tenZeldam and her husband lost their jobs in the San Fransisco area and went to live with her parents in Sacramento, Calif. Month after month, the lack of employment weighed down on her. "It wreaks havoc with self-esteem and confidence," she said.
She applied for various jobs. "But I got the line that I was over qualified for everything I was applying for," she said. "That can be equally discouraging. 'Just give me a job!' was what I was thinking."
But they didn't.
Her husband went back to school to become an art teacher. Eventually, she gave up. But not forever. For her, the fire came back six months later when people started suggesting she take a minimum wage job.
Carbone at The Workplace said part of the problem the long-term unemployed face is their needs change after six months — both emotionally and in their ability to get employers' interested.
