the worst thing is not being able to go into the office and interact with the people there is no middle anymore I mean the middle is literally disappearing I don't think the wrongs are there anymore I think you what's happening is I'm hanging on to both legs of the ladder and just sliding back down you know that hello everyone I'm Joanne Farion welcome to tonight's envision San Diego broadcast the incredible shrinking middle class this may not come as a surprise to many of you watching but nearly 40% of you don't make enough money to live in San Diego expensive housing gas food it adds up to America's finest and 11th most expensive city in the United States according to a report just released by San Diego Workforce Partnership a single person needs to earn about $34,000 a year to live in this county however 37% of all the jobs here don't pay that much tonight we'll tell you who makes all the money where the good jobs and the not-so-good jobs are and what you need to do to try and climb out of that low wage rut we'll introduce you to three people who've lost their jobs in the past year and we'll follow them as they try to find new ones and we'll give you the big picture too here's a hint imagine the shape of an hourglass that skinny part in the middle that might be where you fit in or used to fit in it's the shrinking middle class here's the story almost every day a million and a half people in San Diego County go to work they deliver things they clean the streets they flip burgers work in hospitals and office buildings a new report by the San Diego Workforce Partnership says many of them are overqualified and underpaid and if they're feeling like they're in a rut these days it's probably because they are the report says people in San Diego County have less of a chance to get ahead in the next five years than they did five years ago because middle-class jobs are disappearing I got my master's degree great you're over bone San Diego County's unemployment rate is at a 13-year high 6.4 percent that's a half point higher than the national average 100,000 people are looking for work in the county here's some of them at a local job fair I give you my resume my name is Jenny Carol powers I am 52 years old and I had worked for Washington Mutual on and off for about 20 years Jenny Carol powers lost her job nearly one year ago she is one of 6,000 Washington Mutual employees across the country who have lost their jobs most in the lending side of the business I called my husband actually on the phone I said to him you're not going to believe this but we're being closed down he said no really we're being closed down and in the beginning I thought gosh I'm going to have some time off you know coming up to the holidays it's going to be great you know when the holidays are over I'll get very very serious and look for work so he was you know of the same opinion that I was that it was going to be okay that you know I'd be able to fall back into something in the new year but that's not what happened Scripps health I've played there maybe 25 times Carol powers has filled out dozens of applications gone to a handful of interviews and still no job offers for a woman with two college degrees who's never been out of work her entire life it's demoralizing during the week I get down because I feel like what is wrong with me why can't I get a job I see these people walking around in Costco and in different places and you know working there and think why can't I get a job here there we go at the weekends I'm fine because it's the weekend and I'm used to my weekends off but come Monday morning again it's getting back on that horse and here we go again you know plodding along you know with a sense that nothing's going to happen this week either and depressing depressing I'll go to Costco and get some fresh bread they're all filled up Carol powers and her husband Mike powers with a classic picture of the upper middle-class family Mike is 63 years old he spent most of his career as a public defender before Jenny lost her job he was getting ready to retire and now works part-time earning fifty four thousand dollars a year Jenny made 58 thousand dollars a year at her job at the bank now she collects four hundred and fifty dollars a week in unemployment benefits those benefits will end in November their two grown children live with them and go to college plans for retirement are on hold the family is already using their savings to pay bills there is stress but also signs this is a family pulling together and a 21 year marriage that began with a six-week courtship has been Carol powers greatest support he lets me up every time I fall down or if I make a mistake or you know I'm very forgiving very young very loving thank God thank god he's here otherwise so we'd be we would really be in trouble I would be in trouble he sounds like a great guy he is a great guy he's a great guy look at you the finance sector has been especially hard hit this year as the mortgage meltdown continues to ooze foreclosures lenders tighten their wallets and their operations the industry was one of the few in the county that offered good-paying jobs without a university degree an exhaustive study by the Workforce Partnership a nonprofit corporation that coordinates training with employment found only 31% of jobs in the financial sector required a degree but paid among the highest salaries in the region an average of more than 73,000 dollars but San Diego County has lost at least 2,000 of those jobs a sector that five years ago had one of the greatest areas of growth it's another rung off the ladder to upward mobility gone it's a tough market right now signs of job loss are also found in empty storefronts economist Alan Jin says the county has always been short on middle-class manufacturing jobs because of a lack of water and an outdated Airport but many more of those jobs have followed the national trend and moved out of the country to China and India there's still growth in areas like education and health care for example which provides some pretty good middle income type of jobs but yeah you know due to the the damage that we've had the real estate market the jobs in construction the jobs and lending the jobs in real estate escrow things like that have all suffered considerably you know we're down more than 15,000 jobs since the peak in those in those areas and so those used to be areas where you know people without the greatest education could could go and earn good income and move into the middle class but earning a good income or even a livable income in San Diego is becoming increasingly difficult the Workforce Partnership study says a single person needs to make thirty four thousand dollars for the basics here's the breakdown a single person in San Diego spends the largest portion of her paycheck on utilities in rent about one thousand dollars transportation almost five hundred dollars healthcare 460 taxes four thirty food two hundred and thirty dollars and clothing and personal expenses account for about two hundred and twenty dollars thirty-seven percent of jobs in the county don't pay enough to cover those costs a family of five needs a hundred and ten thousand dollars again housing costs the most about eighteen hundred dollars health care seventeen hundred dollars transportation sixteen hundred taxes thirteen hundred child care nearly one thousand one hundred dollars every month food almost a thousand dollars and clothe and personal expenses 720 overall the Workforce Partnership study describes the San Diego employment landscape as the shape of an hourglass the report says unfortunately the region's job opportunities follow the pattern of many other areas in today's economy some well-paying jobs at the top a lot of low-paying jobs at the bottom and a small and diminishing middle class but the hourglass is not symmetrical there are far more people at the bottom than at the top I'm neuron frano I'm 54 years old and I work in the pharmaceutical industry and I am in regulatory affairs and I am now looking for work because the company had a 50% layoff and due to a failed clinical study and the project being cancelled but even the people at the top are getting pushed down until a few weeks ago Duran Freneau was working in biotech earning one hundred and ninety five thousand dollars a year she has 23 years experience guiding biotech companies through the regulatory process putting new drugs through clinical trials and making sure they meet FDA guidelines today frano scans the internet checks her blackberry and makes phone calls from her bedroom amid the construction of her new bathroom the worst thing is not being able to go into the office and interact with the people the job I had I loved my job and I loved my boss we just you know went into work and had a good time during the day you know it wasn't work it was you know it was teamwork it was fun it was we got things accomplished we were you know making big strides and that's gone you know so I mean I don't miss the traffic but I miss being with people where are you at right now in the process today I kind of want to frame where you're at today so we can move forward today I'm a little pessimistic although I do have an interview tomorrow my second interview at this company but I got that you know pre-interview depressed state right now Fran o is hoping her career coach Sondra pellet J will get her back into the workforce before she has to choose between staying in San Diego or leaving out of all the other people that you've met that do what you do do you meet most people who are more qualified and better than you probably not okay so thank you so the point is though and look I understand this like confidence right you got to fake it till you make it Fran owes chances of getting a job may be greater statistically than Jenny Carroll powers because high tech high skilled high paying jobs in San Diego are experiencing some growth according to the Workforce Partnership study 114 thousand people worked in high skilled high tech industries in 2004 that number is expected to grow to nearly 127 thousand in 2014 these are the engineers the scientists and computer scientists this is also where all the money is the average annual salary in this sector is $80,000 the average salary for all workers in the region is just forty-three thousand dollars when you're searching for work you're fishing for a job back in the good old days making a living wasn't nearly as complicated as it is today and chances are your parents or grandparents probably only needed to get one job their life's work and do that same job until retirement many jobs in San Diego County back in the 30s and 40s were in aviation and maritime industries after Pearl Harbor was bombed the US Pacific Fleet was moved to San Diego County the move transformed the city back then one in four jobs were in the military and today the military continues to contribute to a 1/4 of all jobs directly or indirectly but the largest number of job openings the place you'll find work in this county is here at the bottom in restaurants hotels and shops here are some of the statistics between 2004 and 2014 occupations that had and will have the most job openings are retail salespeople 27,500 openings cashiers 17900 and waiters and waitresses nearly 15,000 job openings they all earn less than $10 an hour registered nurses are among the highest in demand and the highest paid in that 10 year period there were and will be nearly 8500 job openings and they're paid more than $32 an hour my name is Christopher Dara I'm 24 years old and I live in San Diego and I've been unemployed for about two months now and I'm looking for a job in either education counseling or IT and IT field and that's where I'm at right now Chris Durda didn't think he would have to start at the bottom not with the university degree but according to the US Census Bureau nearly 30 percent of the population has a bachelor's degree well I walked down Garnett up you know last week and a couple times just applying for jobs and stores and restaurants and stuff like that just to get something in the meantime until I got other things worked out and of all the jobs I applied for I only got maybe two responses and I felt overly qualified for a lot of the jobs that I applied for so I would say that the competition is pretty fierce if you know if it's if it's that difficult to even get a call back what I'm doing is going on my facebook Durda spends mornings online looking for work he does have prospects he spent the past year working as an aide to a special needs student and he's qualified to be a substitute teacher but after spending a year in the workforce Durda has decided his degree in criminal justice has not prepared him for the career he wants the career he is now searching for I kind of was under the assumption as many students are that a degree is a degree Durda has discovered what the experts will tell you what workers in San Diego tend to be overqualified for their jobs there is still a need for people with math and science degrees those are the skills that will get you jobs in high-tech sectors the areas that pay the most money it used to be that even if you had just a high school education you could go and get a job in a factory probably unionized and you can make a pretty good middle-class wage now those jobs are disappearing and increasingly in order to move into the middle and the upper classes you're going to need high levels of education the jobs in the future are going to be increasingly technology oriented as good jobs get replaced by low-paying jobs and the cost of living our food our gas our housing keeps getting more expensive the question really is where does the middle class go and without the middle how will you make the climb up are you struggling emotionally a bit because you know I am looking forward saying what if I don't get another job in which you know another thing about my friends and family they're saying you're going to get another job don't worry about it but I've seen colleagues lose their job and it take them six months to find another job and you know that's that puts terror in me because I don't know how I would pay my bills if I was unemployed for six months oh they really do where you smell good so this is what lifts me up when I'm down in the dumps and I look at some positions and says $10 an hour or you know and then if I read further into the Job Description says must have a college degree you know those are entry-level positions and at 20 years a financial experience in my background it's I don't want to take a step backwards but I'm going to have to if if things don't improve things are looking pretty much like I'm going to have to take not just one step but several steps backwards to keep just to keep us afloat you know so that we don't go down and under when Jenny Carroll powers and her husband planned their financial future they did everything right they didn't bite on credit they never robbed the equity from their home and they saved they never expected to be rich they just wanted to make the steady climb up the middle-class ladder I don't think the rungs are there anymore I think you what's happening is I'm hanging on to both legs of the ladder and just sliding back down you know that that there's this and there's very little you know there's no wrong there to at least stop my fall you know and it seems to keep getting worse and worse I mean it's it's it's so hard out there we've painted a pretty bleak picture for you but we do want you to know there is hope out there and it comes from many sources there are several free training programs in San Diego County for people who are unemployed and underemployed programs designed to train people in areas where there are better paying jobs I'm joined now by mark Cafferty he's CEO and president of San Diego Workforce Partnership mark thanks for being here thanks for having me we presented a big problem what are some of the solutions your organization can offer yeah it is it is a big problem it's a growing problem but exactly as you said I mean we really want people to know that there's a lot of hope out there it's actually why we do a study like this we want to make sure that folks know where there is job growth and where there is opportunity we run a series of career centers around San Diego County and we do that with a huge base of partners and those partners are in education and higher education those partners are community-based organizations they are organizations that know the community that they work with and their organizations that actually know the industries that they're preparing people for so through our six one-stop Career Center's people can come in and really find the next step towards a career and for us the thing we really wanted to promote in this report and we tried to as articulately as we could San Diego is a very well-educated region but education and training are really changing and they're changing they need to change at the speed that the economy is changing at and that's pretty fast that's about pretty fast speed these days so what you have now is training that doesn't necessarily look like it always did shorter term training training that is very specific to connect someone to a job quickly get them the skills that they need or help them upgrade their skills get them to take some skills that are transferable to another industry and polish them up and our career centers are a great first step for folks in finding out where those options are they could be right there in the Career Center for them or they could be one step away at a partner of ours in the community when you talk about training and education though we met a couple of people in their 50s in our program so we're not necessarily saying you have to go back to university and get a different degree or get a degree you're saying what to them they could I mean if they wanted to they could and I think that's even different these days those degrees can be obtained online once they couldn't those degrees can be obtained through executive education programs and extension programs but I think what we're really trying to say to everyone especially more mature workers who are a growing segment of our workforce and a very very critical segment of our workforce is that what everyone needs to do is really start to think of themselves as a lifelong learner it doesn't matter if you are a technician it doesn't matter if your skills are administrative by nature it doesn't matter if you're working in a hospital or if you're working in finance as things change you need to be somebody who is a good problem solver and someone who can roll with those changes as new technology comes into an industry and organization you have to be someone who can prove that they can use and master that technology quickly as new opportunities arise in a company for you to step into a leadership role you have to be able to find the places that can help prepare you for those leadership positions quickly and I think universities do it SDSU you SD Cal State San Marcos wonderful places for those types of programs as our community colleges into older workers I think they'll find themselves with a more diverse base of training that they can go back and find and they really just need to find someone who can help give them some guidance as to what's right for them right now based on where they are and where they want to go great thanks Mark Cafferty for being here thank you very much I appreciate it as you heard earlier in our program there are 100,000 people in the county looking for work they are young graduates middle aged men and women unemployed for the first time stay-at-home moms making their way back to the workforce and people new to our region hoping to make a new life in a new city we met many of them at a job fair the other day and as we leave you we want you to meet some of them too for envision san diego and KPBS i'm joanne Farion thanks for watching hi my name is Anita Ramirez and I've been unemployed for about a month now I am Dave Thompson I've been looking for work since the 8th of this month my name is Ed Wong and I've been looking for a job for about 16 my name is Ryan I've been looking for work for about 8 months my name is Tara Hamilton name is Carina her name is Kimberly writing hi I'm Tyler Jennings gray and I'm currently looking for jobs and careers in criminal justice and law enforcement I recently got out of the United States Coast Guard where I had five years of law enforcement experience and I graduated from San Diego State with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice my name is Renee Anderson and I have moved to the San Diego area in March of oh-6 looking to continue my career as a government analysts looking for work in the finance field but it's collapsed and it's difficult to find something I'm looking for jobs in like a laboratory a physics environment as that's what my degree is in I just graduated from San Jose State with my degree in journalism I'm now looking for full-time because I had worked part time because I was raising a family and now my sons are all grown I'm looking for a job in customer service and most of my experience is a customer service it's really difficult to actually find a job in your field I have a degree but I've been looking and hopefully I'll be able to find something you
