Census jobs boost economy

The PG's Elwin Green brings us the story of Mike Jones, a South Fayette resident who's also a microcosm of a Census labor force unsure of what's next. The decennial US Census also gives a boost to unemployment figures -- and the gain was especially needed this past year. But what happens after everyone's counted?


By Elwin Green
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 29, 2010

For Mike Jones of South Fayette the 2010 Census has been more than a decennial ritual conducted by the federal government. It has been a much-needed break from a spell of unemployment.

Mr. Jones, 27, was let go from his job as municipal and state government reporter for the Washington Observer-Reporter a year ago. He began working in March, and still works, with the Beaver Falls office of the Census Bureau as a group quarters enumerator, tallying residents of hospitals, group homes and the like.

In so doing, he joined an army of temporary workers that signed on with the bureau in a hiring blitz that added 48,000 jobs to the nation's economy in March, 66,000 in April and 411,000 in May -- more than 95 percent of all jobs added that month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Now those jobs have begun to disappear.

Read more about my census job...

Remembering a proud Mountaineer

The news about Sen. Robert C. Byrd's death early Monday morning quickly spread out of West Virginia and into the main stream media. But it was another proud West Virginian who died Monday that meant more to me personally than losing the longest serving senator in United States history.

Bob Kelly, the managing editor of the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail, died yesterday while rehabilitating from a brief illness in his hometown of Parkersburg, W.Va.

BK -- as most of us in the Daily Mail newsroom called him -- was more than just a boss with an ornery personality; he was a mentor who made me a better reporter and writer. That doesn't mean it was ever easy with Bob. He would poke and prod and force you to ask the next tough question and/or rewrite your copy to adequately immerse readers in the story. I used to hate when my phone rang on deadline because I always knew it was him sitting in his office and spying on my story moments after I tapped it onto the computer screen.

"Heeeeeey, Miiiiiike," he would say in his slow West Virginia drawl. "Did you ask (insert random name here) about (insert random question here)?"

"Well, no, Bob," I usually stuttered in response. "I was gonna..."

"Well, why don't you do that, OK?" he demanded.

"But, Bob..." I started again.

CLICK!

And that was that. If I still didn't do the job right, he would scold me that I could do better. "Details, Mike," he would often say. "Details." But damn if he wasn't right every time. In the end, the story would be better because of the followup calls he would push me to make and the revisions I would begrudgingly insert. Those journalistic virtues have stuck with me ever since.

That was the way it went with the entire Daily Mail crew. From the editor-in-chief who hired me (Nanya Friend) to my immediate editor who offered both a carrot and a stick with his supervision (Brad McElhinny) I would gladly have run through a brick wall for every one of them.

But BK just pestered us to do better. Although his ornery personality drove us nuts, he also made us laugh with his sometimes bizarre rituals. After suffering from leg problems in 2005, he walked around the newsroom with a fish slipper on one foot to soothe the pain. Other times, he offered me encouragement when I faced difficult problems.

Less than a year on the job, I wrote a story about a local motorcycle builder who killed his wife and himself in front of their two children. I felt sick after receiving several nasty e-mails and phone calls about my story. But there was Bob Kelly to crack a lighthearted joke to pick up me and my coworkers from a sad situation. He added perspective to the ordeal that helped me return to work the next day.

He was a great newsman.

In the end, the media will pay more attention to Sen. Byrd's death than to the passing of BK. But the most influential West Virginian I have ever known is Bob Kelly. My thoughts are with Bob's family and the Daily Mail staff.

The wasted year

Well, this has been a massive waste of time.

It was a year ago this morning that I strolled into the O-R newsroom and took a seat at my desk to begin my last real workday. I spent an hour working the phones trying to get some info on a local bull riding arena that would be opening in the coming weeks. Then I received an instant message that fellow reporter Amanda Gillooly had been let go. About a half-hour later, the "editor" asked to see me.

"What the (bleep)!?" I shouted in my head.

I explained the rest of the story on this blog a year ago, but I still chuckle when thinking about the "editor" and owner asking me if I wanted to finish my workday. Hell no! Instead, I asked for a box to pack my stuff. Then I greeted several of my coworkers in the newsroom and said my goodbyes. I found it ironic that a couple of them were crying and I was not. They had a job, and I did not.

I thought it would be easy to find a new job. I have the education, experience and work ethic that a new employer would cherish. Damn, if I wasn't mistaken. From blogging to freelancing to campaigning to enumerating, it's been the most bizarre 365 days of my life.

And now we begin Year 2 in the unemployment line with little hope of finding sustainable work. Some might say things will turn around. We shall see. But there's really nothing else to do except keep blogging and plugging away.

So I present to you Vol. 2 of The Bread Line Blog

The squeaky wheel...

If only I knew a year ago. If only I knew that all I needed was for my mommy to call Tom Northrop at the Observer-Reporter and demand that I keep my reporting job. If only I knew that whining and moaning gets you exactly what you want in America.

That's what happened with the breadlining Pittsburgh piergoi just days after the Pirates fired him for insubordination. Rather than taking his punishment like a man, his "helicopter mother" swooped in and saved the day. She whined to the Post-Gazette, prompting a dismal media buzz that forced the Pirates to rehire the 24-year-old. The baseball club now claims the disparaging comments about the team on his Facebook site were not grounds to be fired, but I suspect that the bad publicity caused the quick turnaround.

If only I knew a year ago.

Although I still doubt the initial termination is news, I most certainly think the rehiring is newsworthy. It shows that hard work means very little nowadays as long as you stomp your feet until you get your way. It shows that you can trash your employer (the people who sign your paychecks) and get away with it as long as you're a cute and lovable pierogi.

So maybe that's the answer. Maybe I've been looking at the wrong career all along. I performed as The Wild Thing several years ago while interning with Washington County's minor league baseball team. Maybe next year I can find a teflon job as Sauerkraut Saul.

Not even fake news

By now, you've probably read about the heartbreaking tale of a Pittsburgh pierogi runner who lost his $25 per race job during this savage recession. The poor 24-year-old kid (who still lives at home) just wanted to run the pierogi races at Pirates games. What yinzer wouldn't love that gig? Unfortunately, this kid ripped the team on his Facebook page after it announced contract extensions for the GM and field manager. Then he was surprised when management canned him the next day for insubordination.

Somehow this turned into a front page story in the Post-Gazette when his mommy called the media to complain. What the heck compelled the P-G to run this "story" above the fold? This isn't news. It's not even fake news.

First of all, the kid made $25 per game. That's barely a part-time job. I'm sure he can make more money flipping burgers at a fast food joint. Second, not many companies take kindly to employees posting nasty comments on social networking sites. Anyone who thinks otherwise is sadly mistaken. Plus, this guy was suspended by the Pirates earlier due to a scheduling gaffe.

But my main complaint is with the P-G. When a helicopter mom calls you complaining that her son lost his barely part-time job for ripping the Pirates, that doesn't make it news. The fact that the P-G made this a story -- let alone a front page story -- is insulting for those of us who have lost real jobs for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

A shameful hiring policy

I already knew that every time I submitted a resume to a company, it would be competing against numerous other worthy candidates. What I didn't know (although suspected) was that I also was competing against myself.

A new CNN report shows that some companies are immediately discarding resumes from unemployed applicants. If it's true, that is a shameful hiring policy. How dare these companies turn away from willing applicants who have the audacity to seek a job. How dare they force us to trudge through the unemployment line, accepting welfare checks when all we want is a decent-paying job with a side of health care benefits.

"Making that kind of automatic cut is senseless; you could be missing out on the best person of all," said Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project. "There are millions of people who are unemployed through no fault of their own. If an employer feels that the best qualified are the ones already working, they have no appreciation of the crisis we're in right now."

I couldn't agree more. It makes you wonder how many applications were immediately chucked in the trash because the resumes don't include a current job. I seemed to have solved that problem by freelancing for the Tribune-Review and working as a census enumerator. However, I'm beginning to wonder if that U.S. Census Bureau position is a red flag that I'm without a full-time job.

Some think we should boycott the companies that use this practice, but who knows which employers are doing it? Most of us send our resumes into the tubes of internet, never to be heard from again. It's becoming increasingly clear that the cards are stacked against the unemployed. Unfortunately, it's worse than I previously thought.

Help wanted

Constituents loves to complain about their elected leaders and government. In fact, it's probably the thing we do best. So a couple local state representatives decided to launch an online "suggestion box" to channel the frustrations of Pennsylvania citizens.

Jesse White and Matt Smith, both Democratic representatives from Western Pennsylvania, uploaded the website, YourPaBudget.com, that asks for budgetary suggestions and posts them on the homepage for viewers to rate. Who knows if any of our ideas will be enacted in this year's budget, but I applaud White and Smith for giving us a platform to express our opinions. Hopefully they are reading them and taking notes on what their constituents want.

The site is easy to use and the suggestions appear online in just a few minutes. It's very interesting to read what others are thinking.

As for the most popular opinion? Reduce the size of the General Assembly.