Katrina Evacuees Mired In Unemployment

Job Search Is Daunting Task For Relocated Hurricane Survivors

(AP) 
"I cannot help to wonder if (the unemployment) has anything to do with the uniqueness of the community," Ogunye said. "It seems like some have never had to make choices or decide for themselves."

There also might be some validity to evacuees' suspicions of employers passing on them for a fear they'll turn around and go home to Louisiana. At Career and Recovery Resources, which has tried finding work for 1,600 evacuees, manager Yvonne Chapman said she's had employers tell her they're "afraid they might go back home in six months."

Low-skill blue collar workers are the bulk of WorkSource's remaining clients from New Orleans.

But some white collar evacuees are struggling, too: Unic Little, 50, has a master's degree but says she has not gotten one response from more than 50 Internet job postings ranging from human resources positions to administrative work.

But truck driver Smith and his wife, Marion, had not looked for work because they do not know yet where they'll end up and the nearest bus stop is about a half-mile away.

Nearby, Lynette Scott uses the bus, but complains it takes two hours to get to interviews. Her strong resume that includes running a New Orleans janitorial company has not helped in the dozen postings she's answered, so she started a T-shirt company out of her FEMA apartment.

"If I can't find work from other sources, I'll make my own work," said Scott, who designs children's shirts printed with their parent's contact information in case they get separated, an idea inspired by Katrina. "I'm not looking for a handout."

Disaster unemployment assistance expired on June 4 for about 83,000 Katrina evacuees. Among them were Granderson Johnson, 46, a former Wal-Mart photo technician who moved back to Louisiana a few days after he stopped getting his assistance check for $108 a week. Applications he dropped off at a handful of photo labs near his apartment never panned out, he said.

"It got to a point where things just weren't happening," Johnson said.

The WorkSource building, like the attitude of Houstonians, is much different than in the weeks after busloads of Louisiana residents were brought to the city. Gone is a table near the front door where evacuees could collect information on assistance programs, and the office no longer has a backlog of sympathetic employers eager to hire refugees.

"The attitude has shifted," said Rod Snyder, manager of WorkSource's southwest office.

WorkSource reports the agency has placed about half of the 24,000 refugees who sought work through their programs and training. Most of the other half abandoned the training or lost touch. Asked if there was any reason why a person who wanted a job in Houston could not find one, Ron Rodriguez, director of operations for WorkSource, said, "No."

That sentiment is shared at WorkSource's southwest office, where about seven of every 10 clients Ogunye meets is a Katrina refugee. The WorkSource building conspicuously stands out on a street of fast-food restaurants and strip malls, some with "Help Wanted" on the marquees.

Ogunye said "one does begin to wonder" why so many are still jobless after 10 months. Fellow counselor Melodie Lee was more blunt: "(Katrina) was awful, but let's move on. It is time you had a Plan B."