Update on Post-Katrina Employment Picture

A few weeks ago, I wrote several Blawg posts on employment issues arising out of Katrina. Now I’m seeing lots more news stories about various aspects of Katrina’s impact on employment.

Jobs for evacuees seeking work outside the affected area. Hiring within that vast area for return to normal operations. Hiring for reconstruction. Employee documentation issues. And an innovative way for employers and employees to contribute to the relief effort.

One thing is clear: there is — and will continue to be — massive labor market readjustment due to Katrina, which will benefit some employers and employees greatly, while imposing hardship on others.

Here’s a sampling.

Jobs for Evacuees

First, a CNN story generally describing evacuees’ job prospects, featuring a displaced young lawyer from Gulfport. This story describes a very mixed outlook for jobseeking evacuees:

In cities with the most evacuees, such as Houston, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the job search could be difficult, analysts say.

“The question is how many people are entering the low-skilled markets in these new towns,” said Rebecca Blank, dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. “My guess is there is going to be pretty heavy and extended unemployment in the areas with the most evacuees.”

A fortunate few evacuees were able to remain with their employers, but in new locations. “We told associates that they could go to any facility in the country and have a job,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said . . . . Roughly 2,400 Wal-Mart employees took the company up on its relocation offer . . .

Many companies and civic organizations are reaching out to hurricane survivors to help them find new jobs. Regional civic and business organizations have sponsored dozens of Katrina-related job fairs across the country. Some individual companies, such as Station Casinos in Las Vegas, actively sought evacuees, particularly those with experience in casinos in Biloxi and New Orleans. . . .

For Internet-savvy job-seekers, CareerBuilder.com and Monster Worldwide have designed Web pages where employers and survivors can post and search jobs free of charge. The Monster site also includes a section for people who want to work in the reconstruction effort. . .

Many new jobs could result from Gulf Coast reconstruction. Congress and private organizations are expected to spend tens of billions of dollars in the region to help it recover. Tens of thousands of homes and business need to be rebuilt. “This is very good for the construction industry. “

“Hurricane evacuees’ next challenge: a job; Newly unemployed get helping hand from businesses, civic organizations”

Next, a story about a young man from Mississippi who had planned to get married and open his own Sonic burger franchise the day Katrina hit! He’s already relocated to Utah and found a position managing an IHOP.

“Evacuee finds new place to serve hungry customers “ by Jennifer Weaver (TheSpectrum.com, southern Utah)

Meanwhile, closer to the devastated region, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, demand for labor to run businesses serving both displaced persons and recovering locals is hot:

The influx of new residents, from evacuees to recovery workers, has meant an abnormal spike in sales everywhere from eateries to hotels and gas stations - and virtually every business outlet in between. . . .

Despite the wave of new residents, there aren’t in most cases enough potential employees to fill the job openings. . . .

In addition to scrambling for new workers, businesses have had to worry about keeping their staff intact that was in place when the hurricane hit.

“Service industry ’swamped’ with more patrons” by Curtis Rockwell (Hattiesburg American)

And from American Public Media’s Marketplace, an audio report on how several thousand Katrina evacuees are faring on George and Michael’s home turf, St. Louis.

Gwinnett County, Georgia, is benefitting from the presence of Katrina evacuees, as it tries to fill 60 police officer positions by years end, and received 19 applications from former New Orleans residents in a recent job fair for the thousands of evacuees living in metro Atlanta.

“Evacuees seek police jobs “

Shreveport, Louisiana, employers are also benefitting, placing evacuees in temporary and permanent positions that had been difficult to fill, due to high job growth in the area:

“Before, you had to search and search for people.” . . .

That’s because the number of people working in the Shreveport-Bossier City area jumped by more than 4,000 in the last three years — the only metropolitan area in Louisiana aside from New Orleans that has seen a steady increase in job creation in that time frame. . . .

But now with the evacuees, “the jobs we’re able to fill.” . . .

And they may be able to continue filling them for weeks to come. There have been at least 6,500 employable displaced residents temporarily living in northwest Louisiana . . .

“Hurricane evacuees continue to fill vacant jobs”

Hiring for Return to Normal Operations

As businesses in the affected areas start back up, and as reconstruction efforts gear up, labor demand may exceed supply, particularly in certain sectors, due to the massive evacuations. CNN reports:

The shortage is obvious at the city’s fanciest hotels, where a lack of staff means maid service is offered just once a week. It is just as glaring at fast-food restaurants, where long lines of cars snake through parking lots because most have only enough workers to operate drive-through windows. It’s virtually impossible to pass through any functioning part of town without seeing “Now Hiring” posted somewhere. . . .

Burger King, which first reopened its New Orleans restaurants by busing kitchen crews about 80 miles from Baton Rouge, has now taken the unprecedented step of offering $6,000 bonuses to hourly employees agreeing to work full-time for at least a year in the metropolitan area.

Most of the people who’ve been able to return to New Orleans have been either wealthy or in the middle class, in part because their neighborhoods were damaged the least — leaving a hole for business owners who depend on unskilled labor.

“The service industry and unskilled labor jobs are the ones really in demand and the people in that category have not come back,” said John Trapani, a professor and vice dean at Tulane University’s business school. “There will be a shortage of labor until population starts to return and who knows what percentage is going to return and when?”

The demand by services businesses for workers is set against a parallel demand for people to work in hurricane clean-up. Some employers have turned to immigrant workers from Central and South America to fill those jobs.

“Sign of recovery: ‘Now hiring’; Gulf Coast employers struggle to find service workers”

Hiring for Reconstruction

Obviously, there is a tremendous amount of cleanup and construction work to be done. The LA Times reports on a large influx of Mexican workers into New Orleans, suggesting the city may undergo a rapid and permanent change as African-American evacuees choose not to return and are essentially replaced by Mexicans:

Even after the construction work dries up, which isn’t expected for a year or two, there will be a huge demand for waiters, cooks, janitors and maids — and Latinos are likely to fill many of those jobs.

“They may be the new service class in New Orleans,” . . . “It only takes a few people to put down roots and begin the chain of migration.”

For decades, the city’s low-wage service industry was dominated by African Americans, many of whom lived in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina . . . [L]ess than half the Katrina evacuees living in Houston-area shelters plan to return.

“I don’t know how many African Americans are left in the city, but it’s not that many,” . . . “There is not enough labor to rebuild the city, and filling the vacuum are the Hispanics.”

Fueling the new wave of Latino residents in New Orleans will be the availability of low-cost housing, as many locals abandon homes that have been damaged by the hurricane. The newcomers will stay, . . . “because they can buy distressed property pretty cheaply.”

Clearly, right now nobody is asking too many questions about lawful employment status, and the INS has even suspended the I-9 certification requirement — ostensibly due to legitimate workers’ loss of paperwork in the disaster.

“Immigrants Rush to New Orleans as Contractors Fight for Workers, “

Employee Documentation Issues

Thousands of Katrina-displaced people have lost crucial personal papers. The government has recognized the problem this presents to employers and employees seeking immigration law compliance. All employees hired would normally have to present appropriate documents, but this requirement has been eased.

Nonetheless, people need to start reconstructing their paper identities. And the suspended I-9 requirement raises obvious concerns about the use of illegal workers by employers taking advantage of the situation.

Monster.com has put out some useful advice on how to recreate your paper identity if you lost it all in the disaster, suggesting starting with a new drivers’ license.

“How to Recover Your Documents After Disaster,” by Dona DeZube

Although employers will not face penalties for failure to obtain I-9s if identification is claimed to have been lost in the disaster, the government has other ways to try to enforce immigration laws.

One enforcement incident generated attention recently. Allegedly:

[P]olice and the U.S. Marshals Service swept into a Red Cross shelter for hurricane refugees . . . , blocked the parking lot and exits and demanded identification from about 60 people who looked Hispanic, including some pulled out of the shower and bathroom, according to witnesses. The shelter residents were told to leave within two days or else they would be deported.

“Police, U.S. Marshals demand ID from Hispanic-looking Katrina refugees” by Chad Terhune and Evan Pérez (Wall Street Journal, via Katrina and Rita News — Up Close and Personal)

Innovative Way for Employers and Employees to Contribute

Finally, BLR reports:

A coalition of business and charitable associations and the Internal Revenue Service have joined together to educate the nation’s employers about a leave-donation program benefiting Hurricane Katrina victims.

The leave-donation program offers favorable tax treatment for employees who donate annual, sick, or personal leave back to their employer. The employer converts the leave into cash and makes a contribution to a qualified charity supporting Katrina relief and recovery efforts. The employee pays no taxes on the value of the leave, and the employer may deduct the amount as either a charitable donation or as a business expense.

“Everybody wins under this program,” says IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “Employees can give without paying cash. Companies get the tax deduction. And the money gets to people in need.”

“Groups Promote Leave-Donation Program for Katrina Victims”