Wilmington couple laid off after honeymoon

Vickie and Mike Staley are now among the ranks of the underemployed.

Mike and Vickie Staley of Wilmington lost their jobs at ABX Air. Both are working at jobs that pay significantly less than what they were making.

JIM NOELKER/Staff Mike and Vickie Staley of Wilmington lost their jobs at ABX Air. Both are working at jobs that pay significantly less than what they were making. "Our retirement accounts aren't getting any bigger." Staff photo by Jim Noelker

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How bad is it? 17.5% in Ohio underemployed

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By William Hershey, Columbus Bureau Updated 8:30 PM Saturday, June 12, 2010

LEBANON — Vickie and Mike Staley of Waynesville know what “underemployment” means.

It means that their family income is 40 percent of what it was before both lost supervisor jobs at ABX Air in Wilmington in 2008 when DHL started closing down its freight hub.

They learned they were losing their jobs just three days after returning to work from their honeymoon.

Mike, at 52, still is looking for full-time work after 15 years on his old job. He didn’t think it would be this tough.

“I figured there were supervisor jobs out there,” he said. If there are, he hasn’t found them.

He drives a forklift truck for FedEx in Huber Heights about 25 to 30 hours a week, with the goal of eventually working full-time there.

Right now he jokes that he gets holidays off — “without pay.”

Vickie, 48, first worked part-time after losing her job of 13 years, but then landed a full-time job, with benefits, as an employment advocate for Warren County Community Services. Her pay is lower than in her previous full-time job.

“More than one of my checks goes for house payments,” said Vickie, originally from the Cedarville/Xenia area.

The Staleys have cut back on vacations, reduced cable and cell phone bills and quit some luxuries, like seeing first-run movies.

“Our retirement accounts aren’t getting any bigger,” added Mike, who grew up in Kettering.

In Ohio and across the country, the headlines from the Great Recession blare tales of high unemployment, but for hundreds thousands of people like the Staleys underemployment has become a life-changing challenge.

Ohio’s April unemployment rate was 10.9 percent, the 13th straight month of double-digit joblessness. Underemployment, however, is even higher, 17.5 percent, affecting nearly one in five Ohio workers.

The category, as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, includes the unemployed, part-time workers like Mike Staley looking for full-time jobs and people who want to work but who haven’t actively sought a job for a month.

It doesn’t include another group — those overqualified for the full-time jobs they’ve been able to find.

The Staleys know that not all families have been able to adjust as well as they have.

“We don’t want to cry about the loss of vacation ... the loss of income,” said Mike Staley.

Heidi Shierholz, who studies employment issues at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning Washington think tank, said some families have to make almost impossible choices.

They struggle to “meet your rent and car payments and get shoes for your kids,” she said. “It’s a huge burden to families.”

In her new job as an employment advocate for Warren County Community Services, Vickie Staley regularly sees examples first hand as she tries to help clients find work.

There’s no typical underemployed worker, she said.

There’s the former full-time certified electrician who worked on construction projects, now working part-time.

There’s a former maintenance manager at an apartment complex with more than 200 units, now working part-time as a general laborer.

There are success stories, of sorts, like the project manager with a Bachelor of Science degree who used to design and build retirement communities. After losing his job, he worked part-time stocking shelves at a department store, a position that turned into full-time work.

With the uncertainty surrounding an economy recovery, it’s difficult to gauge how long the high underemployment will endure, but it’s not likely to come down until unemployment falls, said Shierholz.

Unemployment and underemployment track each other, said Shierholz.

“It’s going to take a long time to bring any of that stuff down,” she said.

It might take five years to reach employment levels from before the recession that started in December 2007, she said.

As bad as things have been in Ohio, the Labor Department stats on underemployment show they are worse in some other places in the Midwest, West and South. California and Michigan have an underemployment rate of 21.7 percent, leading all states. Ohio is tied with North Carolina and Kentucky for the 14th highest rate.

Karen Whittamore, director of Workforce One in Warren County, seeks to provide employers with the kinds of workers they need. She allows herself to be optimistic, to a point.

“I think we’re starting to see really good things,” said Whittamore.

However, rather than hiring full-time employees, businesses appear more likely to go through placement agencies to take on part-time workers.

There is not as much fear out there among companies but there’s still uncertainty, Whittamore said.

“We’ve worked our way up to nervousness,” said Whittamore.

In the meantime, for those seeking work, there’s only one answer, even if it doesn’t mean a full-time job, said Vickie Staley.

“You take whatever you can get,” she said.

Contact this reporter  at (614) 224-1608 or  whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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