CACLV executive director discusses unemployment in LV

Alan Jennings, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV), said the Lehigh Valley’s unemployment rate is higher than the state and national average unemployment rates.

Jennings has worked at CACLV since 1980, and he said he has seen four recessions within that time period. Jennings said this is the longest recession he has seen while working at CACLV, and though it is not the worst in terms of unemployment, the long sustained period with high unemployment has caused many people to fall out.

“Whatever savings they had is gone, whatever coping mechanism they might have had is wiped out and they are getting to the point where they are losing their homes in huge numbers,” Jennings said. 

Jennings said there has not been much of an upswing in the Lehigh Valley since the recession has begun, with the exception of the opening of Sands Casino. Jennings said that though the casino hires employees within the Lehigh Valley, many of the jobs do not offer wages that provide the ability to sustain a family.

“The Lehigh Valley continues to be challenged,” he said.

Before the recession, Jennings said the Lehigh Valley was fastest growing location in Pennsylvania and the fourth fastest growing location in the northeastern United States. Jennings said this growth was greatly contributed to the location of the Lehigh Valley, and its great proximity to major cities such as Philadelphia and New York.

Jennings said the recession is playing a large part in the lack of employment that exists within the Lehigh Valley currently. The most detrimental aspect of this recession is the foreclosure crisis that is currently affecting so many within the area, along with other parts of the US.

“People don’t have jobs, they don’t have income, they can’t keep up with the maintenance on their house, they can’t keep up with the payments on their house, it depresses the economy further,” Jennings said.

Jennings said as long as the foreclosure crisis remains so significant, economic growth will be stifled. Without equity within homes, people cannot start their own businesses, they cannot buy new homes and access to economic opportunity is severely limited.

“The old promise that if you work your tail off, you get a degree and you keep your nose to the grindstones because this is America after all, the land of opportunity doesn’t apply anymore,” Jennings said.

Jennings said CACLV runs 20 weeks of seminars four times a year for residents of Bethlehem and Allentown. He said in the past few years, they have seen a better quality of candidates interested in beginning new small businesses, but the economy has often prevented the qualified entrepreneurs from succeeding.

CACLV offers lending to people banks find to be ineligible, including start up companies. Jennings said they have helped create a good number of jobs as a result of this program. Jennings said people who have become victims of unemployment due to the economy’s state are not always eligible for help from agencies such as CACLV.  He said the government sets the eligibility criteria, and though some people cannot afford to pay their bills, CACLV cannot offer them the aid they need because the criteria is so low.

Currently, the unemployment rate in the Lehigh Valley is 8.1 percent, as reported by The Express-Times Tuesday.  which is a decrease since December when it was 8.4 percent.


 


Video by Dayna Geldwert, '12. Story by Mara Kievit, '13.