By Rachel Pritchett
A local employment-office owner says meetings that out-of-work
people must attend to continue receiving unemployment compensation
are actually keeping them off the job.
Wayne Sargent, owner of Express Employment Professionals of
Bremerton and Poulsbo, said he lined up work for the day for three
of his clients on Tuesday. But not one went out on the jobs because
they had were under the impression they had to go to WorkSource of
Kitsap County to attend mandatory meetings to retain their
unemployment benefits.
“They wanted to go to the job, but were unable because
‘Unemployment’ would not change the time,” Sargent said, referring
to WorkSource, the public-employment office on Sylvan Way in East
Bremerton.
Rick Van Cise, spokesman the Washington Department of Employment
Security, said appointments at its WorkSource offices can be
rescheduled on the phone in an instant.
“We want people to go to work,” he said.
One of Sargent’s clients who traded a day of work for an
appointment at WorkSource was David Wright of Bremerton.
Wright said he found out Monday that Express Employment had work
for him Tuesday. But he’d received a letter last week from
WorkSource telling him show up at 11 a.m. Tuesday for a review of
his work log and to receive other help.
“I wasn’t clear,” Wright said when asked if he thought he could
reschedule his appointment. But the WorkSource letter was clear his
benefits could be jeopardized if he didn’t show, he said.
Sargent said the tug-and-pull his workers face between going to
jobs or going to appointments to ensure continued benefits is just
one more example of an unemployment-compensation system that
discourages work.
When he posts a job on Craigslist, his inbox soon is filled with
inquiries from people who have no interest in the job, but instead
are trying to meet the unemployment-compensation requirement they
make three inquiries a week.
Besides his contention that WorkSource classes get in the way of
work, Sargent also said the duration that people can receive
unemployment compensation — up to 99 weeks in some cases — actually
helps to make them unemployable. After that time, their skills are
outdated and they’ve gotten physically out of shape by sitting on
the couch and watching TV.
“If you’re paying somebody to do nothing, they’ll do nothing,” he
said.
Van Cise said WorkSource has a range of classes, workshops,
counseling and online leads to keep the focus.
“We can’t make a broad statement about long term unemployed
people,” Van Cise said.
Sargent, 24 years in the business, suggests retooling the
employment-compensation system to require beneficiaries to do some
type of work. It could be picking up trash on the highway, working
in soup kitchens, painting over graffiti or keeping up parks.
“I realize I’m a crotchety old man, but there are some stupid
abuses in the system,” he said.
