Lack of training, rising costs keep many at poverty level

from The Appleton Post Crescent

Fox Valley's expanding job base doesn't pay off for poor workers

By Kathy Walsh Nufer
Post-Crescent staff writer

"Get a job."

Although simple to say, the phrase masks a much more complex reality for thousands of Fox Valley residents futilely scratching to get out of poverty, say professionals who try to help.

"People don't understand that the majority of low-income people are working," said Mike Bonertz, executive director of Advocap, a nonprofit agency that helps low-income residents in east-central Wisconsin.

"And in this job market, a lot of people are in low-paying jobs and their buying power is dropping."

Absence of health insurance benefits, limited options for transportation and lack of job-specific education and training, combined with low wages, keep many of the so-called "working poor" from moving up, even amid one of the healthiest economies in Wisconsin.

Consider Luz Andrea Nunez and her husband, Gustavo Nunez, both 29, who moved to the Fox Valley several years ago from Colombia.

She makes $8.25 per hour cleaning condos for a local company and $13 per hour cleaning houses independently.

His work detailing cars pays $9 per hour.

Together, the couple bring in about $25,000 per year. Technically, that puts the Nunezes and their two children, 4 and 11 years old, just above the federal poverty line.

When adjusting for factors unique to the region, advocacy groups peg the family at only about halfway to self-sufficiency.

"It's hard making a living when you don't have a (college) degree and you have to do work that doesn't pay much," Luz Andrea Nunez said. "It is a problem, but we are trying to do what we can."

New jobs, low pay

The Fox Valley's expanding job base and relatively low unemployment rate don't necessarily pay off for poor workers.

Pay levels of many of those new jobs — in such sectors as the service industry, child care and hospitality — are not keeping pace with living costs, said Karl Pnazek, president and chief executive officer of CAP Services. The agency helps low-income people in Outagamie, Waupaca and other counties reach self-sufficiency.

"Being a member of the working poor today is more related to wages than your employment," Pnazek said.

Average annual household income in the Fox Valley last year was $37,140, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

Of the roughly 205,000 jobs in the area, about one-fourth paid between about $10,700 and $20,700 per year on average. Among positions were restaurant and bar workers, dishwashers, theater attendants and motel service staff.

However, the local employment environment is better than in many other areas of Wisconsin, said Roberta Gassman, who heads the work force agency.

In recent years, she said, the region has added new jobs in health and financial services that provide average to above-average income. Even so, her boss, Gov. Jim Doyle, recognizes the struggles of working poor families, Gassman said, noting that his "Grow Wisconsin" economic agenda includes education and job training programs.

"(Growth so far) doesn't mean we should shirk our responsibility to pay real attention to those who still need continuing education and skills to leave poverty," Gassman said.

Job-specific education

Educating adults, particularly for specific jobs, will be a critical necessity if the state is to eradicate poverty, said Marcia Engen of Appleton, board president of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

The council, along with Wisconsin Head Start Association and Wisconsin Community Action Program Association, this summer began a campaign called Vision 2020 with that goal.

"We need to provide basic skills for those who already have jobs but are dead-ended," Engen said.

"They don't have a high school diploma, and really in today's job market people almost have to have a two-year degree beyond high school. We have to move people beyond the high school diploma, and adult basic education classes have to be relevant to a specific occupation so there is a place for them to go once they get that education."

Engen also wants to see increased financial assistance for the working poor who attend technical college classes part time to improve their job skills and wages.

"Financial aid is not that readily available to part-time students, and that doesn't make sense for people with children who have to support their families," she said.

Lisa Rothrock of Neenah, a single mother of three, would welcome such help. She attends Fox Valley Technical College to improve her job prospects in computer technology.

"Just to get financial aid, I have to take a minimum of 12 credits," Rothrock said. "It's a Catch-22. I need to work, but I need to get my skills up, too."

Attitude adjustment

Pnazek sees the need for a broad change in attitudes about careers. Adults should encourage more young people to pursue training in the trades to match the realities of the job market, he said.

"What's sad is I probably get three to five calls a week from employers saying they could use five welders or machinists, which pay $13 to $20 per hour and there's a shortage," he said.

"We somehow hold on to that old attitude that kids are better off with a four-year degree in English than a two-year degree in welding," he said. "A four-year degreed schoolteacher's total income will never catch up to a two-year degreed welder, considering the money needed to complete a college degree versus technical college.

"We have to get a better match between what we tell kids are good jobs and what the good jobs are."

As they tread water, the Nunezes are torn.

Luz Andrea is determined to get ahead. At one time she worked nights cleaning and took English and adult basic education classes in the morning through Even Start and Fox Valley Technical College. Some days she stayed at school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"My goal is to be a teacher," she said, hoping to return to FVTC classes when she can afford the cost.

"We are struggling and it's frustrating sometimes. If I had the money to go to school we would just go. We think education is the best way for us."