Monday, December 20, 2010

Migration Of The Unemployed

An odd tale of boomerang migration:

Mike Bryson left Pittsburgh when the steel industry collapsed, heading south for greener pastures in the form of Maryland’s electronics and computer industry. He found a job there but returned when it ended, and has been out of work since August 2009.

Bryson has experience and education — he recently attended a technical training center and has many computer certifications — but the 60-year-old believes his age has made it more difficult to find a job. He’s sent out hundreds of resumes.

“Right now, I’m computer savvy, Internet savvy, degreed, certified,” he says. “And I can’t find anything.”

Bryson was homeless and lived in his car for a while before finding the McKees Rocks Employment and Training Center, where he now works about 20 hours a week, making minimum wage and, ironically, helping other people improve their resumes and find work.

How many expatriates have returned to Pittsburgh in search of work? Enough to impact the regional unemployment picture?

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