Street roots
3
Feb. 17, 2012
‘Unemployed need not apply’ ads targeted by state lawmakers
BY AM A N D A WALDROUPE
S T A F F W R IT E R
eed a job to get a job? According to
some companies, that’s how it
works, and it is perfectly legal. Even
as the unemployment rate languishes
between 8 and 9 percent, employment ads
have been popping up across the country
advertising that the jobless need not apply.
In Salem, a bill that would prohibit
employers from publishing print and online
job advertisements that explicitly ask
unemployed people to not apply for the job
is moving its way through the Legislature
this month and is likely to become law.
Advocates say Senate Bill 1548, which is
being called the “Fair Employment
Opportunity Act,” is sorely needed in order
to not discourage Oregon’s unemployed and
to give them an equal shot at getting back to
work.
“If you are out of work and you need a
job, it isn’t very fair to say that the only
ones who can actually apply (for a job) are
those who don’t necessarily need a job,
because they already have one,” said Sen.
Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland) during a
hearing in the Senate’s General
Government and Consumer Protection
Committee earlier this month. “It is not a
panacea, but it will address one obstacle
faced by people who have been out of
work.”
Under the bill, businesses that do
discriminate against unemployed people
would be fined a civil penalty of up to
$1,000. Similar legislation passed in New
Jersey last year, and other states and the
federal government are considering similar
legislation.
“Our impression is that (the bill) will have
an impact,” says Rep. Jefferson Smith
N
(D -Portland).
T h e N a tio n a l E m p lo y m e n t L aw P r o je c t,
which advocates for workers and
employment rights, conducted a four-week
sampling of more than 100 job postings
from across the country and in a variety of
job sectors that included language that
discriminated against unemployed people.
“This perverse catch-22 is deepening our
employment crisis by arbitrarily foreclosing
job opportunities to many who are
otherwise qualified for them,” a policy paper
from the advocacy organization reads. “It
dilutes the storehouse of talent in America,
by casting aside an untold number of skilled
and dedicated workers who have the
misfortune of being unemployed in the
worst downturn since the Great
Depression.”
Such job advertisements are found on the
major aggragates - Craigslist, Indeed.com,
Monster.com, and other website job
postings. And it’s not uncommon in Oregon.
“We see this attitude not only in
interviews, but it is starting to pervade job
postings, and starting to erode the
confidence and ability to move forward for
the unemployed,” says Marsha Warren, a
human resources professional. “Many
people are beginning to question if being
unemployed is the new discrimination.”
Unemployed people who testified at the
bill’s hearing said seeing such job postings
can be dispiriting. Beth Cooke, Family
Forward Oregon’s policy director, was laid
off due to budget cuts from a job she had at
the state for 10 years. “Your stomach drops
a little bit when you see (those ads),” she
says.
According to Oregon’s Employment
Department, approximately 175,000
Oregonians are currently unemployed,
equating to a 8.9 unemployment rate. The
average length of unemployment is
approximately nine months, the longest
length of time to be unemployed since the
Great Depression.
Nationwide, approximately 6 million
people have been out of work for six months
or longer, and blacks are disproportionately
unemployed for longer periods, comprising
27 percent of the long-term unemployed.
Overall, the unemployment rate for blacks is
higher than whites at 13.6 percent, making
“must be employed ads” additionally
Brian Boquist (R-Dallas), who is also a
business owner.
Smith points out that businesses that
simply encourage employed people to go
from job to job do not do much to improve
the economy.
“Those job vacancies are doing much less
to reduce the unemployment rate,” he says.
“When you have a
once-in-a-generation
economic crisis,
someone lacking a job
We see th is a ttitu d e not
is not a very good
o n ly la interviews^ b u t i t is
indication of their
capability.”
s ta rtin g to pervade jo b
Midge Purcell,
postings, and s ta rtin g to
director of advocacy
erode the confidence and
and policy for the
a b ility to move fo rw a rd fo r
Urban League of
Portland, said the bill
the unemployed« M any
will help other groups people are b e g in n in g to
of people in addition
question i f being
to people who are
unem ployed Is the new
unemployed because
of the recession. “All
d iscrim in a tio n « "
Oregonians will
— M AR S H A W ARREN
H U M A N R E S O U R C E S P R O F E S S IO N A L .
benefit, (including)
women who are trying
to enter the workforce
after raising children,”
Purcell says.
Other groups that would be impacted are
people taking leave from work to care for ill
parents or spouses, those who choose to go
back to school, and those who travel for
extended periods.
The bill has little to no opposition, but
many business groups have taken a neutral
stance on the bill out of concerns that it
might discourage businesses from hiring.
“I think we are talking about a fraction of
one percent” of businesses that post
discriminatory language, says J.L. Wilson,
d iscrim in ato ry .
th e lobbyist fo r A sso ciated O regon
Smith thinks the unemployment rate is
“almost certainly higher” than the reported
rate. Estimates of the so-called U6 rate —
the unemployment rate that includes people
no longer looking for work, the
underemployed, and those no longer
receiving unemployment benefits — could be
as high as 18 percent in Oregon.
“Until we get that rate down, we’re not
going to an economic recovery,” said Sen.
Industries.
Jan Meekcoms, the state director for the
National Federation of Independent
Businesses, worries that the bill almost
considers unemployed people as a protected
class, which would open the door for
businesses to be sued. “We don’t want to
anything to discourage active employment
(and hiring).” she says.
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