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CHARLOTTE, NC — Positive US job numbers were released Friday, but many job seekers in the Charlotte area say their employment outlook is not so positive.
The new Charlotte Premium Outlets, set to open in July, needs to fill 900 jobs. More than three thousand people showed up Friday to apply.
Many job seekers told WCCB the national job numbers don’t tell the full story.
“No matter how many numbers they put up, if you come out and apply and apply and apply and go to job fair after job fair, but don’t get hired, those numbers mean absolutely nothing when it comes time for me to provide for my family, pay bills,” said Brent Gaskins, a North Charlotte resident.
Hiring is up and unemployment is down, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
“We don’t look at national numbers, we look at our households,” said Melanie Brown, a North Charlotte resident.
The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April, the strongest month for job growth in two years. But job seekers like Gaskins and Brown, who worked the room at the Sheraton Charlotte Airport trying to score a job at Charlotte’s newest outlet mall, say it’s not a time to celebrate.
“For people who are actually at home living a life and trying to maintain their living, until they actually get hired and can get that gainful employment, the numbers mean… they mean something, but not as much,” said Gaskins.
The labor department says the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent, from 6.7 percent in March.
Charlotte economist Dr. Jeff Roach says other factors are not so positive.
“Average hourly earnings are fairly flat and they’re not growing like they should be,” said Roach.
Roach also says there’s a sad social disparity in the new numbers.
“The second big story is the difference between the wealthy educated and the poor less-educated. That gap is widening,” said Roach.
Brown says she’s witnessing that first hand.
“When it comes down to the service industry or something like that, you don’t see as much acceleration in those areas.”
