Lower-Tier Jobholders Left Out of Local Recovery

Orange County’s new economy, with its full employment, growth companies and stock market wealth, has left many lower-income workers stalled and disgruntled with their jobs, a Times Orange County Poll has found.

Overall, the county’s employees are far happier than the average U.S. worker, and seven in 10 of its managers and professionals are “very satisfied” at work, the poll found.

Yet attitudes are far different among those with less cutting-edge jobs and wages too low to enjoy Orange County’s expensive housing and vaunted suburban life. Only four in 10 blue-collar, clerical and sales workers are very satisfied.

The numbers illustrate a nationwide problem after 6 1/2 years of economic expansion, one that has many labor experts worried about the creation of a two-tier, have-and-have-not society.

Although more people are working, wages so far have not taken off. That has kept interest rates down, benefiting business and those wealthy enough for mortgages and stock investments, but has done little for the lower-tier jobholder.

Government wage figures show that mechanics’ pay, for example, is up just 1% from a year ago, while pay for executives went up 7% during that time, said Edward Montgomery, the U.S. Labor Department’s chief economist.

“Overall, people are happy on the job [security] side, but less confident on the wage and promotion side,” Montgomery said.

The Times poll, conducted by Mark Baldassare and Associates, surveyed 600 adult jobholders from Orange County over five days in September. The margin of sampling error was 4 percentage points for the overall group, higher for subgroups.

The participants seemed at first glance to have strong allegiance to their bosses, since two in three said they are very loyal. Yet more than half would quit rather than move out of the county to stay with their current employer.

“Why would you want to go somewhere else?” said Albert Howe, a 39-year-old Laguna Niguel resident who works long hours wheeling and dealing in California’s soon-to-be-deregulated electricity market.

As a worker for a Kentucky company invading a once off-limits business, Howe, 39, is a full participant in the entrepreneurial new economy that is so strong in Orange County.

A University of Chicago graduate with a master’s degree in business administration, he revels in “inventing it as you go along,” and says he and his wife, who also works, are “very comfortable” financially.

That enthusiasm is far harder to find among those with less education and skills.

“I thought about maybe going back to Massachusetts,” said Thomas Rogers, a Boston native living in Garden Grove who has “burned out” on phone soliciting after 20 years in the business.

He struggles to make the rent each month while trying to find a better way to support his family, and currently is taking vocational training.

“Honestly, I’m tired of the [telemarketing] business. I’m trying to better myself. I have a wonderful wife and a 2-year-old girl who’s very special. And she’s going to want a lot of things,” Rogers said.

But at 43, without many job skills, the bottom line for Rogers can be grim.

“It’s the same old story,” he says. “ ‘You’re too old.’ ”

The stories of Howe, Rogers and other poll participants are being played out against a backdrop of a speeding Orange County economy. Fueled by high-tech businesses, international trade and tourism, the region in many ways provides an enviable model of job creation for the nation.

Unemployment is 3.5%, Cal State Fullerton researchers expect the number of jobs to rise 13% by 2005, home prices are rising after years of decline, and Chapman University economists say median family income has risen well above $60,000 a year.

The best of the good news--for those with money to invest--has been the bull market on Wall Street, said Chapman economist Esmael Adibi.

“People in the upper brackets of income have the opportunity to participate in the stock and bond markets. And even if they’re just saving it for retirement and it’s a paper gain, it makes them feel pretty good,” he said.

The reverse, Adibi said, is true for those whose income is too low to play the market.

And because it is so expensive and, many would say, fixated on material goods, Orange County more than most regions embodies the contrast between haves and have-nots.

Only a quarter of its blue-collar workers express much satisfaction with their pay, and half of them say chances of promotion at their current job is only fair or poor.

“Yes, Orange County is a great place for upper-middle-class, managerial and professional workers . . . those able to ride the wild and wonderful economy,” said Cheryl Katz, co-director of The Times Orange County Poll.

“But the blue-collar workers are missing out,” she said. “For them, life is not so wonderful and the workplace is not so wonderful.”

Rogers, the man thinking about going back to Massachusetts, said he made only about $10,000 last year.

“I’ve been all over the country with this telemarketing and I’ve never seen a county that’s so expensive,” he said.

Unable to find any other regular work besides security guard duty at $6 or $8 an hour, he struggles to support his wife, who is working on a high school-equivalency program, his 2-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old stepson.

A $12.30-an-hour factory job recently ended when he was let go on the 89th day of a 90-day probation, he said. Unemployment checks barely cover the $780 monthly rent on his two-bedroom apartment. Food, clothing and utilities come out of $350 a month in child support from his stepson’s father.

“It’s a shame that I didn’t get to get all the education I should have. I went into the [military] service and from there I just went out in the business world without any schooling.”

Rogers is currently taking state-funded training in computerized tool-and-die making. Labor officials warn him, though, that even if he lands a job in that trade, he should expect only $7 or $8 an hour for the first three years.

Follow-up interviews with poll participants also revealed many with generally hopeful outlooks whose precarious positions appear vulnerable to an economic turndown. Indeed, some had lost jobs or were barely hanging on in the weeks following the poll.

Michael Surbaugh, 29, of Santa Ana, single father of a 4-year-old daughter, says he is optimistic his current tough times will pass.

His full-time job for a research firm ended a couple of months ago when his employer lost a contract to provide data from county recorders’ offices in four counties.

Scrambling, Surbaugh found a similar job, but his area was cut back to Orange County, and his pay fell by more than 60%.

He recently finished paralegal training, but has yet to land a job, he said, because lawyers want experienced paralegals. So he moonlights part-time as a process server to get by.

“It’s tough out there,” Surbaugh says. “I’m doing anything I can to make ends meet.”

Until last month, Marlycia Alfonso, 23, a single mother on welfare, was answering phones in an Anaheim motel lobby, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, in exchange for lodging.

But she recently quit in order to take better care of her son, despite the added financial strain.

“I couldn’t handle not spending time with my son,” she said.

Kevin, 3 1/2, used to play at her feet or with other children at the motel while she worked. But even though Kevin was with her, she said, their activities together were constrained by having to stay in the lobby, within reach of the telephone.

The long hours also prevented her from going out on job interviews, she said.

Alfonso recently completed course work at Cypress College to become a dental assistant. She has applied at several dentists’ offices, but “everyone wants someone with two to five years’ experience,” she said.

Still, she said, she’s not giving up. “I keep looking every day.”

A sobering piece of the puzzle for most workers these days is the fact that few jobs are for life.

Among Orange County’s work force, only 36% think it highly likely they will have their current employer until retirement. Even among full-timers and professionals, only four in 10 anticipate closing out their careers with the same company.

More typical is Howe, who is working as a traveling front man for a Kentucky power marketer as it elbows for position when California deregulates electricity sales next year.

Howe, an Indiana native, says he enjoys exploring uncharted business territory and particularly likes life in Orange County.

“You really can’t beat the ambience,” he said. “There’s really nothing quite as cosmopolitan as in California.”

But he knows that uncertainty often accompanies modern jobs like his.

“It’s like the banking industry has been,” Howe says. “The nature of the business in the electricity industry is a lot of restructuring.”

Realistically, he says, that means acknowledging that his company is likely to be taken over by a bigger utility, throwing his job into jeopardy.

“I like this kind of environment,” Howe said. “I also think you have to have a certain attitude. If you like a lot of certainty for years to come, I don’t think you’re going to be happy. Because everything is changing.”

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Marcida Dodson.

* HEAVIER WORKLOADS: Most are putting in same long hours as during the recession but with fewer breaks. AA-2

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Job Satisfaction

Orange County workers are a highly satisfied group, more so than their counterparts around the country. This attitude, though, is mostly the province of those in upscale, white-collar jobs:

* On the whole, how satisfied are you with the work you do?

*--*

O.C. U.S. Very satisfied 56% 45% Moderately satisfied 36 40 A little dissatisfied 6 11 Very dissatisfied 2 4

*--*

O.C. % saying “very satisfied”:

Prof./manager: 69

Clerical/sales: 38

Blue-collar: 43

Sources: Times Orange County Poll, NORC General Social Survey

Economic Optimism Not Shared by All

A booming economy has lifted the spirit of Orange County’s work force, with most employees more optimistic than in 1993. But beneath this overall optimism lies a split, with job satisfaction lagging among those in clerical, sales and blue-collar jobs:

* Do you think that business and employment opportunities for you in Orange County are:

*--*

1993 1997 Excellent 10% 29% Good 28 40 Fair 33 20 Poor 26 6 Don’t know 3 5

*--*

By Job Category

(% saying “excellent/good”)

Full-time: 72%

Part-time: 60

Prof./manager: 72

Clerical/sales: 71

Blue collar: 64

* How satisfied are you with the following aspects of your current job?

*--*

1993 1997 JOB SECURITY Very satisfied 48% 62% Somewhat satisfied 37 28 Not satisfied 15 10 CHANCES OF PROMOTION Very satisfied 37 45 Somewhat satisfied 40 34 Not satisfied 23 21 WAGES/PAY Very satisfied 30 42 Somewhat satisfied 54 45 Not satisfied 16 13

*--*

% saying “very satisfied”

*--*

Prof./ Clerical/ Blue manager sales collar Security 71% 57% 49% Promotion 57 35 32 Pay 53 35 26

*--*

* Do you think that opportunities for career advancement and promotions for you at your current workplace are:

*--*

Prof./ Clerical/ Blue Total manager sales collar Excellent 23% 29% 22% 13% Good 34 32 36 38 Fair 21 19 21 23 Poor 17 14 18 23 Don’t know 5 6 3 3

*--*

The Money Element

One element in an optimistic outlook: more reward and the likelihood of more to come. Two workers in three report they have had a raise in the last year and three in four say it is likely they will get another in the next 12 months:

* Have you had a pay raise within the past 12 months?

(% saying “yes”)

Total: 67%

Full-time: 71

Part-time: 52

Prof./manager: 75

Clerical/sales: 61

Blue-collar: 59

* How likely do you think it is that you will get a pay raise within the next 12 months?

*--*

Professional/ Clerical/ Blue Total manager sales collar Very likely 56% 60% 53% 54% Somewhat likely 18 18 20 15 Not too likely 20 16 23 25 Don’t know 6 6 4 6

*--*

Loyalty’s Limits

Two-thirds of workers say they are very loyal to their employers and more than half figure they are at least somewhat likely to remain until it is time to retire. However, should the job require moving from Orange County, most would not go:

* How loyal would you say you are to your current employer?

*--*

Prof./ Clerical/ Blue Total manager sales collar Very loyal 64% 68% 57% 60% Somewhat loyal 27 26 30 27 Not too loyal 8 5 13 12 Don’t know 1 1 - 1

*--*

* How likely is it that you will stay with your current employer until you retire?

*--*

Prof./ Clerical/ Blue Total manager sales collar Very likely 36% 41% 31% 29% Somewhat likely 20 24 18 17 Not too likely 41 33 48 47 Don’t know 3 2 3 7

*--*

* Would you move away from Orange County if necessary in order to stay with your current employer?

*--*

Prof./ Clerical/ Blue Total manager sales collar Yes 35% 40% 30% 30% No 58 52 65 61 Don’t know 7 8 5 9

*--*

Note: Self-employed workers not included in loyalty questions.

Source: Times Orange County Poll

How The Poll Was Conducted

The Times Orange County Poll was conducted by Baldassare Associates on Sept. 3-7, on three weekday nights and two weekend days. Random telephone interviews of 600 adult jobholders from Orange County took place in English and Spanish. The sample reflects the demographic composition of employed residents of Orange County households. The margin of sampling error overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points. For subgroups, such as part-time employees or blue-collar employees, the margin of sampling error is larger. All participants were guaranteed anonymity; some agreed to be re-interviewed for news stories.

Tracking This Series

Here is an at-a-glance summary of this week’s three-part Times Orange County Poll:

Today

Orange County is a great place to work, if you have a high-paying cutting-edge job and can afford the benefits of its new economy.

Monday

Half of Orange County residents are having trouble balancing the demands of work and home, which is better than the rest of the country.

Tuesday

Orange County’s reputation may be anti-union, but people are generally positive about organized labor and believe companies care more about profits than workers.