Finding work in the winter a challenge as unemployment rate increases. 

Emil Steinhaus III of Maple City helps young skiers
onto a chairlift at The Homestead last weekend.
Steinhaus said he's thankful he has the part-time
job to help make ends meet during the winter
months.

For Candy Crick of Suttons Bay, being unemployed is getting old.

“I’ve been out of work since March 2007 and looking for a job since April,” said Crick, who formerly worked as a secretary/receptionist in a local real estate office. She held that position for about four years.

“Of course, the real estate business has been hurting here and everywhere else,” Crick said. “But, then, I guess a lot of areas of the economy are hurting right now, especially in Michigan.”

Crick described going on a recent job interview for an administrative position in a local doctor’s office – and sitting through a group interview with 13 other applicants.

“I’m finding that I’m either overqualified, or too old,” said Crick, 53. “I’ve never been in this position before and it’s getting frustrating.”

Crick is hardly alone. Leelanau County’s unemployment rate in 2007 was is as high as it’s been in more than a decade. And although county unemployment rates are relatively low compared to elsewhere in the state, the numbers do not fully reflect the impact of a fluctuating seasonal economy in Leelanau County. Nor do the figures reflect the number of people who have simply given up on looking for work – or those who may be underemployed.

Emil Steinhaus III of Maple City may be a good example. A small business owner who normally makes a decent living installing home theaters and sound systems, Steinhaus is spending his second winter season this year working part-time as a ski lift attendant at The Homestead resort in Glen Arbor Township.

“My regular business is way down – and you know how winters are up here,” said Steinhaus as he helped a couple of youngsters onto a chairlift. “I’m just grateful to have this part-time job to help make ends meet.”

A spokesman for The Homestead, Jamie Jewell-VanDuzen, said the resort this winter has 136 full-time and part-time “associates” on its payroll, making it one of the largest employers in Leelanau County. In years past, The Homestead relied on foreign exchange students as winter seasonal workers, manning ski lifts, making snow, and checking out rental equipment – but no more.

“We’re really trying to hire more local people now,” said VanDuzen, “and we’ve definitely seen an increase in the number of applications we’ve received from local people looking for work.”

But there have been far more applicants than positions this year, VanDuzen added. That may change this spring, however, when The Homestead will create a number of new positions to staff a new fitness center, spa and banquet facility, she said.

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, believed to be the largest single source of jobs in Leelanau County, employs hundreds of local people in Peshawbestown at the Leelanau Sands Casino and related enterprises, as well as in tribal government. Figures provided by tribal officials in 2006 indicated that in 2005 the GTB employed 334 Leelanau County residents locally plus 260 others who reside in neighboring counties. Tribal officials did not return phone calls from a reporter requesting updated figures and other information for this story.

Chris Palmer of Leland works in Traverse City as a career advisor for Northwest Michigan WORKS!, the state employment agency. On her way to and from work, Palmer frequently stops by the Connie Binsfeld Resource Center in Lake Leelanau to update a “Local Job Openings” bulletin board for those who may not have access to the state agency’s online listings of job openings.

“During the summer, that bulletin board is full of seasonal jobs ,” Palmer said. “But right now, I think, I’ve got about three jobs posted there, and none of them are all that great.”

One of the jobs posted on the Michigan WORKS! bulletin board in Lake Leelanau last week was for a part-time “cottage cleaning” job that is slated to begin in July. Another was a position for a part-time cook for a contractor serving meals at the Leelanau County Jail. The third job was for a four hour-per week position as a janitor, cleaning a local office building. Otherwise, the bulletin board only contained announcements of a variety of workshops and other services offered through the Michigan WORKS! office in Traverse City.

“These days, some people aren’t even getting rejection letters from employers after they’ve applied for a job – let alone jobs,” Palmer said. “For many of the people seeking help from our office right now, the feeling is one of isolation. They often wonder if the reason they can’t find a job is because they’re doing something wrong – but that’s usually not the case. The best we can do is show them a few more things they could be doing to land a job.”

Palmer noted that the number of jobs available increases dramatically in Leelanau County during the summer. But she called winter in Leelanau County the “non-season” – as in no season for jobs.

“The toughest area to be in, of course, is manufacturing – but there’s only a little manufacturing on the margins in
Leelanau County,” Palmer said. “Right now, we’re talking to a lot of folks in the construction industry who are totally out of work.”

Palmer said that high technology and health care were the only fields in which the job picture seems to be relatively healthy in Leelanau County right now.

Those facts have not been lost on Candy Crick.

“I’ve already taken some computer classes to polish up my skills,” Crick said, “and I was recently accepted into a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) training program in Suttons Bay at Tendercare of Leelanau,” Crick said. “So, things may be looking up for me – at least I hope so.”