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Some find difficulty getting jobs, as local business booms

By Jim Bradley
By Jim Bradley

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new batch of job creation numbers is due out Friday morning and many will be monitoring its impact on volatile financial markets and the future of interest rates,  which could rise from historic lows.
 
But another group of people will be watching for a clue to their job prospects.
 
The unemployment line is still a reality for thousands in Charlotte.
 
Jasmine Surratt said she spent months looking for work after graduating from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
 
"As far as me having a degree and the background, I didn't expect it to be as hard as it was and take as long as it did for me," Surratt said.
 
She hopes to start a new job next week. 
 
However, Charlotte's workforce continues to grow with bustling businesses uptown and a construction industry on fire.
 
But some are being left behind.
 
"There are jobs but they may not be the jobs that people have the skills for or the ability to apply for," said Goodwill CEO Michael Elder who is planning to expand help for people looking for work. 
 
Goodwill is building a large, new facility off Wilkinson Boulevard that will include job-training programs and officials hope it will provide a clearer path for those who've found it difficult to find work.
 
"It's really about providing the broad array of services that are going to help people not just get that job but keep the job," Elder said.
 
As volatile financial markets and talk of interest rate hikes drive concerns about the possibility of a slowing economy Quentin Stowe stood outside a state job training office with simpler and more personal concerns. 
 
"I want a job, anywhere," jobseeker Quentin Stowe said. "I am about to have a little boy. I need to get a job somewhere."

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