Published: May 17, 2008 08:18 pm      

Gas costs hinder summer job seekers

PRINCETON — Area students looking for a summer job could be impeded by soaring gas prices.

“The biggest impact people are complaining about is gas prices,” David Hodges, manager of the Workforce West Virginia Job Service offices in Princeton, said. “Gas prices, and the distance to the job, are factors they have to consider. Because minimum wage and gas prices sometime don’t equal out.”

Hodges said most high school students looking for a summer job will start at entry level employment.

“Entry level work is around minimum wage,” Hodges said. “Gas prices do have an influence on how far you can travel to go to work. It does make a difference. I’m hearing a lot of people, when you tell them about a job, if it’s not in a nearby county you have to consider the distance to travel, unless you can carpool.”

Hodges said minimum wage is currently $5.85 an hour, and will increase to $6.55 an hour in July. However, the cost of regular unleaded in West Virginia has now reached an average high of $3.92 a gallon.

Hodges said the economic downturn that has impacted much of the nation hasn’t hit southern West Virginia as hard. Hodges said jobs are available in the region this summer for both college graduates and high school students looking for summer employment.

“We’ve got jobs for summer help,” Hodges said. “Some of them are with the local community organizations. We’ve got lots of fast food and retail, and we’ve got lots of service work, including motels, hotels and the service industry.”

Hodges said high school students —depending upon their age — are normally looking for work as store clerks, baggers and in the fast food industry. The local Workforce West Virginia office also tries to match recent college graduates with a local job that matches their degree.

“Again, it will depend upon what type of occupation they are pursuing,” Hodges said. “We had a job fair just last week at the Mercer Mall. We had some representatives from area hospitals, local utility companies, one of the wood industry personnel was there looking for workers, and the Department of Highways is definitely looking for some engineers. We’ve got a few listings with some of the area retail stores. Not everyone lists with us. Some of them recruit on their on. So again, it will depend upon what type of job interest they have. We try to do the best to match them with the type of job they are looking for.”

In McDowell County, officials are reporting a sharp increase in coal mining related jobs. State agencies, as well as fast food restaurants and national retail chains such as Wal-Mart, are expected to hire during the summer as well, according to officials with the Workforce West Virginia Job Service office in Welch.

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com