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Students find good-paying jobs are rare in 'No Cash Valley' By
Mike Grubbs
Jason and Jennifer sit in their chilly, one bedroom apartment, bundled up in sweaters, with Jennifer wrapped in a blanket. Jason, 23, scans the help wanted ads for the fourth time this morning. "I've been looking for a decent job in Logan for about nine months, and I still haven't found anything worthwhile," he said. Jason and Jennifer have been married for nine months and have been living in Logan while attending Utah State University. Jason is studying biology, with hopes of becoming a pharmacist. Jennifer is a sociology major with plans to be a homemaker. Jason has never worked significantly in Logan, with only a two-week stint for a construction company. Jennifer has also been looking for a steady job since they moved here from Provo. The couple asked that their last names not be used because they don't want to jeopardize any potential employment. The couple's biggest concern is finding jobs for which they are not vastly overqualified. "I've spent days and days looking for a job, turning in resumes, following up with potential employers, even going to the local job service agencies, and in the end, found nothing," Jennifer said. This couple is not alone in their difficulty finding a job suited to them. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that for January 2001, 4.3 percent of the U.S. working- age population was unemployed, while an additional 2.7 percent was underemployed, or overqualified for the jobs they held. Some students at Utah State University believe Cache Valley has a major underemployment problem, especially among university students. Mindy Hammer, a junior at USU, has seen the problem first hand. Hammer said, "Even highly qualified students have a hard time finding a job that pays more than minimum wage, and the only jobs that pay more are working at a factory or telemarketing." "Who needs three or four years of college for that?"she added. Hammer added that she and her friends have a nickname for the area; they call it "No Cash Valley" because of the low paying jobs found here. The urgency for Jennifer and Jason to both find good jobs has increased significantly as the couple found out that Jennifer is pregnant with their first child. The baby is due in July. They have been using Medicaid to cover visits to the doctor and eventually, the birth of the child. The couple believe it would be a miracle if they could find a job that would offer health insurance and are not expecting that. "I don't think there's any possible way that a job here in Logan would have insurance to help cover the expense of having this child," Jennifer said. "The fact that we're going to be having a child makes it that much more important to find a well-paying job," Jason added. From their experiences, the couple has found that to be easier said than done. Jason has three years of experience in a law office working as a runner, legal researcher and secretary. He also has almost a year of telephone customer service experience, and has worked as a regional sales manager. In those jobs, he averaged about $12 an hour. He has been unable to find any similar jobs in Logan. Since moving to Logan, Jason has been working as a legal process server in Pocatello on the weekends. His hourly wage approaches $15, however, the hours are few because of the distance from home. "I can't work enough hours because I'm in school during the week and the only time I can make the trip up to Pocatello is on the weekends," he added. The one job Jason has held in Logan was working construction, making $6 an hour for doing the same job that his brother was making $10 an hour for in Provo. "It's just ridiculous that a job here in Logan can pay half as much as the same job in a city a few hours away," Jason said. Bobbie Coray, director of the Cache Chamber of Commerce, has a different view on the subject. "There is no shortage of jobs for students in Logan," she said. Coray added that Pepperidge Farms is looking for help and many jobs for students around Cache Valley pay between $8 and $10 an hour. Coray also said that students having trouble finding a job may not be using helpful resources such as the Department of Workforce Services and the Utah State University Employment Office. "Line workers and telephone employees are always sought after in Logan," Coray added. Assembly line and telemarketing jobs are among those that some students feel they may be overqualified for. Jennifer says that the most discouraging thing about jobs in Logan is the low wage compared with similar jobs in other places. Jennifer cites her experience with her only job in Logan. She had been working for four years at a restaurant, making $8.60 an hour. She moved here and the best wage the same restaurant could offer her was $6 an hour. She is feeling the wage crunch as she has been offered a telemarketing job which pays $5.65 an hour, after working at a similar job in Provo making $8 an hour. "The thing that's frustrating to me is that you're competing against so many people that even if you happen to find a job, you can't ask for more pay because the employer will just say, 'Fine, we'll get someone who really needs this job,' and you're stuck with nothing," Jennifer added. The numbers appear to favor Jason and Jennifer's argument of low wages in Logan for equal work. According to the Utah Department of Workforce Services web-site (www.dws.state.ut.us/ ), some semiskilled, mid-level jobs have broad wage differences between Logan and the rest of the state. Counter and rental clerks make an average of $6.40 an hour in Cache Valley, while the state average for that job is $7.90 an hour. Retail sales clerks make an average of $1 less per hour in Cache Valley compared to the state average. On the whole, Cache County workers average $1,780 per month, compared with $2,100 in Weber County, and $2,300 in Davis County. Some attribute the low wages in Logan to a low cost of living in the area. The web-site shows that Logan had a lower cost of living than the U.S. average at 94.4 percent (100 percent being the average). However, other small cities in Utah also had lower than average costs of living with 93.3 percent in Cedar City, 99.2 percent in Provo and 96.4 percent in St. George for the third quarter of 2000. These numbers do change frequently and over the past three years Logan has had either a slightly lower, or slightly higher overall cost of living than comparable cities in Utah. These numbers show the cost of living as having little or no effect on the wages in these areas. A Feb. 20, 2001 article in the Logan Herald Journal gives even more support to the argument of low wages in Cache Valley. According to the article, Cache County had the state's lowest unemployment rate in 1999 at 2.7 percent. However, it also had one of the state's highest percentages of people living at or below the poverty line, 10.5 percent. The issue of being overqualified jumps to the forefront as Jason finds out that he has just landed a job at a slaughterhouse. The pay is decent, more than $7 an hour, and the company is willing to work with Jason's schedule. Still, Jason feels disappointed by the reality. "I never thought that I would have to have three years of college to end up making hamburger," he said. What can be done about this wage crunch? Jason believes the solution lies in bringing more high-tech jobs to Logan. "With all of the new businesses, like IHOP, Sonic and PetsMart, low-skilled, high-school age workers should have plenty of work opportunities," he said. "If Logan could attract more computer-related jobs and specialized sales jobs, college students could fill them and make more money, while gaining valuable experience," he added. Coray agreed that more high-tech jobs in Logan would benefit USU students and she added that the Logan Economic Development Department is working to attract high-tech businesses. Whether Cache Valley really has an underemployment problem is still debatable. However, those who, like Jennifer and Jason, have faced the difficult reality of low-paying, low-skilled jobs here in Logan, hope that things will improve. "I'm going to keep my eyes open and keep hoping for a job that fits my abilities and pays well," Jason said. He added, "I don't know if that will happen, but for now, I guess I'll have to take what is offered, and so far, that's working with dead cows."
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