‘No experience required’
Conn. employers staffing up from rock bottom
With another job fair on deck to help Abilis staff up for critical positions, CEO Amy Montimurro found a moment of bemusement in recounting how one colleague has generated a little income on the side — swathing the family car with an ad for Amazon jobs in Connecticut, in exchange for a monthly stipend.
Give Amazon credit — using all means at its considerable disposal, it had 700 fewer job openings heading into the week of Black Friday compared with a month earlier.
In an effort to boost its own success in hiring, Abilis is turning 75 vehicles into traveling billboards by affixing magnets that tout job opportunities for the social services it provides to people with disabilities and their families. Montimurro said
the hiring campaign was necessitated in part due to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that resulted in some employees choosing to leave rather than submit to the shot or weekly testing.
Montimurro said it has been particularly difficult to find people willing to work
late-night shifts helping Abilis clients in the home, and job coaches for daytime work some of those clients have with Connecticut employers.
“We’re teaching a lot of life skills where you don’t need that much experience — you do need that empathy and that heart to want to help somebody else,” Montimurro said. “Those are our most difficult positions — maybe it’s because of the hours, or the hands-on approach that’s needed for these individuals to be successful.”
Across Connecticut, employers are having success in filling some positions, and struggles with others. In October, the Connecticut Department of Labor calculated companies posted more than 100,000 open jobs.
Registered nurses remain the single job in biggest demand in Connecticut, according to The Conference Board’s weekly Help Wanted Online index published by DOL. With nearly 5,600 job openings in October, hospital systems incuding Yale New Haven Health, Hartford Healthcare and Trinity Health continue to hire nurses.
Yale New Haven Health’s Dori Manner heads to work each day with hundreds of
would be no turning back from his unconventional policies. On Tuesday, the lira plummeted again to an all-time low of 14 against the dollar after Erdogan reiterated that cuts would continue and amid signs the U.S. Federal Reserve would tighten credit for consumers and businesses as inflation rises.
The lira recovered a bit Wednesday after Turkey’s Central Bank announced it was intervening in the foreign exchange market to stem the volatility.
How have people been affected?
With inflation running at more than 21 percent, according to official figures released Friday, the prices of basic goods have soared and many people in this country of more than 83 million are struggling to make ends meet.
The independent Inflation Research Group, made up of academics and former government officials, puts the inflation rate at a stunning 58 percent. Turkey’s opposition parties have long voiced skepticism over the official inflation figures and have questioned the Turkish Statistical Institute’s independence.
The devalued lira is driving prices higher, making imports, fuel and everyday goods more expensive in Turkey, which relies on imported raw material. Meanwhile, rents have skyrocketed and prices for home sales, mostly pegged on the dollar, are increasing.
Every morning, long lines form outside kiosks selling bread a lira cheaper than in bakeries and shops.
At a shopping center selling discounted goods in Ankara, Emine Cengizer said she wanted to buy her teenage daughter a winter coat but left emptyhanded.
“If I buy the coat, we won’t have anything to eat for the rest of the week,” she said.
What is Erdogan’s economic policy?
The Turkish president has been pushing for low borrowing costs to stimulate the economy, boost growth and exports, and create jobs. He has vowed to break the cycle of an economy dependent on short-term “hot money” lured by high interest rates.
Economists say raising borrowing costs eases inflation, which has been surging worldwide as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic but is especially acute in Turkey because of the government’s unorthodox policies.
A devout Muslim, whose religion regards usury as a sin, Erdogan has described interest rates as “the mother and father of all evil.” He has fired three central bank governors who resisted lowering rates. In a further shake-up, Erdogan on Thursday appointed a new finance minister considered to be supportive of the push for low borrowing rates, leading to a slight decline of the lira.
“With the new economic model, we are pushing back the policy of attracting money with high interest rates. We are supporting production and exports with low interests,” Erdogan said this week.
The Turkish leader has blamed the currency crash on foreign forces bent on destroying Turkey’s economy and says his government is waging “an economic war of independence.”
What’s the political impact?
His early years in power were marked by a strong economy that helped him win several elections. Recently, soaring consumer prices have hurt his popularity, with opinion polls pointing at unease over his economic policies even among supporters.
Last week, police broke up small demonstrations that erupted in Istanbul and several other Turkish cities by groups protesting the high cost of living. Dozens of people were detained.
An alliance of opposition parties that have formed a bloc against Erdogan’s ruling party and its allies has been climbing in opinion polls. Members of the opposition coalition are calling for early elections and accusing Erdogan of “treason” for mismanaging the economy.
Erdogan has refused to call early elections, insisting voting will take place as scheduled in 2023.
He said this week that the government is working on programs that would create 50,000 new jobs and it is expected to raise the minimum wage.
“We are preparing to, one by one, take steps to comfort citizens whose purchasing power has fallen,” Erdogan said.