Rising unemployment is taking a personal toll on an increasing number of local workers

Travis Talbot’s story is becoming a familiar one.

In August 2008, Sunroc bought out Standard Builders Supply, the Salt Lake City company where Talbot, a Tooele resident, had worked for eight years. Two months later, with the building industry in a downturn, Talbot was laid off.

“They laid off about 98 percent of us that were with Standard Building,” Talbot, 32, said. “I talked to the general manager and he said there was little he could do, the whole building industry was in a serious downturn.”

Talbot immediately looked for a new job.

“Everywhere I applied told me they had a hiring freeze,” he said.

Talbot’s wife, Felicia, is still working in Salt Lake, and her income along with his unemployment benefits have been enough to pay house and car payments. The couple also get some help with their mortgage payment from Talbot’s disabled father, who has moved in with them. Still, Talbot’s unemployment benefits end in four weeks, and he’s worried about the future.

“Its been tough. We have a 7-year-old son to raise and I don’t know what we will do when our benefits run out,” Talbot said. “I have looked for part-time work — anything that will help — but have found nothing so far.”

Talbot is among the growing ranks of Tooele County’s unemployed. Since reaching an all-time low of 2.7 percent in February 2007, the county’s unemployment rate has been on a slow climb, reaching 6.2 percent in May 2009 — considerably higher than the statewide average of 5.4 percent.

In real terms, that means at the end of May there were 1,702 people in Tooele County looking for work, compared to 988 at the same time a year ago. It’s a situation that hasn’t been common in recent years. Since 1990, the average annual unemployment rate in Tooele County has exceeded 6 percent only twice. In 1992, it reached 6.3 percent, and in 2002 it reached 6.1 percent.

Historically, the unemployment rate in Tooele County has been higher than the statewide average, according to James Robson, a regional economist with the Department of Workforce Services. And some unique factors are conspiring to dampen the county’s job outlook currently.

“Construction and manufacturing industries have been hit hard by this recession,” Robson said. “There may be more people affected by these industries in Tooele County. Also, during the building boom in Tooele, a lot of young families moved in and younger people in general are usually hit harder with unemployment.”

Layoffs, closures and reduced hours at large employers like US Magnesium, Chemical Lime, Quality Automotive and Conestoga Wood Specialties have hit the county’s workforce hard. But it hasn’t been only blue-collar workers who’ve lost jobs.

Marilyn Bryant, 57, of Tooele, was laid off from Utah State University Tooele as part of reduction-in-force budget-cutting measure. Bryan had worked for four and a half years as an office assistant at USU, and was only four months shy of retirement.

“My husband is retired so we have his retirement income, but we had planned our future with two retirement incomes in mind,” Bryant said.

The Bryants have started their own small crafts business, selling their wares at events like the Tooele Arts Festival.

“We also raise our own cattle and have our own garden, so we raise most of our own food,” Bryant said. “We have made other cutbacks. We don’t go out to eat, and not being in the workforce I don’t spend as much on clothing.”

Bryant looked for work but felt her age was working against her.

“Ideally it would be nice to find a state job that would let me complete my retirement,” Bryant said. “I have thought about substitute teaching this fall. The extra money would help because our retirement income is tied to the stock market, which isn’t doing too well.”

Jeff Lawrence, 20, of Tooele, was one of 54 people laid off last February from US Magnesium. He’s now trying to make ends meet with unemployment benefits and his girlfriend’s wages from working at American Burger. The couple are struggling to make mortgage payments on a house they bought in December 2008, just two months before being laid off.

“I have probably filled out 15 or 20 job applications, with no interviews yet,” Lawrence said. “If we can make it until August or September, there is a chance I may be recalled by US Magnesium when production picks up as a result of the titanium plant [Allegheny Technologies] coming on line.”

Other workers suffering from the recession don’t show up in unemployment statistics. Instead they remain at work, but have had their hours slashed dramatically.

That’s the case of Lonnie Critchlow, 33, of Grantsville, who has been running a concrete pumper for Burbidge Concrete Pumping in Salt Lake City for four years. Two years ago, Critchlow worked 60 hours a week during the summer. This summer he has been averaging 30 hours a week.

Although he is single, Critchlow said he’s struggling to make house and car payments on half his regular salary.

“The work just is not out there. My company downsized and laid off 10 to 15 employees,” Critchlow said. “Things are real slim. Some months I have to decide what bills to pay and which ones will have to wait.”

Critchlow keeps looking for full-time work while he holds down his reduced-time job. Before pumping concrete, he framed homes, but he said with the housing industry in the dumps, that’s not a profession he can easily go back to.

In the meantime, Critchlow, like many of the county’s unemployed, is cutting back on expenses.

“Entertainment means video games at home or hanging out with friends and family, doing things that don’t cost money,” Critchlow said.

Fiona Baird, 44, Tooele, has a story that echoes many others. She was laid off from Standard Plumbing in Salt Lake City in February.

“At the time, they laid off several people and closed three or four stores in Idaho and Oregon,” Baird said.

With a certificate in office information systems from Salt Lake Community College, Baird was earning $12.00 an hour before she lost her job.

“I looked for work but have been unable to find anything,” she said. “There were a lot of people with college degrees looking for the same jobs I was applying for.”

Baird is a single mother with a 15-year-old son at home, a 17-year-old daughter staying with friends in Alpine, and a 22-year-old son at the University of Utah. She’s currently getting by on a $1,200 a month unemployment benefit and $100 a month in food stamps.

“I moved back to Tooele from Salt Lake to be close to friends,” Baird said. “Being unemployed is an emotional roller coaster. First you feel upset, disappointed, then you get angry and cry, which turns to depression and finally you pick yourself up and go out and meet the day as a new adventure.”

Baird tries to keep herself busy helping other people. She has helped people move, mowed lawns and painted a house as a way of keeping her mind off her own problems.

“Right now, my job prospects are dismal and my future uncertain,” Baird said. “But when I help others, I don’t feel sorry for myself.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com