Showboat Casino Closed in September 2014, Along with Trump Plaza and Revel Casino.
Atlantic City residents who were among the 8,000 casino workers laid off in 2014 are starting to see their unemployment benefits wear off. Many of those people have not found a job in the area yet, and they see themselves with no future in the gaming industry.
Kristi Hanson’s Story
NJ.com recently published an article which featured a typical out-of-work casino employee: Kristi Hance. The Boardwalk casino poker dealer still works during tournaments, when additional dealers are needed to accommodate the influx of gamblers. But that only happens 5 times a year, so Hanson needs a steadier means of employment.
Hanson told the online publication, “I need something that’s more steady. Right now, I don’t even now what I am. I’m just temporary-ish.”
Ms. Hanson’s plight is the same of thousands of others. Atlantic City is a municipality with only 40,000 people. When a city that size loses 8,000 jobs in one year (9,000 with non-gaming losses factored in), growth in other local businesses simply cannot absorb that kind of workforce.
Moving to Find New Jobs
Eventually, those people have to move on to another city or region to find jobs. Those people are likely to find jobs in another industry, and they are likely to move with 2 other family members, on average. Though many Atlantic City casino employees lived outside the city in some other municipality or township in the county, it represents a huge outflux of manpower. Atlantic City is on the verge of shrinking, much the way Detroit once did. Such shrinkage leads to a greatly decreased tax base and, likely, bankruptcy for the city government.
Of course, that’s macro-level economics the city’s leaders have to deal with. In the case of each of those 8,000 workers and their families, they have to deal with much more personal financial concerns. Many workers have to deal with career change in an evolving economy which already holds many disadvantages for those approaching middle age.
Kristi Hanson, who built a career as a poker dealer at the former Showboat casino, said her plight is like that of many others she knows. She said, “It’s a struggle every day because bills are going up and now we all lost our jobs. I mean there’s thousands of us, there’s not thousands of jobs here in the city. Now, at 49 years old, I have to go start all over again and learn something new. We’re all just scrambling to get something.”
Some Have Found Work
A handful of the people laid off in the casino closings found jobs in one of the eight remaining Atlantic City casinos, or in out-of-state gaming locations. Most of the rest who stayed in the area are without full-time work. Meanwhile, their unemployment benefits are exhausted and their savings are dwindling. New Jersey has one of the highest long-term jobless rates in the United States, though many have reasons they remain in the area besides sentimental attachment.
Hanson is one of a group of workers who attend classes at the Atlantic Cape Community College. Due to a state-funded $29 million National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Labor Department, a program launched in March 2015 is helping Atlantic City workers find new jobs or learn the skills to begin a new career.
National Emergency Grant Training
Janice DeCicco Fipp, who serves as the director of the National Emergency Grant at Atlantic Cape Community College, provides educational sessions through the program. She provides tips on building one’s resume, writing cover letters to potential employees, and recasting work experience in ways that might attract potential employers.
DeCicco Fipp says she is teaching the workers how to seek a full-time job and not the part-time commitments many dealers have before them now. DeCicco Fipp said, “The name of the game and the major goal is full-time employment. You need that full-time job.”
Workforce Development Program
Kerri Gatling, who works as a spokesperson for the Department of Labor Workforce Development division, said that the program is likely to help up to 50% of those workers who were put out of a job. Mrs. Gatling said the training is “designed to prepare individuals with the skills needed by employers in the region.”
Many of the workers have faced a bleak uphill struggle. Barry Avila, a 61-year old technician who worked at the Revel Casino, said he has been looking for jobs in his area of expertise, but it is a slog for a man his age to find new job prospects. Avila described the process as “terrible, especially in my area of expertise.”
Avila’s plight is similar to many others. He said, “getting by right now but I don’t know how long that’s going to last. Maybe another month or two, tops. If I don’t find something, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Community Food Bank Assistance
Evelyn Benton, director of the southern branch of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, said her branch “saw an immediate rise in the need for emergency food assistance in September and then it’s been sort of gradually growing since.”
At first, the out-of-work casino workers made too much money to qualify for government food assistance. Benton said her organization solicited money to help those people buy food at first, but the workers are entering a new phase of the unemployment process this spring. Benton said, “Now that they are losing unemployment benefits, they are becoming full-fledged clients.”
What Is the Endgame Scenario?
In the end, many of the workers are likely to have to move out of the area to find new jobs. New casinos are being built elsewhere in the region. New York state approved 3 casino licenses in December 2014. A new casino in the Pittsburgh area is likely to be approved in the near future. Even New Jersey might eventually approve one or two North Jersey casinos, perhaps in the Meadowlands and Jersey City.
But that is going to be months, if not years, from now. By that time, many of the Atlantic City workers will have scattered to the four winds. It is sad, but such is the way of things when business and political leaders do not prepare for the future.
