Unemployment rate in Muscoy.

Unemployment lingers in Muscoy
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/06/2009 06:01:44 AM PST

MUSCOY - The federal government reports the national unemployment rate is 10 percent, but the official jobless rate is much worse here.

Muscoy is an unincorporated area sandwiched between northwestern San Bernardino and the Lytle Creek Wash. Its neighborhoods simultaneously bear characteristics of inner city and rural life.

Driving through Muscoy's streets, one could just as easily see a horse on the roadside as the graffiti that stains fences, liquor store walls and even trees.

Muscoy is a place where there are often strips of dirt instead of concrete sidewalks, where parents push strollers on the street and where - if official numbers are close to being accurate - more than one quarter of its residents are out of work.

"We're all suffering," resident Tyler Coe, 20, said.

Also, with a hint of humor: "Viva la revolucion."

Coe said he has not had a full-time job since he was laid off from a warehousing gig in Arizona about one year ago. He wants to earn a paycheck in the construction in the warehousing or construction fields, but is willing to do anything.

Others in Muscoy who have found work, Coe said, have trouble finding something better than a short-term or part-time job.

There is "nothing solid," Coe said. "Nothing reliable."

What Coe puts into words is in line with the state government's official unemployment reports.

The California agency that tallies jobless rates reports that
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in October, the most recent month for which numbers are available, more than 28 percent of Muscoy residents were out of a job.

The Employment Development Department's numbers for Muscoy are the results of calculations using 2000 U.S. Census data from 2000.

That means outdated figures are part of the formula, and the community's actual jobless rate may be more or less than the official number.

But people don't necessarily need statistics to know the truth of a common saying: "Times are tough all over."

The Inland Empire Job Corps Center, a U.S. Department of Labor Facility is also in Muscoy. Job Corps was founded in 1964 and its Inland Empire facility could just as easily be considered a garrison from the War on Poverty as a vocational school.

The 1.75 acre Muscoy complex is place where students train for employment in offices, kitchens, hospitals and job sites where plumbers, welders, landscapers and other blue collar types are needed.

There, center director Linda Stull said the facility is contracted to provide job training services to 340 Inland Empire youths.

Stull did not exact figures immediately available Friday, but said she has seen slight increases in the numbers of trainees who pursue additional education or military service instead of local jobs.

"We're increasing our push with our kids to look at college or some advanced training programs," Stull said.

"They're competing with people who have years and years of experience, in many instances," Stull said later.

Damn near 1/3 of all Muscoy residents out of work...everyone's feeling the pinch right about now. They said the umemployment rate has noticeably dropped this month (nationwide), so hopefully it continues to drop and things can start to get better.

28 percent is approaching third world country numbers. It's definitely bad right now.

Muscoy? Muscoy? We talking about Muscoy?

LOL.