Grand Strand seasonal workers worry about a lack of jobs

Summer time is a great time for folks looking for seasonal jobs in our area but how are those jobs fairing in a down economy?

Employees at Coastal Workforce Center in Conway say they are sure to be busy once the season is over because a lot of seasonal job holders will be coming back in the fall looking for a job.

May Nell Smith, the center’s director, said this year many employers didn’t send them a list of openings available for hire. She said a lot of those employers only called back half of seasonal employees compared to past years.

Smith explained that she isn’t sure what a lot of these seasonal workers will do once the summer is over, since there is only so much unemployment a person can draw in a year’s time.

“The shorter the season the longer you are unemployed and draw your money so I think we are going to see a lot of people this winter who are not going to know what to do with no jobs,” Smith said.

News 13 hit the streets Wednesday in Surfside Beach and talked with some of those seasonal employees, some of whom are concerned about their future, once the tourists are gone.

Don Weaver at Wild Water and Wheels said he was laid off back in February after teaching for 10 years within Horry County Schools. He said that’s when he had no choice but to take up seasonal job at the water park. That job he added will be over soon and he’ll be looking for another one.

“I’ve worked constantly for the last 45 years so this is a very scary and intimidating anxious feeling not knowing what you’re going to be doing,” explained Weaver.

Smith said that when local seasonal jobs are over some will manage to hold down a second job in the off season.

Some of those off season job holders, like Devin Treat, said keeping a second job in this economy is a struggle.

“It’s definitely penny pinching and I definitely try to make sure that I have enough money just to make sure I can pay my bills without any sort of help,“ Treat, who also works with Weaver, said.

“Workforce is a great organization to work with I’m just hoping that I can do it on my own and not have to go through the unemployment avenue,“ Weaver said.