http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/cadillac_08242009.mp3
Story and photos by Tyler Sipe
Jeremy Williams is the sixth generation of his family to call Cadillac home.
His great-great grandfather worked in the timber industry.
And three generations of the Williams family owned a sporting goods store on Mitchell Avenue.
But the 27-year-old is unsure of his future in Cadillac.
The Michigan State University graduate student says there are few job opportunities for young adults here.
"From my perspective, Cadillac loses a lot of its sons and daughters because the lack of a youth movement or youth scene," Williams said. "A lot of them go elsewhere because there are more jobs or more opportunities."
But Williams has been able to return every summer to the same job in Cadillac.
He's the assistant manager of Adventure Island Family Fun Park. Here, he oversees 45 employees, a put-put golf course, go-cart race track, and a small water park.
Williams is also responsible for summer hires. He says this year's applicant pool was much larger and more competitive than years past.
"We had applicants and people on staff that are going to law and med school," Williams said.
In Michigan, young adults between the ages 16 to 24 have an unemployment rate double that of the rest of the workforce.
And in June, Wexford County had the fourth highest unemployment rate among the state's 83 counties. Here, nearly one in five people are out-of-work.
And that means some young people are opting to relocate in order to find work.
Seventeen-year-old Joseph Rogers skateboards among strangers at a Cadillac skate park. His friends have already left the area.
"A lot of them (friends) have gotten jobs down south (in southern states)," Rogers said. "Not having a job when you want one is pretty bad."
Rogers applied to dozens of jobs in the service and retail industries. But he had little luck. He says it's hard to find a job when you're competing against hundreds of others for a single position.
Rogers plans on moving out-of-state and joining the air force at summers end.
Dave Cox hears that story all the time.
Many of his 630 students express plans to leave Cadillac, or Michigan. Cox is director of the Wexford Missaukee Career Technical Center and says many see little future in traditional Cadillac employment industries, especially manufacturing.
"I think people are sitting with their parents at dinner, and they talk about taking a manufacturing class and it's a bit of a negative perception," Cox said. "A lot of it has to do with the economy and the jobs going to Mexico or China."
Cox says few places in Cadillac are hiring computer programmers and positions in the health industry. Yet, student interest and enrollment is soaring in the tech center's computer and health programs.
By contrast, Cox has difficulty filling the centers manufacturing classes.
"We think it's still viable," Cox said. "The numbers are low, but there's still a program we're going to offer.
"There's still a need, especially in the Cadillac area."
The career tech center was able to hire a temporary summer position through federal stimulus money.
Eighteen-year-old Jessica Abee was the recipient of the position. She also graduated from the career tech center and hopes to someday open her own business in downtown Cadillac.
"I'll probably have to work another job until the economy is more open for making business," Abee said. "If I had to I'd move for a job, to a place like Traverse City.
"It's a bleak outlook, but I'm going to try."
Abee's dreams of becoming a business owner and even earning her associates degree may be put on hold.
Her summer job ended in early August.
Her single-mother had been supporting the family of three by working two part-time jobs. But in late July, Abee's mother was laid off from her night shift at WalMart.
Abee used most of her summer earnings and savings to help pay for the families groceries, utilities and the mortgage.
"I feel proud of myself that I'm helping," Abee said. "Even if I didn't have much money I'd help, because I adore her and I just don't want her using up all of her money on us."
But now, Abee has payments of her own to worry about. She still has payments on a used car that helps her commute to and from school. And she recently became ill and now has over $700 in unpaid medical expenses.
"I've applied to ten fast food places and I didn't get hired for any of them," she said. "I just need a job. But you can't get (them) anymore in Cadillac."
Jessica has struggled before. She says past adversity only made her work harder. A quality often admired by employers.