KTLA News: "Unemployment issues in South Central Los Angeles" (1971)

everybody needs more jobs it just that there are fewer entry level jobs and there's more people com competing for these kinds of jobs does your service center become more busy as unemployment Rises and what can you do about it uh the reverse is true when the economy goes up there's more activity here because we have something to offer jobs training opportunities as the economy worsens such as it is there's little activity nobody likes to keep going to a place and get nothing Mr Buckman uh how has this uh unemployment rise in the state and the nation affected the service center here what are you looking for we're looking for more entry level type employment or trainee type jobs General Motors Chrysler Corporation have had cutbacks because of their low production and uh they've eliminated some of the trainee classifications in their plants it's affected also all other plants in this area and the trainees our entry-level employees are usually the first to get laid off if uh is there a lack of industry in the area or are there jobs that the people cannot reach for some reason or other both um for a long time in fact since the beginning this are has been cut off from transportation between communities and to direct employment The Only Exception is after the watch Riot a bus line was instituted straight down centry Boulevard to the airport area and back again no other immediate bus transportation improvements the second part of your question they have jobs what is that condition this is known as a community for um people just coming into the Community or the state uh people who can do better usually leave and that means as soon as they get a regular job they move on to a better place which is only natural it happens all over except that watchs has a name where un skilled labor in the area you can say that and that employers tend to go to other communities Inglewood Tor other places where there's a known pool of skill or semiskilled labor employeers know that this is an area where unemploy not unskilled or low-skilled people reside what's going to happen when summer comes and the youngsters get out of school I expect that we will get a share of the uh president's Youth Opportunity program we did last year and I hope we will get a larger share does this help to ease the situation it it helps the youngsters to get into a uh labor market uh get a taste of what real work activity is in that sense is [Music] Meaningful is there something Mr Bachman would it help any to see industry move in here closer to the market certainly it's always an asset to have U shopping centers a place to work where a person wouldn't have to cross another community and have direct access to um to his job who lots of people would like to walk to work so to speak that there is no such thing around here the Light Industry that you see right around this Center usually these people are Caucasian and work out of the community and uh they hold skill or semis skill jobs and that labor pool is not um coming from watts do you see any uh future uh difference in this situation only in the sense that there's a change in the direction of the policy makers and it's a long-term kind of thing and nothing immediate can be done the only immediate thing can be done is to help the individual get a [Music] job is [Music] figures do you feel that this is the the type of job that the black Community is looking for or must take the entrylevel jobs and uh this might then contribute to their greater unemployment it's the nature of our the state of the economy right now the available jobs do call for skill training and versatility a person just entering the labor market or who have basic skills uh do uh to learn these things are not available what about people remaining in the area one