In Brooklyn, A Grim Mood as Economy Wavers

The greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression may have officially ended two years ago, but for former Wall Street insurance broker Bryan Procope, there has been little relief from the bleak realities of the faltering United States economy.

It has been two years since Procope lost his job. Since then he has moved from an apartment in Fort Greene to a cheaper one in Bed-Stuy; his blood pressure has shot up since increasing membership prices at the local YMCA made his daily swims unaffordable.

Procope continues to search diligently for work; the last job he applied was at a non-profit, a far cry from the high-profit game of selling insurance on Wall Street.

The mood in Brooklyn was dismal as news broke that nationwide job growth had waned in the past months, the economy gaining just 18,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate creeping from 9.2 percent in May to 9.1 percent in June, according to a statement released by the United States Department of Labor on Friday. In May, the economy had grown by 25,000 jobs.

“Personally, I think all of the banks and the financial institutions ruined the economy,” said Procope, who was on the hunt for work at SNAP, a workforce development center on Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene.

The center, which opened at 12:30 p.m., was already buzzing quietly by 12:45, throngs of unemployed filling the small space as they combed the Internet for work, checked E-mail hopefully for news of job interviews, and worked to keep the momentum going in spite of months of coming up empty.

The Department of Labor report showed that 14.1 million Americans were out of work in June, including 6.3 million people who have been jobless for six months or more. The number grew from 13.9 million unemployed in May, with 6.2 million of them out of work for at least six months. Since March, the total number of unemployed has grown by 545,000, an increase of 0.4 percent.

“The jobs say they’re looking for workers, so I go in and fill out the application, and then no one calls me back,” said Bed-Stuy resident Prince Riley, 28. He has been out of a full-time job for almost four years. His last job was part-time, but he was laid off from his part-time job last August and hasn’t found work since.

“A few of my friends have gotten hired, but not me. I guess I just have really bad luck.”

"It's not going to be long before we're seeing people on the streets of Park Slope," said Milagros Rivera, a retired Welfare Department social worker who has lived on Prospect Park West for 38 years. "No jobs is no good."

Government agencies have been hit the hardest by the downward trend in unemployment, struggling with the pressures of shrinking local, state and federal budgets, which nearly cost the city and 4,675 teachers earlier this month. According to the report, 39,000 government jobs were cut in June. The previous month, 28,000 local government and 2,000 state jobs were cut.

“I’m sorry to say I don’t think its getting better any time soon,” said Procope, checking his E-mail on a SNAP computer. “Good luck to anyone who has to resolve this issue.”

Joanna Lindenbaum, a Prospect Heights resident who helps people start businesses and find jobs, said most of her clients come to her less than optimistic after being laid off or on the job for months or more.

"I'd say [they're] discouraged, exhausted and feeling almost run over by a truck," she said. "They've been out there for awhile trying to find something."

C. Zawadi Morris and Amy Sara Clark contributed to this report.