As our economy goes down it only means employment goes down along with it. People start losing jobs, employment becomes scarce and families and individuals start searching for a source of an income but don't know where to turn to so they can support themselves and their loved ones in such a quick turnaround.

South Seattle Community College is just a place to turn for some help.

The state's Office of Financial Management says that historically the unemployment rate in Washington has been higher than the national average, due primarily to a relatively high share of resource-based industries in the state that have more volatile season employment patterns.

In April, Washington's unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 4.7 percent however, in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area the unemployment rate was even greater, increasing from 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent in March.

So what do those who have lost jobs and have no other knowledge or experience in any other trade or those who want to make sure they find security in their employment without the hassle of being affected by the fluctuations of the economic cycle do?

"Traditionally enrollment in community colleges has been the opposite of the economy," said Jill Wakefield, president of South Seattle Community College. "So, when the economy is doing well our enrollment usually goes down especially in technical areas because more folks are working. When the economy goes down we see enrollment increase."

To help the increasing population of students affected by our decreasing economy, the college has been offering Workforce Education, a short-term training and employment service for a wide-range of underserved or employment challenged individuals. The college's professional-technical programs provide certificates and associates degrees in 16 technical disciplines. The success of Workforce Education is shown through the 1,500 students they serve in each budget year and the 700 students who graduate each year.

The mission for the Workforce Education is to, "assist students pursuing professional-technical education in achieving their highest educational and career goals and securing meaningful employment."

"We think this year the number of our enrolled and worker retraining (those who've lost a job or those who may lose their job) we've seen those numbers increase in the last few months," said Wakefield. "We're the canary in the coalmine, it gives me the impression that things are slowing down and if they haven't already people are getting nervous, if they haven't lost their jobs they want to be sure that they have the skills and that they are very employable and can keep their jobs.

"So we're seeing this spring uptake in enrollment, worker retraining and some of our technical areas where area employers have talked about their shortages."

Part-time work has an affect, said Mike Munson, director of communications.

"Another notable thing about community colleges and especially the students here is that almost all of them have had to work part time in order to afford this or just be able to make a living," said Munson. "So when there is a downturn in the economy then there's an impact - they have to work more hours, decreasing their study time, so that's why some of them have to stop and step out temporarily. However, that's why we have a wide range of opportunities here to help these kinds of folks."

Outside of Workforce Education, the college also offers the WorkSource Center, providing students and those in search of a job, valuable resources and knowledgeable career professionals to help with career management and developing effective strategies to search for work.

A great example of the assistance the center may give, Wakefield said, is when an individual may have worked in an industry for 20- to 40-years and has never made a resume, or has only applied for one job. Those people come to South and are often scared and need a job but don't have the time to look because they need to work to support themselves. So the school helps them to learn how to make a resume in today's styles and gives them the experience in practicing for an interview.

"Let's say you get laid off, and that means your eligible for worker retraining classes, which every community college has extra funds to help retrain," said Wakefield. "You then come to the WorkSource Center, talk to a counselor or advisor and that is the time you would talk about what's available and what you're interested in and if you don't know we have interest inventories. So you work with (counselors and advisors) and come up with an area or program you'd like to take. They then work with you at the worker retraining area where funds are and see what financial aid is available and work with you to get into a class."

The programs the Work Source Center offers are workshops, services, and events for jobseekers; career exploration planning; training information; an internship program and a full staff of helpful and knowledgeable individuals, she said.

Other programs that the college offers are academic (the first two years of the four year degree), technical (automotive, aviation, horticulture, culinary), apprenticeship (training is mostly on the job and you to go to school a few times a week for related instruction), general studies or basic transitional studies - focus for English as a Second Language (ESL) and General Educational Development (GED) students coming in below college level - and continuing education and non-credit classes. These classes have always been offered and South Seattle Community College has always been known for their strong technical programs.

There is a program for every type of individual seeking to be successful in today's roller coaster of an economy.

"We want to make sure that as this community (West Seattle) shifts we're shifting with it," said Wakefield. "If we only had one program and the community changed than we wouldn't do it. There are a lot of folks in West Seattle that are well educated and looking for something like this."

For more information on Workforce Education or for registration visit www.southseattle.edu or for information on the WorkSource Center visit http://worksource.southseattle.edu/.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 932.0300 or allisone@robinsonnews.com