Last Monday morning was a busy one at the Department of Labor office in Bellevue. In one hour, some 20 men came through the office looking for work, filling out forms for unemployment benefits and waiting for job postings.
About half the men were Hispanic. They included Eric Salinas, a recent Wood River High School graduate who was there to translate for some older men searching the job postings. Salinas said many Mexican families would soon be returning to the valley from visiting relatives in Mexico during the holidays. He also said some had left indefinitely for Nevada and elsewhere to look for work due to a lack of jobs here.
"The housekeeping business picks up here some in the winter when the second-home owners arrive," Salinas said.
Brandy Rushton, a Spanish-speaking consultant at the office, said about half the people she helps with résumés, and possible educational opportunities, are from the Hispanic community. Since Hispanics account for 15 percent of the population in Blaine County, the figure suggests this group may have been hit harder by the recession than non-Hispanics.
But most Hispanics are looking for work, not unemployment benefits. Rushton said 53 unemployment claims were filed in November in Blaine County, many of them for extensions. Of those, only eight were for Hispanic people.
Rushton said she's usually busy this time of the year helping the unemployed in Blaine County find jobs, apply for benefits and get job training. She said the recent surge in holiday business in the north Wood River Valley has not led to a drop in activity at her office.
"Tourism only helps the hotels and restaurants," she said. "Many Hispanic men work in landscaping and construction, so there are not a lot of jobs for them right now."
Labor Department statistics report that the national unemployment rate dropped from 10.1 percent to 9.6 percent from October 2009 to October 2010. The unemployment rate rose slightly in Idaho during the same period, from 8.8 percent to 9.1 percent, while the total workforce in Blaine County dropped by about 300 people, indicating an exodus of workers from the area.
How many of Blaine County's unemployed are Hispanic may be hard to determine, but according to Enemorio Gutierrez, many Hispanic families have returned to Mexico rather than ride out the recession.
Gutierrez owns La Ranita Market next door to the Department of Labor Office, selling culturally specific clothing, food and other items for Hispanic shoppers. Ranchero music plays inside the shop, which is adorned with piñatas, lottery ticket posters and fashions from south of the border, including a $19 pair of Mexican-made Uggs-style boots.
"Business is slow because people aren't working," said Gutierrez, who came from Santa Ana, Calif., four years ago. He has five brothers and sisters, half of them living in Idaho and half living in Mexico.
"Housekeeping is good, but that's only for ladies," Gutierrez said.
The lone shopper on Monday morning at La Ranita was a middle-aged woman from Mexico.
Gutierrez said he knows of 30 to 40 Mexican families that have left the Wood River Valley in the past two years, back to Guanajuato, Aguas Calientes and other cities.
"If they stay here, they must pay rent and bills," he said. "If they go back to Mexico, they can live with their families. If the work is not good here, maybe they will stay there."
Pedro Torres is the owner of Sun Valley Landscaping in Bellevue. He's had to cut back on summer and winter employees since fall 2008. During winter, his employees shovel and plow snow for clients.
"When there's no snow, there's no work," said Torres, who moved from Peru 15 years ago.
He said he knows of several Hispanic people who have lost homes to foreclosure in the Woodside subdivision in Hailey.
"The work isn't what it used to be," he said.
The 192 units in 19 buildings that make up Balmoral Apartments on Woodside Boulevard in Woodside are perhaps home to the greatest concentration of Hispanics in the valley. About 80 percent of Balmoral residents are Hispanic.
Balmoral resident Armando Garcia, 25, said last fall that he had seen numerous acquaintances move in with family or friends to split rents.
"The Hispanic community's trying to help each other," Garcia said.
Bus driver Tarun Mehra said the number of Hispanic housekeepers he picks up along Woodside Boulevard commuting north to work has dropped off noticeably in the past year.
"There used to be 15 or 17 women—now there may be only three or four," Mehra said.
Marta Hernandez is an anesthesiologist by training. She moved to the valley from El Salvador seven years ago. In addition to publishing The Flamingo, a bilingual newspaper in southern Idaho, Hernandez also owns a cleaning business and provides counseling services for anger management and addiction recovery at Lion of Judah ministry in Ketchum.
Hernandez employs men and women as house cleaners, and said her business has grown, rather than slowed down during the recession.
"People still need to clean their houses," she said.
Hernandez said that with the loss of typically male-dominated jobs, such as construction and landscaping, women are taking more financial responsibility for households. She said that's been possible because housekeeping businesses, typically dominated by women, continue to provide jobs.
"I've seen a lot of stress and many divorces because of the recession," she said. "I've also seen many men staying at home and taking care of children."
Blaine County School District Business Manager Mike Chatterton said he has heard from principals and teachers in the valley that Hispanic families are sharing accommodations to get through the recession, but that enrollment numbers for Hispanic students haven't gone down.
"Some kids have come and gone, but we're holding steady in our numbers," Chatterton said.
So as the Hispanic community in the Wood River Valley adapts to changing economic circumstances, or leaves the valley for greener pastures, it appears the younger generation's opportunity to get an American education remains a top priority.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
Enemorio Gutierrez operates La Ranita market in Bellevue. He said he knows of 30 to 40 Hispanic families that have left the valley in the past two years. Photo by David N. Seelig
