New Lemay casino brings a thousand jobs in a time of uncertainty
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
December 4, 2009
By Steve Giegerich
ST. LOUIS -- A local economy with 130,000 people out of work received a subtle yet welcome nudge Thursday as the employment center for a new South County casino greeted the first applicants for 1,000 jobs it plans to fill before opening in the spring.
In the larger scheme, economists say, the payroll of the $370 million River City Casino will have little short-term impact on the area's 10.31 percent unemployment rate.
"It will make a rather small difference," said Jack Strauss, director of the Simon Center for Economic Forecasting at St. Louis University. "Because there is a multiplier effect, it will probably create another 1,000 to 1,500 jobs. (Plus), it's coming at the right time."
Not soon enough, as far as Banita King is concerned.
The first person through the door when the center opened at 8 a.m., the unemployed food service worker's goal of landing a spot in a casino restaurant was secondary to getting a job -- any job.
"I'll take anything," said the St. Charles resident. "We're in kind of a desperate situation."
Even with 1,000 casino jobs on the table, King faces slim odds of landing a position at River City that might solve her financial woes. Pinnacle Entertainment, the casino's parent company, expects to receive upward of 50,000 online applications before hiring is completed, said Cyrus Sherafat, director of recruitment.
Each of those applicants must complete a questionnaire detailing qualifications for specific jobs. The answers, Sherafat said, allow Pinnacle to cut the initial applicant pool by half.
Successive rounds of personal interviews and human resources decisions, he added, will continue to narrow the field until, finally, job offers go out.
Thursday marked the second hiring call for Pinnacle's newest area casino. The firm also operates Lumière Place -- which says it employs 1,500 to 1,700 -- and the President Casino in downtown St. Louis.
A July posting for management and casino floor positions attracted 12,000 online applicants. Sherafat said 100 of those positions have been filled.
The 1,000 openings posted Thursday were the first for housekeeping, food services, parking and other jobs that come with a salary range of $10 to $20 an hour, plus -- in some cases -- benefits. Eighty percent of the River City jobs are full time.
Sherafat expects 95 percent of the candidates to submit applications online from homes, libraries or career centers. But remote filing was not an option for Charlotte Thompson.
A chef and resident of Jennings, Thompson is the first to admit she's technologically challenged.
"If I had a computer at home, I wouldn't even be here," she said. "They're going to have to show me what to do. I've never been on the Internet."
Moments later, Thompson took a seat at a terminal where she was introduced to cyberspace by a Pinnacle personnel specialist.
Laid-off food worker Joe Hossenlopp of Hazelwood could have applied from home for a casino position. He hoped for a job in housekeeping, with an opportunity to "stay for a while and not just plateau in one place."
Rather than fill out an application on his home computer, however, Hossenlopp chose to apply in person.
"I think I might have a better chance than if I do it online," he said. "Maybe there's a chance I'll meet an actual person."
But Pinnacle officials said their software cannot differentiate between applications submitted at the employment center or filed from afar.
The company's appeal for applicants on Thursday attracted 1,150 online applications and 300 more in person by late afternoon. The 300 went to the casino's employment center, about a half-mile from the construction site in Lemay.
The arrival of a seventh St. Louis area casino raises new questions about the viability of replacing established but lost jobs in manufacturing and other sectors with positions in the gambling industry.
William Rogers, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, says gambling is not the cure for the region's economic ills.
"Casinos do have an impact on the area in the sense that they absorb resources and provide services," Rogers said. "The riverfronts look different because of them, but I don't think they have a substantial impact on the region as a whole. There is no evidence within the urban literature that casinos independently make urban areas more vibrant or dynamic."
Be that as it may, SLU's Strauss points out that gambling is nonetheless filling a void vacated by other sectors and industries: providing jobs.
"Casinos may not be answer," he said, concurring with Rogers. "But at a time when (businesses and governments) don't have the money to create jobs themselves, I don't think we can question this."
Strauss will get no argument from Edward Washington.
The unemployed forklift operator headed to the Pinnacle center from his home in Granite City with a singular purpose that had nothing to do with the relationship between the area economy and casinos.
"I still have to pay the bills," he said flatly. "And I still have to take care of my kids."
