Jabir Elamin searches employment websites at the Department of Labor in Harlem (Photo by Lucy Pawle)

Sitting in the waiting room on the fourth floor of the New York Department of Human Resources in Harlem, Mozel Williams, 77, is applying for food stamps for the first time in her life. “I was always able to provide for myself. This is the first time I’ve had to apply for anything,” she says, her eyes watering. Pulling a handkerchief from her pocket, she takes off her glasses and wipes away tears.

A short African-American woman in an oversized black coat, Harlem native Williams retired from housekeeping in 2004 after 32 years, but the cost of living means she needs a job again. The $930 Social Security payment she receives each month has become increasingly inadequate. “The rent I’m paying overrides anything coming in. It’s over $1,000,” she says.

But eight months of job-hunting has proved unsuccessful, which is why Williams is here. “I need help badly,” she says.

Her problems are not unusual. Around 2.2 million Americans over 55 are unemployed, double the number in 2007. That represents 15.7 percent of total unemployment, according to October data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. New York City currently has 8.8 percent unemployment.

While recent layoffs account for the majority of unemployed seniors, re-entrants into the workforce have also risen substantially and account for almost a quarter, according to an October 2010 Congressional Research Service analysis.

Older workers aren’t targeted in layoffs; in fact they are often the last to go, says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. “Employers typically lay off people with the least seniority, which is more typically the younger people,” he says.

But the rise in job-hunting seniors is pushing up their unemployment rate. In some cases, debt has forced their return to work. Thirty percent of unemployed seniors have more credit card debt than retirement savings and 41 percent have as much, according to a November 2010 report from the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College.

Williams needs to work because of the rising cost of living. Her rent is “cleaning me out of everything,” she says, increasing $150 a month this year. Health costs and rising food prices concern her too.

Such issues are familiar to staffers at Single Stop, an anti-poverty program with two Harlem centers; it launched an initiative this year specifically targeting the elderly. “There’s a disparity between the flat-lining of Social Security income and the skyrocketing medical expenses,” says communications director Grace Lichtenstein. Single Stop monitors seniors’ poverty rate, which this year jumped from 9 to 16.1 percent when the Census Bureau began including medical expenses and other costs.

Older unemployed workers not only give up things that they want, but things that they need, says Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. “They are particularly hurt by giving up on health care,” he says, “and they also cut back on food and other essentials.”

Jabir Elamin, 59, walks into the Labor Department on West 125^th Street early on a Monday morning. He got laid off in 2008, so he’s there three times a week to use the Internet for job-hunting “You’ve got to be proactive,” he says.

But the job fairs advertised on the department’s website have passed and Elamin has already applied for the one suitable position he finds. “No one ever got back in touch with me,” he says. But he writes down the contact details again anyway.

While seniors may not be the first fired, they are often the last hired. They take nine weeks longer to find work than younger competitors, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics, their searches averaging just over a year.

“There’s a lot of ageism out there,” says Maria Serrano, program director of the Senior Employment Program at the New York City Department of Aging. “There’s enormous competition with the younger workers, workers from other parts of America, and from all over the world now.”

Baker agrees. “It’s formally illegal to discriminate against people on age but people do it,” he says. “I’d be surprised if an employer was more likely to pick a man in his 50s.”

This isn’t news to Elamin. “I’ve found discrimination against my age on a daily basis,” he claims, “but I think it’s very foolish.” A licensed real-estate broker for 21 years, among many other jobs, he feels his age should count in his favor. “Experience is just as important as education and will sometimes take you further,” he says.

Serrano says technology presents the biggest barrier for older job-seekers. “Many of the seniors are not conditioned with the computer skills that are necessary,” she says. “We trying to help people to do the cross-over, but it’s a challenge.” The program had 1,200 participants last year and applicants have increased significantly since 2008. But this year brought 25 percent cuts in federal funding, “slowing us down a little bit,” Serrano says diplomatically.

These government programs are simply inadequate, however, for the problems seniors now face, says Van Horn. “Many are designed for short and shallow recessions. This is neither,” he says.

Elamin enrolled in the department’s program for four months, doing computer training while earning $7.50 an hour, 12 hours a week. But he has doubts about its usefulness. “I learned things that I hadn’t known before, but it didn’t get me a job,” he says. He blames employers who are “insensitive to the needs and to the values that the elderly can bring to the table,” not the Department of Aging.

Baker shares Elamin’s skepticism. “There just aren’t enough jobs,” he says.  “So far as these programs can give workers skills, that’s good, but it’s just shuffling musical chairs.”

A lack of Internet access compounds the problem for many job-hunting seniors.  Neither Williams nor Elamin has a computer, so they’re forced to go to the Labor Department office. But seniors’ job-searching skills are less sophisticated than younger workers’, says Van Horn. “Their use of social networking and Internet job-searching words is much lower,” he says.

Elamin uses the Internet regularly, however, to little avail. Wearing a three-piece brown suit with matching suede shoes and a trilby hat, and carrying a briefcase, he certainly looks ready for the office. “I am always prepared,” he says. “Always looking for an opportunity.”

He organizes his day with military discipline. “I wake up at 5:30 every morning,” he says. “I start out by researching jobs on the Internet, then I make face-to-face contacts with prospective employers. I spend the other part of my day researching about starting my own enterprise.”

Jabir Elamin notes the contact details of a prospective employer (Photo by Lucy Pawle)

Many unsuccessful job seekers end up living with family in multi-generational apartments. Elamin lived with his mother before she had a stroke. Megan Sergi, Single Stop’s uptown director, says this can put a further strain on seniors. “Sometimes their Social Security is the sole provider for paying the rent or supporting the grandchild,” she explains.

For some the strain proves too much. “I’ve seen people as old as 75 trying to find work,” Elamin says. “It’s outrageous and absurd. They shouldn’t have to be looking for it!”

Williams clearly feels the same. “Do you think I should be working at this age?” she simply asks, raising her eyebrow.

Older workers’ horizons are shorter, Van Horn adds, and “the financial and psychological blows they’re taking at that age are harder to recover from. When you’re in your 20s or 30s you’ve got your whole life still ahead.”

What Elamin misses most about his old life is the recreation he could afford. “I used to buy books every week and had quite an extensive library. I can’t do that now,” he says. “I used to love going to shows and concerts but I don’t do that any more either.”

Unsurprisingly, 35 percent of the city’s seniors say their single biggest concern is finances and employment, according to an AARP 2010 survey. Elamin isn’t destitute – he’s better off than many — but his fruitless search for work has had a clear emotional impact.

“It’s frustrating and it’s humiliating because I’ve worked all my life. When this happens and you’re not working it affects you, emotionally and spiritually,” he says. “Because you can’t function properly.”

With the unemployment rate uptown usually double the city’s average, the horizon looks grim for people like Elamin, lacking a college degree, or Williams, without even a high-school diploma.

“The unemployment rate by education is huge,” Baker says. He says their best bet is restaurants and retail, two expanding low-skilled sectors that offer just above the minimum wage. But, he acknowledges “it’s going to be very, very hard for those people.”

Nevertheless, Elamin feels optimistic. “I’m going to be in sales as an independent contractor,” he says confidently.

By setting out as an entrepreneur, he may be wise. The 1.5 million jobs being created a year only accommodate those entering the workforce. “It doesn’t help with the enormous backlog of those who are already unemployed,” Baker says.

Weeks earlier, Elamin was displaying the contents of his briefcase filled with bottles of perfume and stacks of make-up. “I’m thinking about the retail selling of cosmetics and selling them on the Internet,” he said. “I’m also thinking of starting a consulting business.”

Now he says he will probably join an existing “telecommunications energy service company” as an independent representative.   “I’ve got a meeting in December and I expect I’ll be working with them early in the new year,” he says.

But today, after an hour at the Labor Department, he gives up. He’s searched four websites for work without any luck and leaves before his allotted time is up. “It’s like searching for gold,” he says. But he’ll be back later this week, just in case.

Tags labeled “It’s back” direct customers to items being reintroduced. (Photo: Wal-Mart)

Since 2007, Walmart has poured $13 million dollars into New York City non-profit organizations, helping to rescue Jamaica Bay’s deteriorating marshes, finance the middle school curriculum at Harlem Academy and fuel Harlem RBI’s Youth Empowerment Program—although the retailing behemoth has no stores in the city.

It’s no secret that the retailer is trying to tap into the New York City market.

“While we do not have any announced stores in the five boroughs, we think Walmart can be part of the solution for New York City customers who need jobs or want more affordable grocery options in their own neighborhood,” said Steven Restivo, Walmart’s director of community affairs.

But some uptowners are not buying it. In October, prompted by rumors that Walmart was considering a store at a vacant lot on 125^th Street and Lenox Avenue, about 75 Harlem residents and business owners gathered in protest at the location.

“Walmart does not create jobs, it destroys jobs,” said State Sen. Bill Perkins at the rally, sponsored by Walmart Free NYC, a coalition working to keep the retailer out of the city.

The corporation, no doubt anticipating such charges, has launched a website geared at winning over skeptical New Yorkers, walmartnyc.com, where browsers can find endless lists of job statistics and health benefits the city would purportedly gain if it welcomed Walmart.

Such tactics represent a seasoned strategy among big-box retailers facing stiff community opposition. Before opening its controversial store in East River Plaza, Target spent over 10 years wooing the uptown community, refurbishing an East Harlem elementary school library, financing admission to El Museo del Barrio and developing the Target East Harlem Community Garden on East 117^th Street.

Last summer, Walmart announced that it would donate $20 million over five years to Chicago charities; a critical city council vote three days later paved the way for a store on the city’s South Side.

In this case, a Walmart Free NYC public research team had learned that Walmart was scouting the vacant Harlem lot, said Kasha Johnson, client support representative at Bill Lynch Associates, a consultant to the Harlem sector of Walmart Free NYC.

“They are in the form of having secret meetings, so you kind of have to do your own digging,” Johnson said. “Sometimes you don’t know.”  The fall rally, she said,  ”was planned as us being more proactive than reactive. It was us saying, ‘You don’t even want to know how we’ll react if we find out this is really what you want to do.’”

Walmart Free NYC is supported by labor unions including the United Food and Commercial Workers, which has repeatedly tried, but failed, to unionize Walmart stores across the country.

“Harlem is full of small businesses that are neighborhood institutions, but Walmart would take over the marketplace and give shoppers fewer retail options,” said Stephanie Yazig, director of Walmart Free NYC.

While Walmart claims to provide a broad assortment of goods at low prices, local employees and customers have mixed reactions to the prospect of a store uptown.

“I’ve never been in the store, but if they can offer fresh fruits and vegetables it could benefit the community and create jobs,” said Harlem native Jewel James. “I go downtown for my stuff. Obesity, salt, fat—this place is a poison for kids.”

Jay Daniels, an employee of King Party Center on Lenox Ave and 125th Street, admits to shopping at the store elsewhere and using its website, but doesn’t support a store in Harlem. “I like Walmart, just not here,” he said. “Walmart would shut mom-and-pop businesses down and spit them out piece by piece.”

Next door, Baji Shak, a cashier at Harlem 99¢ and Up, believes Walmart would attract more shoppers to the neighborhood. “This means it will be a busy area and will bring in more customers,” she said.

But Neene Ramp, a manager at Paramount, a local housewares store, says she can’t compete with Walmart’s prices. “They are cheaper and go down to a price I don’t think I can do here. It would be a hard competition,” she said.

She has a point: At the $1 Dollar Depot on St. Nicholas Avenue and 125thStreet, a tube of Colgate toothpaste sells for $3.99, while a two-pack sells for $3.28 on Walmart’s website.  A 28-ounce bottle of Pine-Sol sells for $2.99 in the store, two cents more than Walmart’s 48-ounce bottle.

“The reality is that smaller businesses have to pool their resources and local merchants need to get in the habit of buying from local stores, even if it costs more,” said Larry Nickens, 47, a Harlem native.

“They have to put their money where their mouth is,” he said. “We have to take things like this more seriously before the fact than after the fact.”

Jobs are a major concern in Harlem. According to the State Department of Labor, the city’s unemployment rate was at 9 percent in October.

A big-box store would bolster the job market, said Ernest Jackson, senior director of Strive, a nonprofit East Harlem employment service. “It would make more jobs available for residents,” he said.  ”It would bring a different alternative to the neighborhood.”

“There is Marshall’s and CVS here; what is the difference? I don’t see anything wrong with Walmart,” said Brad Bathgate, a local resident. “People get upset with changes in Harlem but change is good, not always bad. “

Rena Ashby gets styled by Victoria Towns-Griffith at the Relief Boutique. (Photo by Lucy Pawle)

She walked in wearing her track pants and puffer jacket. But Rena Ashby left with two trouser suits, a simple black dress, a grey jacket and a pair of business-like pumps. It wasn’t Bloomingdale’s or a SoHo boutique responsible for her new outfits, but a charity the top floor of a Harlem brownstone.

Ashby, 45, emerged from the changing room and stood before the mirror and beamed. “Wow I look gorgeous,” she said, observing herself in black pants, a white shirt and waist-nipped jacket.

Relief Boutique provides low-income women with clothes suitable for job interviews. Uptown unemployment is historically double that of the city, currently 8 percent.  Bureau of Labor Statistics reports show that women are virtually as likely to be unemployed as men.

Boutique founder Robyn Young, a 37-year-old attorney, said that women seeking jobs often lack confidence and don’t know what to wear to an interview. But Relief Boutique’s clients leave with at least two outfits, styled by Young’s mother Carolyn Young, 65, and her aunt Victoria Townes-Griffith, 57.

Though she’d donated clothes to charities like Goodwill in the past, Robyn Young’s inspiration came “when one day I looked through my closet, saw how many clothes I had, and realized I could do more.”

Harlem was the obvious choice for the charity because “we wanted to be in a community that needs us.” Relief Boutique has served over 100 clients, most black and Hispanic, since its March opening. Women now travel to it from around the city, many referred by job-training organizations. “They work on the inside and we work on the outside – it’s a package,” said Young.

The package requires the manpower of seven volunteers, required to sift through a mountain clothes. Most donations come from clothing drives at corporate offices. The week before Ashby arrived, a large batch came in from Morgan Stanley’s Westchester office. The boutique feels half its actual size. Racks of dresses, suits, shoes, coats and handbags obscure the floors and walls, shrinking the space. There’s barely room for the couple of desks and changing room.

Photos of Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey line a mantelpiece, photos of smiling women are tacked to the wall, and a book of inspirational quotes sits on the desk. “We create an atmosphere where the client feels comfortable,” Young said.

A mother of two and a former drug addict who hasn’t worked since 2008, Ashby is training to be a nursing assistant. She needs clothes for interviews later this month, and called visit was vital for “building up my confidence.” Her regular attire is “jeans, sneakers and sweatshirts,” she explained, but she was surprised how good she felt wearing a dress.

She is not unusual. “Lots of women come in and don’t like to wear skirts and dresses or haven’t worn heels before,” said Carolyn.

Many of Relief Boutique’s clients have never attended a job interview, and the stylists explain gently but firmly when outfits aren’t appropriate. “Last week we had someone who tried on a cute dress but it was just too short,” Carolyn Young recalled. “We told her, ‘Yes you look great, but not for the workplace’, which she didn’t understand at first.”

The Relief Boutique staff tries to adapt to each customer. Clients come in all sizes and ages, size 0 to XXXL, mid-20s to mid-60s. Rena came away with three outfits, not the standard two. “She just looked so good in that last dress. I know she had two pant suits but I couldn’t help it,” Carolyn admitted, laughing.

The afternoon before, Robyn Young was asked to open the Boutique to a woman requiring shoes for an interview the next morning. Young left her midtown law firm at 4 p.m., to supply her client with footwear within a couple of hours. “It was pretty crazy, but she was happy and we’ll bring her back to get a full outfit next time,” Young said.

She had another happy client in Ashby. “Once I put that suit on and I looked in the mirror I felt different,” she said. “I feel like I could go out to work today!”

This graphic shows a comparison of the unemployment rates uptown versus those in the city and nationwide.

Unemployed for a month and a half, Lakeisha York, a single mother from Inwood, began looking for options to help her compete in a tough job market.

Tired of seasonal and part-time work, and noticing that even highly skilled people were vying for positions for which they were overqualified, she set out to separate herself from others.

She enrolled in courses at Strive/East Harlem Employment Services, a job-training nonprofit.

“I see a lot of struggle uptown,” said York, 24. “There’s a lot of single mothers out there doing the best that they can to make ends meet.”

Despite the official end of the recession in June 2009, York is among the estimated 13.6 percent of unemployed workers uptown.

The city’s unemployment rate for October was 9.2 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

While the Department of Labor doesn’t collect unemployment data below the borough level, a 2009 report by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonprofit economic research organization, estimated the unemployment rate in upper Manhattan at 13.6 percent.

Joblessness remains a problem uptown.

“The numbers are still abysmal in terms of employment in this community,” said Ernest Johnson, senior director of supportive services at Strive.

The recent East River Plaza project in East Harlem, the retail complex housing Target, Costco and other stores, provided some relief , Johnson said. But Oct. 21, when the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corp., a nonprofit community organization, held its first job fair, about 1,000 job-seekers flocked to meet with 35 employers.

“We had to turn away maybe around 100 people or so that were still waiting around outside,” said Sara Farimani, the corporation’s director of workforce development, adding that it planned to hold the fair again next year.

“There is a need in our community with high unemployment,” she said.

Citywide, unemployment will stay high for a while, predicts James Parrott, deputy director and chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute.

Uptown residents face the same regional labor market as the rest of the city, so their labor market outlook isn’t necessarily different, Parrott said in an e-mail.

Harlem’s shifting demographic will play a role in its future unemployment rate.

“The population of Harlem is changing, so the outlook is as mixed as the population,” Parrott said.

The low-income households are more likely to suffer from the effects of high unemployment, according to Kevin R. Foster, economist at the City College of New York.

“The bottom line is that poorer people tend to get the worst of any bad thing; this is true by a variety of labor market measures,” he said in an e-mail.

Minorities are also disproportionately unemployed, Foster said, and the same is true nationwide.

The unemployment rate strains other social services in the community as well, Johnson said.

Anat Coleman, community affairs liaison at the Jewish Community Council of Washington Heights-Inwood, said that its food pantry has doubled in size the past year.

“Every day there are new people coming in,” she said.

The pantry, open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., sees about 130 families a day.

While the council doesn’t provide job placement services, Coleman said, it posts new positions on its website to help unemployed people in the area.

“We can’t give anybody a job,” Coleman said. “I think people seem to be very hopeful that we will or we can. What we can do is to guide people toward whatever skills and knowledge they need.”

Coleman said that in her three years at the council, people drop by often to pass her their resumes or ask whether she knows of any open positions.

“There are professionals here, too, that can’t find positions,” she said. “It’s affecting everyone across the board.”

Until she finds a job, York has been relying on public assistance and side jobs — fixing computers and building Web pages — to support herself and her 4-year-old son. She would like to start a career in information technology.

Strive, she said, has helped by teaching her interview skills, offering resume help and other tips for success.

“They prepare you a lot for the job market,” she said.

The Fiscal Policy Institute plans to publish an update of last year’s report in mid-December, Parrott said.

Source: New York State Department of Labor (Graphic by Tim Kiladze and Lisa Waananen)

By Andrew Keshner and Joshua Tapper

Widespread unemployment in uptown Manhattan is forcing people to find new careers or juggle several jobs, while touching off concerns that those lost jobs might not come back, local business leaders say.

Elbagina Bonilla, deputy director of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Economic Development, sees rising unemployment rates weighing heavily on local residents. A particularly hard-hit demographic is young heads of household from their 20s to their 40s, she says.

As the economy dives, a way of life becomes tougher for low-income individuals and families, says Ernest Johnson, senior director at Strive, an East Harlem-based agency that assists the chronically unemployed nationwide. “It’s difficult,” he says. “People are having it pretty rough. A lot of people are hurting.”

Looking at the numbers, it’s not hard to see why: The unemployment rate has essentially doubled since last year. As of October, the unemployment rate in Manhattan was 9.2 percent, says Jim Brown, labor market analyst for the New York State Department of Labor. In October 2008 – the month after Lehman Brothers imploded – it was just 5.5 percent citywide. Unemployment rose from 6.3 to 10.3 percent citywide during the same period.

Unemployed Inwood woman sells her belongings from Shane Snow on Vimeo.

But the unemployment rates of uptown Manhattan neighborhoods are drastically higher than the borough or citywide numbers. Historically, neighborhoods with a high concentration of African Americans have been hit harder by labor market shocks than the rest of the population, explains Kevin Foster, a City College economist. Typically, African Americans work jobs susceptible to layoffs, like personal care and food preparation, Foster says. The black unemployment rate is 15.7 percent nationwide, and it’s especially dire among 16-to-19-year olds, nearly 40 percent of whom are without work. Even before the recession, African Americans had an 8 percent unemployment rate. “It started at a level the country would have called a recession,” Foster says. “Now it’s at a depression level.”

In East Harlem, for example, unemployment climbed from 16 percent in 2005 to between 18.3 and 19.2 percent so far this year, according to Johnson. Johnson believes the East Harlem unemployment rate will peak at 19 to 20 percent over the next two or three months. The neighborhood represents a “microcosm for the rest of the country,” Johnson said.

Bonilla sees some people taking on two or three small jobs to make ends meet; others look to change careers or improve their computer skills. Her organization offers training for child care and security jobs and she reports increased interest in both. Between 20 and 25 people have taken the security training course this year, says Bonilla, compared with 10 to 15 who took the course last year. Last year, the organization offered six classes aimed at helping people open childcare businesses; this year, the organization may offer eight, owing to higher demand. Both Johnson and Foster says green collar jobs are becoming popular in low-income neighborhoods, a result of President Obama’s economic stimulus package. Strive, for example, offers training in green construction.

Henry Calderon, executive director of the East Harlem Chamber of Commerce, has seen some businesses cut back on employees as local consumers trim their own budgets to necessities like rent and food. Though some well-established businesses are still getting by on lower volumes, others, like restaurants, are feeling the pinch.

Foster, the economist, believes many unskilled labor jobs will return once the economy rebounds, simply because they don’t require much training or education. But Calderon, heading an organization representing almost 230 businesses, says there is still a lot of pessimism about the economy improving anytime soon.

And when it does improve, he worries that businesses won’t rehire the same number of workers they let go and will try to do more with less. “The net result,” he says, “is a loss of jobs even if it picks up.”

The Jaguar Restaurant on Lexington Avenue is looking for a waitress. Many restaurants prefer to hire women, East Harlem leaders and residents say. (Photo by Rebecca Huval)

Pedro Espinosa said he’s ashamed. He was sitting next to the mother of his two daughters as she ate french fries on her lunch break. Marlena Ortiz, 20, works as a pharmacy cashier and is the family breadwinner because Espinosa, 21, was fired from his construction job without warning two days ago.

He didn’t take his eyes off his cell phone. All morning, he had searched for busboy jobs downtown, but found no employers looking for help. It’s a familiar routine: At the beginning of the year, he was jobless for six months. They’re too embarrassed to talk about these financial problems with friends, Ortiz said.

“I feel happy because I’m the head of the family,” she said. “But, at the same time, it doesn’t feel good.”

Throughout the city, more men have lost jobs than women in the past recessionary year, according to the city comptroller’s office. The disparity has been especially consequential in the Latino community, where men often work in construction and retailing; many won’t consider service jobs, community leaders said. In those families, wives and girlfriends often become the providers — sometimes an uncomfortable role reversal.

Mirna Cruz, 34, from Puebla, Mexico, started working when her husband lost his job this year. “There’s a lot of tension now between me and my husband,” she said in Spanish. “I tell him to look for work, but he won’t accept anything that pays less than $20 an hour. That’s just unrealistic in this economy.”

Pedro Prado Ocegueda, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in East Harlem, has noticed such struggles. “In this neighborhood, we have many workers from the countryside,” he explained. “They used to be cowboys. For them to start washing dishes or selling shaved ice on the street — it would weigh heavily on their self-esteem. But when they sit at home, they don’t feel manly either. They become violent in the house and dependent on alcohol. They start a never-ending cycle.”

Their machismo also means that fathers suddenly at home deny that their wives are supporting the family. “In the U.S., it’s easy for the man to watch his wife to go off to work,” Ocegueda said. “There are movies with high-power lawyer moms. But in the Latino environment, it’s not that common.”

In the New York metropolitan area, the number of unemployed men nearly doubled between the first quarters of 2008 and 2009, while the number of unemployed women grew by less than a quarter, the comptroller’s office reported.

Latino men have a harder time than women finding work, said Diana Ortiz, a job developer at Exodus Transitional Communities, where she helps former inmates find work. Among employers, “there’s more of a comfort level with women than with men,” she found. When she explains that she’s trying to find work for a man, “their tone changes.” Further, her clients are “looking for labor-intense maintenance jobs. They’re looking for jobs where there aren’t many.”

New York State has lost about 23,500 construction and 52,500 retail jobs since July 2008, but has gained 9,700 service jobs in that period, according to the state department of labor. While Latino men snub service jobs, Latinas have more work options.

“The Latina wants a better life for her children, so she does whatever it takes to make that happen,” said Lily Valenzuela, 55, a childcare worker in Washington Heights. “She’ll sell food on the street or work in a factory if she has to. But the man wants to protect his status. He can’t be seen sweating in a street cart.”

Grandmothers and girlfriends sometimes head their households. Juana Maria Galindo, 49, lives with her two daughters and two grandchildren and supports them all by selling raspados, $1 flavored ices, from a cart at 110th Street and Lexington. Her daughters, 19 and 21, are studying for their GED exams.

“I have to work and look for Pampers even if I can’t afford them so that the grandchildren don’t get deported back to their father,” Galindo said in Spanish. “I give up hope when I can’t pay the telephone and light bills on time. Before I could pay it all on time, but now I can’t.”

That’s partly because Galindo’s boyfriend, Juan Gomez, 56, lost his construction job in January. When employed, Gomez used to give Galindo $200 to 300 a week. Now he brings “bags of ice instead of food.”

Some husbands have lowered their standards to help support their families. Silvestre Casares, 21, found work sweeping at a Lexington Avenue deli a week ago, after being laid off from his construction job four months earlier.

“There are so many men, too many,” he said in Spanish, “and no jobs. Construction: No. Markets: No. Flower Shops: No.”

His wife, Concepción, works as a waitress. She lost a job, too, but found another in two weeks. “Women can get work quickly as waitresses,” her husband said. “They don’t accept the men. I looked. Maybe as busboys, but they don’t want us as waiters.”

The long job hunt made him feel “desperate, horrible. We didn’t have money, and we had to think about food, car, rent. And there was nothing we could do.”

Uptown children say they have noticed the tension between their parents. Adriana Garcia, 17, learned that her dad lost his job when she overheard him talking to her mother, and saying he didn’t want his two daughters to find out. Adriana, who grew up in Mexico City, decided to start looking for jobs in “clothes, restaurants —anything.”

“It’s kind of sad and it makes us worry,” she said. “My dad is out of the house looking for jobs. And in my country, we don’t let the mother work. I would be uncomfortable if she wasn’t in the house and was outside working.”