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A SPECIAL EXPANDED ISSUli OF THE WEEKLY SECTION

Job Market

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Section 10

Like Paperwork?

Medical Workers Needed By THOMAS J. LUECK

WITH the health care in-dustry struggling to keep pace with the ex-panding requirements

for paperwork under managed care, the New York region is confronting an acute shortage of physician as-sistants and clerical workers at the entry level in medicine, according to government labor statistics and in-dustry executives.

Although many see the demand as positive, they also see a downside. The situation may provide ample op-portunity for jobs, some experts say, but medical assistant and record-keeping work may lead to few, if any, chances for advancement because of rigorous training and licensing requirements.

The demand for such workers is running high nationwide. A forecast released in February 2004 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the fastest growing occupation until 2012 will be medical assistants. Physician assistants ranked third on the bu-reau's list (behind data communica-tions analysts), while medical records technicians ranked sixth and physical therapists' assistants ranked 10th.

Demand for medical workers ap-pears to be the most voracious among the huge concentration of hos-pitals, clinics, nursing homes and medical offices that make New York a magnet for health care. "I would bet that in New York, where health

Some Like

In the

office,

the No. 1

complaint

is being

too cold.

By AMY ZIPKIN

KERRY McCLOSKEY, direc-tor of research at a media company in Manhattan, de-scribes her office as having

"very strange temperature pock-ets." During the winter months, Ms. McCloskey keeps a red sweater handy and leaves a suit jacket in the office. Occasionally she wears a scarf.

"It's hard to keep your thoughts from wandering with goose bumps on your arm," she said. She particu-larly dislikes the seventh-floor con-ference room, which she calls so cold that "when you open the door, you can almost see your breath." Her only recourse when she is cold is rn fall,a maiPUwwwcft.Paie'-.'Jiüiitaiify'-i

Factories Rev Up

(At Last) In the US

By EDUARDO PORTER

THREE years ago, Ace Clear-water Enterprises, a Tor-rance, Calif., maker of custom parts for everything

from jet planes to power plants, of-fered its 175 workers the choice be-tween a shortened workweek and job cuts. This year it is staffing up. "We've been in hiring mode for about a year now," said Gary John-son, its vice president, who wants to bring his payroll up to 195.

Manufacturing is back. Last year, producers of machinery increased employment by 22,000. Makers of computers and electronic products added 11,000 jobs. After six years of decline, manufacturing added 76,000 jobs in 2004.

The increase hardly makes a dem in the 2.8 million manufacturing jobs lost from 2000 to 2003, when manu-facturing took the steepest dive since the early 1980's. No economist ex-pects manufacturing to return to its peak of the 1970's, when it accounted for 20 percent of the nation's jobs, compared with 11 percent today.

Yet as producers of everything from power generators to surgical devices guardedly add to their pay-rolls, some economists are cautious-ly optimistic that the decline of the former great job engine, which sup-ported the rise of the nation's middle class through the postwar era, might have finally come to an end.

"We've probably hit bottom," said Josh Bivens, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, who fol-lows factory employment. "We should see some benefits from the fall in the dollar so far. If the fall

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In New York, an acute

shortage of health

care office workers.

care is such a dominant industry, the demand is going to be even greater in the rest of the country," said Mi-chael L. Dolfman, the bureau's New York regional commissioner.

A result is a large, growing entry point to the medical industry that is particularly suited to immigrants, who may lack extensive training or college degrees, but speak more than one language. Many of the cleri-cal skills required can be mastered in associate degree programs or shorter course work.

In a polyglot region where insur-ance forms, duplicate bills and other medical red tape can be frustrating for people with limited English, it has become essential for hospitals and medical offices to offer help in several languages. Moving up the career ladder, however, poses con-siderable challenges.

Maritza Rodriguez of Manhattan, a 42-year-old divorced mother of two, had worked at clerical jobs in offices and in retail customer service before completing a 10-week course in med-ical billing and record keeping in October. She said she immediately found Jobs with two doctors, splitting her workweek between Brooklyn and Manhattan. "There is so much demand," said Ms. Rodriguez, who said she rarely logged more than 40 hours a week total and expected to make more than $50,000 this year, also receiving health care benefits.

"I have always liked dealing with people, and it is especially nice to help Spanish speakers," she said. Over time, she added, "I would like to join up with some other people and maybe form a small medical billing company of our own."

Experts say there is room for en-trepreneurs in the field, as doctors, dentists, therapists and other profes-sionals may turn more to outside companies to ease their record-keep-ing workload. For many of the new entry-level medical workers, it may require zeal to get ahead. "There are lots of opportunities, but they are lim-ited," Mr. Dolfman said. "These are positions that fill boxes. I wouldn't say they are dead ends, but they are often specific jobs and not careers."

Medical assistants, who take care

Continuad on Page 6

just the thermostat down the hall. Ms. McCloskey is not alone. A

May 2003 survey by the Internation-al Facilities Management Associa-tion in Houston says being too cold was the No. 1 office complaint, fol-lowed by being too hot, poor janitori-al service, not enough conference rooms and not enough storage and filing space in a workstation. The association conducted similar sur-veys in 1991 and 1997, and a spokes-man, Donald Young, says the same complaints led both times, although once hot edged out cold.

Winter took its time arriving this year in New York. Temperatures in the 50's during the second week in January were unusual. With oil prices ai or near record highs in the Northeast, and colder temperatures returning, companies are again keeping a watchful eye on the ther-mostat to minimize fuel costs.

They take their cue from the fed-eral government. While there are no national standards for energy con-servation, the Department of Ener-gy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy suggests that heating be set at 68 degrees in win-ter and cooling at 78 degrees in summer. That has been the rule of thumb since the 1973 oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Ex-porting Countries. And for every de-gree the heat is set lower than 68, utility bills are reduced by 1.5 per-cent, said Paul Hess, an energy in-formation specialist for the Energy Information Administration.

Now, though, Alan Hedge, director of the Cornell University Human Factors and Ergonomics Laborato-ry, says he believes corporate America has had it wrong for 30 years. Last winter, he conducted a study that he says shows that warm-er office temperatures yield more productivity. And while some say his sample is too small to be statistical-ly significant, it is drawing the atten-tion of some businesses.

Many commercial buildings ad-here to guidelines set by the Ameri-can Society of Heating, Refrigerat-ing and Air-Conditionlng Engineers, a trade group in Atlanta. In 2004, the group suggested that thermostats be set between 68 to 7G degrees during the winter, when the humidity is low, and 72.5 to 80 degrees in the sum-mer. "It's a comfort range," Mr.

Continued on Page 3

Asia we could get more gains." Manufacturing workers have had

a rough century so far. Employment at manufacturers fell from 17.2 mil-lion at the end of 2000 to 14.3 million at the end of last year, the lowest level since 1950.

Much of the blame lies in a combi-nation of lackluster spending by busi-nesses since the recession of 2001,

Job Production

Manufacturing employment is showing signs of recovery after several years of decline.

Manufacturing employment, monthly

finally adjusted

0

90 92 94 96 '!'!! '00 02 04

Source: Department ol Labor

The New York Times

which reduced demand for manufac-tured goods, and a burst of produc-tivity growth as companies squeezed more out of their work force. Trade's role in this situation is in dispute. But as the nation's trade deficit has swol-len, some American politicians have decided that imports — notably from China — displace American jobs.

Currency manipulation by China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the major Asian trading partners, has contributed significantly to the loss of United States factory jobs since July 2000, according to a bipartisan resolution introduced in 2003 by more than 50 House members.

Last September, nine House Dem-ocrats introduced a bill that would require the administration to em-bark on negotiations with China to set limits on imports of Chinese tex-tiles into the United States.

Yet while foreign products can dis-place production by American work-ers, many economists argue that im-

Continued on Page 6

MAKE MONEY AT HOME!

An industry is born—loading ¡Pods for those without the time or patience. By Jennifer 8. Lee. Page 3.

BETTER JOB T R A I N I N G

Finding happiness in a barbecue restaurant, through a New York City program. By Nicholas Confessore. Page 4.

MARTHA AND HER CHOCOLATE FACTORY

The owner of Li-Lac, a beloved New York candy shop,

swings eight blocks north. By Louise Kramer. Page 4.

PAINT , POWDER, PROFIT

Makeup artists, in demand, are turning into beautiful

people themselves, By Linda Dyett. Page 6.

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