Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
I read with interest the article “Triumphs and Trials in Welfare to Work” (May 27), but found it wanting some essential information, especially given the prominent mention of Kansas City by the writers.
To tell the full story of the welfare to work efforts in this city, your writers should have expanded their research from the city’s jazz district, where Sprint Corp. has been active, to the waterfront. For example, over the last 15 months Harrah’s North Kansas City has hired more than 150 people who were formerly on welfare. Using this one property alone as an example, you can see that a great number of people have had their lives transformed by their employment in the casino gaming industry.
Nationally, the gaming industry is also a leader in the welfare to work program, having been recognized by the President for its contribution to the Welfare to Work Partnership, which is mentioned in the article. Coopers & Lybrand conducted a Gaming Industry Employee Impact Survey, which showed that more than 8.5 percent of the employees reported they were able to leave welfare as a result of their employment. Approximately 9 percent reported they no longer receive food stamps because of their gaming industry employment and 16 percent used their casino industry jobs to get off unemployment benefits.
The employment offered these people includes good benefits and solid pay. The Coopers & Lybrand survey found that 63 percent of the gaming employees surveyed indicated they were able to get better health care due to their jobs in the gaming industry, and 43 percent said they had better access to daycare. Studies have shown that the average national wage for casino gaming employees is approximately $26,000. This compares to the average wage of approximately $20,000 in the amusement and recreation industry, $16,000 in the hotel/motel industry, and approximately $22,000 in the motion picture industry.
“Triumphs and Trials” also mentions the problems encountered when “the process of moving welfare recipients into jobs is complicated by longstanding problems, from inadequate transportation to… training.” Here again, the story would have benefited from reporting on how the gaming industry is succeeding in helping former welfare recipients overcome these problems. Individual casinos have developed innovative programs to provide training for the former welfare recipients to prepare them for the workforce environment. Typical of these programs was that offered by MGM Grand, Inc. designed to train and hire people who, among other criteria, were on welfare assistance. The program offered instruction on interpersonal skills, resume writing, and math and language skills, among other things. Designed to make it possible to fill 7,000 positions for a new property, of the final hires, more than 800 were formerly receiving welfare assistance. MGM Grand continues to encourage referrals from the local Welfare Division and holds job fairs for welfare recipients.
Your article would have been more enlightening with this information included and would have given your readers a more complete picture of how American industry is pulling together to make the American Dream accessible to a greater number of deserving people.
If you have any questions about our industry’s welfare to work efforts, or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to give me a call.
Sincerely,
Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.