MADELEINE BRAND, host:
Even before the earthquake, Haiti was by far the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere. The unemployment rate has been estimated at around 70 percent.
Now as Tamara Keith tells us from Port-au-Prince, Haitians are frantically searching for work.
(Soundbite of crowd)
TAMARA KEITH: On a busy Port-au-Prince street near the airport, a couple of hundred people, mostly young men, have gathered hoping to get a job. Twenty-seven-year-old Dennis Jeanne Evena stands out in part because she's a woman wearing a skirt in a sea of men. She says she's helping make a list of those looking for work. Others are doing the same thing. It almost looks like theyre filling out job applications, only, there arent any jobs. She says a man told her to make the list that perhaps he could get them hired.
Ms. DENNIS JEANNE EVENA: (Through translator) I am searching for a job. And because I can write, I am just writing for some people. So I write our names and our numbers, what we do. So in case they want us, they can contact us.
KEITH: This is a hopeless exercise and yet she's making this list with so much purpose. The man who asked her to take the names doesnt even have a job himself. His name is Nelson Nerva.
Mr. NELSON NERVA: (Through translator) We started to create the list, but no one said we should create the list.
KEITH: He admits the list is wishful thinking, said his only plan is to hand it to some U.N. soldiers stationed nearby in hopes they'll do something with it.
Mr. NERVA: (Through translator) We just here that foreigners came, and they're looking for people that can help, that can do something.
(Soundbite of crowd)
KEITH: At an industrial park, the scene is frantic. There are maybe 100 men here pushing up against a fence outside of a T-shirt factory. Theres a crack in the building so large that you can see inside. There's no telling whether it will reopen or even whether its safe to go in and, yet, 45-year-old Marcelin Gesson wants to work here. He's come here every day for five days hoping to find work or at least some food. And he says hell keep coming.
Mr. MARCELIN GESSON: (Through translator) We know the factory doesnt pay people well, but were still here to see if they'll take us in. We have families and children to feed. We're just looking for something.
KEITH: Before the quake, workers at this factory made just $4 a day and some complained they hadnt been paid in months. Despite all this, the garment industry was one of the bright spots in the Haitian economy. Gesson hasnt had a job in six months. But today his search is more urgent than before. Twenty-five-year-old Florrisant Jameson was at work when the quake hit. He was a manager at a factory that made capri pants.
Mr. FLORRSANT JAMESON: (Through translator) I saw a wall come down and ran out, and some people were already injured. I had the chance to run out quickly.
KEITH: His job prospects crumbled right along with the factory. Like so many, Jameson says he needs a job to buy food for his family and eventually to rebuild.
Mr. JAMESON: (Through translator) Things are really hard. I dont have a house, it collapsed. I have a cousin that was living with me, and he got injured his legs broke. My wife and two girls are fine, but were living in streets in a tent.
KEITH: He's wearing dark washed jeans, a New York ball cap and headphones around his neck. His sharp all-American outfit belies the desperation.
Mr. JAMESON: (Through translator) I desperately need a job. Thats why I go out to find one to bring food. When I leave in the morning, I tell my wife Im going out to look for work. I dont know what Ill find.
KEITH: Before the earthquake, things were not easy. More than two-thirds of the population didnt have a formal job. Many here say the economy needs to be rebuild and remade right along with all the shattered buildings.
Tamara Keith, NPR News, Port-au-Prince.