Opinion

Few takers for city job tests

Maybe some people just don’t want to work.

The number of people taking tests that could lead to city jobs is plummeting like the Dow Jones index.

The number has decreased by 52%, to 73,712 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, from 141,407 takers the year before.

The city maintains the drop-off last year was due to the fact that fewer entry-level tests that usually draw thousands of applicants and more technical exams that attract fewer applicants were given, while the year before it was the opposite case. “Its not the volume but the mix,” said Mark Daly, spokesman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. The city offered two of its most popular clerical entry-level hiring tests that have minimal job requirements the previous year.

But critics say the sudden decrease of test-takers is proof the Bloomberg administration needs to do more to publicize the jobs and streamline the complicated process, which often takes candidates who pass the tests years to get hired.

“A lot of people don’t realize what the process is and don’t realize what it takes to get a job,” said Arthur Cheliotes, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1180.

While the cash-strapped city has threatened to lay off hundreds of teachers and cops, there’s always a need for clerical workers due to the high turnover in the position because of the low $22,983 annual pay.

Job seekers who pass the tests are put on civil-service lists that remain active for up to four years. But it often takes ages for the city to grade the tests. The long process allows agency bigwigs to fill vacancies with their cronies by hiring part-time provisional employees, said Cheliotes.

Many in New York have struggled to get back on their feet since the economy tanked in 2008. The Big Apple’s 9.6% jobless rate is one of the highest in the country. At the same time, the city’s welfare rolls are headed to a 4-year high of 379,000.