The day began for Larry Taylor at 3 a.m. Wednesday -- pushing a snow blower.
“The snow just brings more work. It’s income,” Taylor said, outside a home in Woodbury, Gloucester County where he was clearing a driveway.
For the 47-year-old husband and father of two, the more than half-foot of snow that fell here is a Godsend. He went from driveway to driveway Thursday, to make money he and his family desperately need.
“I haven’t seen work in about four months,” he said. “I’m a concrete worker. Nobody’s got no money. Nobody can fix [his or her] house. It’s killer out there right now.”
Right around the corner, 19-year-old Josh Lock can relate. He was laid off from his job as a cook one week before Christmas, the father of a 2-year-old daughter told NBC 10 News.
He hoped to shovel out at least 60 homes for cash by day's end to support his family.
“I’m up early, looking for a job every day and soon as I saw the snow on the ground, I just thought it was an entrepreneurial opportunity,” Lock said.
Many others in New Jersey were, no doubt, doing the same thing. New Jersey’s unemployment rate stands at 7.1 percent -- the highest rate in nearly 15 years, according to the latest available figures from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
“While we were out today we even had guys stop us and ask, ‘Yo, you need help?’ And it’s like, no not really, because I need the cash for myself,” said Taylor. He hopes more snow will soon fall.
“Anybody that doesn’t believe in the trickle down effect [of the economy], take a look,” he said, referring to himself.
“This is trickle down.”
