By Natalie Pompilio — Philadelphia Daily News

PHILADELPHIA -- Their opponents have portrayed them as slackers, ne’er-do-wells with nothing to do and nowhere to go. “Get jobs,” they’ve been told.

But a visit to the Occupy Philly encampment around City Hall recently found a common theme among younger participants: They want jobs -- they just can’t find them.

“Show us where the jobs are. I’ll take anything,” said Scott Brown, 37, a Kensington native who, with his 4-year-old son, is living on the streets. “We are the 99 percent.”

John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, said that the nation’s out-of-work rate -- 9.1 percent nationally, 11.6 percent in Philadelphia, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- is one reason for the sit-ins that have moved from New York to Philadelphia to Boston to Detroit and onward. “That’s what’s driving this whole ’Occupy’ thing: People can’t find jobs,” Dodds said. “This movement is showing that people are waking up.”

But David Elesh, a professor of sociology at Temple University and co-director of the school’s Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project, said that it’s irresponsible to paint the dozens of Occupy Philly protesters with one brush.

“Occupy Philly is a much broader protest than simply the unemployment rate,” Elesh said. “I’m sure the motivations for people being there are quite complex. There are quite a few different groups.”

Still, some protesters say that unemployment is one factor behind their participation -- and how they’re able to spend their days and nights outside City Hall.

Brown and his preschooler, Jonah, moved to Philadelphia from Los Angeles about two months ago after Brown lost his job at an events company. They thought that they’d start anew in Brown’s hometown.

Instead, they’ve found themselves on the streets for the past two weeks after a stay with Brown’s sister ended when she lost her apartment.

“We’re homeless, homeless, homeless,” Brown said.

Jonah’s face was covered in mosquito bites. Brown wouldn’t say where they’ve been sleeping, but Jonah piped in with, “We slept in a dirty house.”

The father and son spend their days at the Occupy Philly site while waiting to see if any local shelters can accept them. At Occupy Philly, Brown said, “I came here and I felt at home. We all have the same kind of problems, same common goals.”

Alexander, 26, of West Philadelphia, who did not want to give his last name for fear that it would hurt his job-hunting chances, graduated from Wilkes University with a theater degree four years ago. He recently left his job doing product demonstrations when he realized that, with the commute and travel, “I was making negative money.” He’s getting by on savings and help from his family.

“I have a great work ethic. I write well. I’m clean-cut and well-dressed,” said Alexander, as he swept leaves at the Occupy Philly site, where he helps organize band performances. “But everyone wants experience -- and how do you get experience?”

Alexander scoffed at the idea that Occupy Philly participants were lazy.

“If people came here, they’d see us, and we work. We like to work,” he said. “I would love a job. If I’m existing, doing nothing and not contributing, what’s the point?”

Stanley Joseph, 26, was volunteering at Occupy Philly’s information booth. Joseph, of West Oak Lane, has been looking for work for two months now. The Penn State graduate, who is carrying $60,000 in school loans, wants a job in information technology.

“It’s been so tough,” he said. “The number of opportunities in Philadelphia are small, so I’ve been going to New York for interviews.”

He came to be part of the Occupy Philly movement because “it embodies a lot of the issues I care about.”

“I care about unemployment, which affects me directly,” he said. “I care about money’s influence on politics. I care about the imbalance of wealth. It’s finally my generation waking up. This is something different and the best chance we’ve had in 30 years of making something happen.”

As to people who wonder why he even bothers, he has this reply:

“They may be right. It may be pointless in the end. But at least I tried. There are some people who have no sense of how other people live or the struggles they go through. There are college grads like me . . . who are working minimum-wage jobs, if they’re lucky. The fact that we’re wasting the potential of educated youth is a travesty.”