A college graduate with a degree in business management. A widow who retired from a running-shoe company. A singer looking for a new band. A 21-year-old who works three jobs to support his wife and 5-month-old son.

They are part of the ubiquitous yet faceless army of individuals found on street corners across Metro Orlando hoisting, waving and twirling signs in hopes of catching the eye of passing motorists and steering them to an eatery, tax preparer, shoe outlet, gold trader or other business.

Motorists in their air-conditioned vehicles may think, "You couldn't pay me enough." But to the sign twirlers it's the best available option for survival in a pitiless economy, with the unemployment rate in Metro Orlando still at 9.5 percent. Eight dollars an hour is "enough" when nothing is the alternative.

Danny Alvarado is a whirling dervish at the corner of Orange Avenue and Michigan Street in Orlando, twirling theatrically for Liberty Tax Service. With a wife and baby boy to support, he's grateful to don the sea-green Lady Liberty costume for $7.75 an hour, even if some motorists flash gestures of nonsupport.

"Some people are nice, some are rude," he said. "My attitude is, 'You get money [a tax refund], I get money — that's what it's all about.' "

Competition for sign-spinning jobs is so intense that in January, to gear up for the tax season, the owner of the Liberty Tax store in Apopka held open auditions — a poor man's "American Idol." Upward of 120 would-be Lady Libertys strutted their stuff during two days. Fifteen — evenly split between men and women — were chosen for the $8-an-hour job, which carries a dollar-an-hour bonus for those who stay through the tax season.

"Before the economy crashed, I had to go out and get people," owner Bill McPherson said. "Now more people are coming in than I can ever use."

Competition for jobs is tough across all sectors, said Roger Lear, founder of Orlandojobs.com, employment website of the Central Florida Human Resource Association.

"Employers are being picky," he said.

People have always held signs on street corners. They wore them during the Great Depression. By many accounts, AArrow Advertising in Los Angeles began the latest spin cycle in 2002. And there was even a World Sign Spinning Contest held recently in Las Vegas.

But there's little glamour for the average spinner on the common corner.

Jennie Wilman, on the brink of her 71st birthday, has been playing Lady Liberty since 2004 to supplement her Social Security income.

"I needed the money," said Wilman, who moved to Florida from Maine after retiring from a sport-shoe company. "I'm an outgoing person. I thought, 'Why not?' "

Another "senior" spinner is David Farst, 59, who can be seen every weekday at the lunch hour twirling for Tommy Addison's, a restaurant on South Orange Avenue across the road from Lake Jennie Jewel.

"I'm probably the only sign flier in Orlando with a college degree," Farst said, waving his large, rectangular sign at the oncoming traffic.

Farst said he spent 20 years in sales in his native Ohio before earning a degree in business management. He came to Florida in 2001 and worked in homebuilding until his employer shut down the company. Since then he has been scrambling to make ends meet. He can't afford rent and stays with a friend. Returning to sales is not an option "because you need a car."

Farst is grateful for his current gig, which pays $9 an hour.

"I like it, but I want to find something with more than 10 hours a week, you know? It's the proverbial needle in the haystack."

It's a sign of the hard times that twirling has become a job with very little turnover. Jarrett Pena, 24, spins a "Cash 4 Gold" sign on South Orange Blossom Trail from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A high-school dropout from Connecticut, Pena said he has done 30 different jobs and been a vocalist in several bands since moving to Florida five years ago. He has been twirling for four months, bringing his stage charisma to the sidewalk.

"It's something different till the next thing comes along," said Pena, gyrating and rhythmically gesturing to passing motorists.

"We get a lot of people coming in wanting to be sign twirlers," said Stacy Alfarone, who runs the "Cash 4 Gold" store nearby. But the store uses only one, and Alfarone made it clear there is no job opening.

"Jarrett is my star. He spins it behind his back, in the air, and he dances. That's what sets him apart from others I've seen in town."

gdawson@tribune.com or 407-420-5415