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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Sun May 13, 2012, 07:24 AM May 2012

The Human Disaster of Unemployment

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/opinion/sunday/the-human-disaster-of-unemployment.html?ref=opinion


Job seekers at a career fair held last month by the New York State Department of Labor.

THE American economy is experiencing a crisis in long-term unemployment that has enormous human and economic costs.

In 2007, before the Great Recession, people who were looking for work for more than six months — the definition of long-term unemployment — accounted for just 0.8 percent of the labor force. The recession has radically changed this picture. In 2010, the long-term unemployed accounted for 4.2 percent of the work force. That figure would be 50 percent higher if we added the people who gave up looking for work.

Long-term unemployment is experienced disproportionately by the young, the old, the less educated, and African-American and Latino workers.

While older workers are less likely to be laid off than younger workers, they are about half as likely to be rehired. One result is that older workers have seen the largest proportionate increase in unemployment in this downturn. The number of unemployed people between ages 50 and 65 has more than doubled.
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The Human Disaster of Unemployment (Original Post) xchrom May 2012 OP
Ever noticed the number of over 50 vendors at large-scale flea and farmer's markets? fasttense May 2012 #1
Yep. limpyhobbler May 2012 #6
That give me visions of Depression-era fruit stands. Odin2005 May 2012 #9
My wife. 57 and going on 14 months without a job. Lochloosa May 2012 #2
Me... chervilant May 2012 #3
Been an issue for at least the past decade, maybe longer supernova May 2012 #4
I know several people in your position back in Cali. xchrom May 2012 #5
This is a scandal. limpyhobbler May 2012 #7
Good post in a thread full of them. JNelson6563 May 2012 #10
Over 50 and feeling really depressed Left Coast2020 May 2012 #8
 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
1. Ever noticed the number of over 50 vendors at large-scale flea and farmer's markets?
Sun May 13, 2012, 08:09 AM
May 2012

Do you really think this is how we wanted to spend our golden years haggling over a basket of potatoes? Farming is very, very physically demanding work and creating crafts to sell is not that much easier. The over 50 vendors are there because they can't get a job in their chosen field. But they are counted as employed. I've met engineers, programmers, military officers and teachers behind the booths of farmer's and flea markets. They wont tell you that they would drop out of the markets if someone offered them a half decent job in their chosen profession. No one wants to admit that their produce and crafts are the efforts of last resort.

It's because no one will hire us and we have to make a living somehow.

limpyhobbler

(8,244 posts)
6. Yep.
Sun May 13, 2012, 05:12 PM
May 2012

There are also tons of people supposedly self-employed or "free lancing" in their fields who are really unemployed or very underemployed, or working for a wage that works out to below minimum wage.

Odin2005

(53,521 posts)
9. That give me visions of Depression-era fruit stands.
Mon May 14, 2012, 01:53 PM
May 2012

You know, the unemployed people selling fruit for 5 cents.

supernova

(39,345 posts)
4. Been an issue for at least the past decade, maybe longer
Sun May 13, 2012, 09:45 AM
May 2012

I was a technical writer from the time I was in my late 20s to the time I hit my early 40s. I made a good living and expected to have a fairly bright financial future, if I was wise with the money I earned. Sounds simple, right?

Not so fast.

First off, no one tells you that about the only jobs in TW are contract. Plus this is a "right to work" state (NC.) That means two things:

1) The "professional" jobs I got were only temporary, usually lasting 1-3 years. The last one, in 2008, lasted six months. In practical terms, that means never staying at the company long enough to become vested in the pension plan or any other retirement vehicle, either. Not that it would be offered to me as a contract worker anyway.

2) It can be difficult to be rehired for similar work. You are constantly looking for a job. Despite the fact that I am a talented, consciencous worker, it wasn't enough. I have gaps in my employment history now. Gaps I never wanted and was always told, "don't have that. You look like a job hopper." Just like a candidate is now constantly in campaign mode, you are constantly looking for the next gig. Even at your present gig. Color me, employably promiscuous.

3) Time marches on. In the never ending job market, you begin to start looking a little long in the tooth, despite your best efforts to keep up. Despite diet, exercise, hair color. All of that, you still look like a mature person.

The end result is a person who can never stay anywhere or very long, anxious, and not daring to look too much to the future, because it's never going to be what you planned for anyway. An employer will always fuck it up.

Guess what. They want you that way! They want you scared, beaten down, and without heart or passion.

ENOUGH!

Employers don't want me? FUCK THEM!

I have a bad impression of American big business now, after being in it for 20+ years. They remind me so much not of Important People Doing Very Serious Things[superscript]TM[/superscript], but as society kids in the 19th century at a Charity Ball.

"Maybe I'll dance with you, maybe I won't!" Complete with flounces and hair-tossing.

"Oh, you want a dance on my dance card? " (Job interview) "Sorry, I already filled up my card yesterday talking to others ahead of the Ball." (We already know who we want to hire. This Ball is just for show, to make it seem like we're fair.)

=====

I'll be 50 in July. After trying, trying, trying to get another job as a TW for YEARS, I am doing something I want to do. Something I never expected to do. Something positive. I am going to culinary school. I am starting my own food business afterward. I may not make a lot of money, but who knows? The important part is I'll know what the boss expects and she won't lay me off, or leave me for another shiny, new candidate. For the first time in five years, I feel hopeful about my future.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
5. I know several people in your position back in Cali.
Sun May 13, 2012, 10:08 AM
May 2012

Years ago there was a ton of work.

Now? Not so much w/ a lot of competition.

limpyhobbler

(8,244 posts)
7. This is a scandal.
Sun May 13, 2012, 05:40 PM
May 2012

We need a fundamental change in the way people look for and find jobs in this country.

There is no reason anybody who wants to work should ever be denied employment. The government ought to open an employment agency. If you want a job just go there and they match you up with a job. That's it. It's that simple.

End the race to the bottom system that sends people out begging door to door to to be accepted by an employer who deems them worthy, like slaves at an auction praying to be bought by a master who will show them a little mercy.

Enough is enough already. The US economy has changed permanently. It's not meeting the human needs of the people who live here. There is no way to measure the human cost of that moment when a parent come home to face the kids after just having lost a job, not knowing where the money for the next month's rent or mortgage is going to come from.

Our current system places too much emphasis on frivolous bullshit like "dressing for success" to make yourself more attractive to employers and how to format your resumé to make it stand out. Are you fucking kidding me?

We have everthing backwards. We ought to start from the premise that people have a right to productive meaningful work if they want it. If private businesses are not fulfilling that expectation then the government ought to immediately step in and either hire people directly or match them into jobs.


JNelson6563

(28,151 posts)
10. Good post in a thread full of them.
Fri May 18, 2012, 08:19 AM
May 2012

And while I agree with most of what you say, as one who has been responsible for staffing before, I'd add a couple of things.

There are people out there who claim they want to work but they don't really. There actually are people out there who want a paycheck with no effort. If I were in a position to be any hiring I wouldn't want to have to hire just any person who claims they want a job.

With that said, there is still something terribly wrong about the whole employment thing. When I did hiring I looked at resumes and all but it was the actual interview that carried the most weight with me.

Julie

Left Coast2020

(2,397 posts)
8. Over 50 and feeling really depressed
Mon May 14, 2012, 12:54 AM
May 2012

This goes beyond taking a toll on you mentally. It affects your entire health. You think about your self esteem frequently. You worry about being able to have a significant other (girlfriend) again. Just the basic elements of life that are missing take their toll on you constantly. Then the people who say to you that "you should trust Jesus to ??" What? Help me find a job? Or Gawd is doing ??? At this rate, I'll be a candidate for Napa State Hospital by the end of the year.

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