Hiring up, but many jobless not looking

[acmavm]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0628/p02s01-usec.html?s=hns

By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

<snip>
NEW YORK – After 20 months of looking for work and sending out hundreds of résumés, Jeffrey Schwab has given up trying to find another job as a draftsman. He's now taken early Social Security and is considering whether to sell his Bellingham, Wash., home to move to something smaller. "From what I can tell, there's not much to look for," says Mr. Schwab, who has 35 years of pipeline-design experience. "I am standing around with nothing to do."

Even though the economy has created 1.2 million jobs since January, some 265,000 people have dropped out of the job hunt during the same period. They would join some 19.1 million Americans in the same situation as Schwab, who are unemployed and not looking for work largely because they are convinced they won't find it. This figure, at a record level, is up 44 percent from 10 years ago.

That would certainly be the case in Pennsylvania, agrees the state's governor, Edward Rendell (D). The official unemployment rate is 5.4 percent, but it's "much greater," Mr. Rendell says, when factoring in men who have been cut off welfare and never got back into the workforce "and as a result never show up in the unemployment rolls."

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[fdr_hst_fan]

1. Trust me-I'm there-you

don't look for jobs you KNOW you're not qualified for! A lot of jobs want 3-5 years' experience, a college degree, or all of the above.

[lanparty]

2. Where is that CAN DO salesman attitude.

Go to a random shop, ask if they're hiring. Make nice glossy brochures about yourself. Get out there and form you OWN business.



YEah, thats the kind of shit people tell you when your out of work. Shuckters and door to door salesman are legendary for these techniques. And they do find suckers to buy their schpeel.

However, in the real world loading elbow grease on your knee is a waste of time. One gets a good feel after a while about WHAT to apply to and what NOT to apply to. Very often, a person with a college degree will be considered "overqualified" for a vast array of positions because employers will assume they'll leave as soon as a better opportunity comes along.

At the same time, we're still bringing in a tremendous amount of H-1B and LZ-1 workers from overseas. These workers are vitually indentured servants once they enter the US. Often, companies don't pay them what they write on their visa applications. Why would a worker complain when a company violating their promises would result in the deportation of the worker??????

Similarly, at a time of high unemployment, BushCo made a stupid proposal that boosted the numbers of illegal immigrants coming into the country.

The deck is stacked against people who have been out of their field for some time. And I'm fucking sick and tired of hearing all these faux-Horatio Algers tell us that we should be working. Fuck them!!!!!

[Frodo]

3. "Pipeline design"???

One would think there's quite a call for that in Iraq - what with all the pipelines needing to be replaced every week as they mysteriously blow up.

[JDPriestly]

4. Age discrimination

I note that Mr. Schwab is old enough to take early Social Security -- probably at least 62. The current job recession is especially difficult for older workers. Employers are quick to lay off older workers and slow to hire them. It is really tough.