I know amongst my friends who are engineers -- nearly all of them are unemployed. With little hope for finding employment. Its a real disaster out there. Some of them haven't received replies on their job applications for years. And the ones that are working, are only making $50-$60k.
Yeah I'm a have chemical engineering degree and have only gotten a couple interviews lately and I've literally applied everywhere.
My neighbor went from marketing VP at a large firm to sales rep at a small firm -- 70% pay cut. Is he unemployed? He thinks he is. House for sale. Mercedes gone. Kids taken out of private school. His wife is looking for a job for the first time in 20 years. Classic example of successful people living right at their means for many years.
The same is true here, but many of the homeless are not interested in municipal centers. And many have mental problems.
very well said, and much more like the reality that exists, not like the rosey picture that the first few respondents made
I am in So Cal and am noticing an alarming increase of beat up motor homes parked in abandoned parking lots and industrial areas. Families that lost their houses are now mobile. Sad times.
Based on what I've read in posts, coupled with my observations, I think there is a rift widening, only now defined by those who have jobs and those who don't. I don't think it's rosy and I don't think it's Armageddon either, but the chasm is showing something important.
I know several former MBS & CDS traders who are out of work. Also, a portfolio manager from a blown-up hedge fund. The CDS trader left because he wasn't going to make any money even if he stayed - although he is a successful trader and he was the senior trader on the desk or a large foreign bank. There are tons of guys like that in the NYC area. With everyone looking for work and employers nervous about what fresh hell the SEC, pay Commissar, and Maxine Waters will impose on them, finding a job is tough. These guys have been sending out resumes for a year.