The messed up part about this article is how the guy's friends are looking down on him for being out of work so long. The guy in the picture looks like your average guy...a guy you may have went to college with or a former co-worker. He did all the right things, went to college and had a job that he wanted to do before the downturn...now, through no fault of his own, he is out of work and has been applying everyday. Still everyone seems to be looking down on him. Society can be sad, cruel and harsh at times. Its wrong to judge... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37404685/ns/business-economy_at_a_crossroads//
Interesting to read stories like this. As I have said many times before, all of these millions of jobs lost over the last 3 years will never come back again. Jobs were being created out of thin air during the biggest credit bubble in history, not only that but most jobs created over the last 20 years have been during these bubble times the economy has gone through. Now you have millions of unemployed and not enough jobs to go around, they think they can "create" jobs, but the fact is that if there is no demand for services or products where are jobs going to come from. The only thing they can do to create millions of jobs is to create more asset class bubbles. Aside from that I think these "99ers" might actually be called something a lot larger in the next few months. As more people lose their unemployment I believe they are going to extend it a lot further than just 99 weeks.
I always find it amazing that the hero (anti-hero if you will) of the story always gets the job just in the nick of time before the ol' unemployment insurance runs out. Makes you wonder if this guy had 4 weeks instead of 99 he may have been employed sooner. In the words of Judge Smailes, "the world needs ditch-diggers too".
Brodeur said she has quietly started looking for jobs in the restaurant industry. Before going into office work, she worked as a waitress while raising her three kids, and she also briefly owned a restaurant. But her husband has said that she is too old, and has come too far, for that kind of physically demanding and often low-paying work. âHe said, âI will lose respect for you if you do it,â â she said. wow what a husband.
Lets say there was no unemployment insurance or just 4 weeks of insurance...then this guy would probably have found a job. There are many local small businesses that would easily take someone on who would work for dirt cheap. He would not be "digging a ditch", but he would probably be doing other administrative things around the office because of his education and skills. However, he would be doing it for dirt cheap. Then it becomes a vicious cycle where educated people are willing to work for a fraction of the cost of the existing workforce. There will be this mass crowd of educated experienced people willing to work for 50-75% of what everyone else is currently making. So an administrative assistant making 75000 in New York City soon finds herself getting fired because there are 5 other educated people knocking on the door willing to work for 45000. You can regard unemployment insurance as your job security. If the insurance runs out, then your job will be at stake because there will be a many many guys knocking on the boss's door willing to work for 50% of what you are making now. Be thankful for unemployment insurance. Its not just a benefit to the unemployed, but a benefit to those who are employed. If you truly want to see an example of what would happen in a society without unemployment insurance then visit the Philippines. Everyone is applying for any job available over there and willing to work for the least wage possible. Is this what you want the United States to look like? I know it sounds dishonorable for someone to live off of unemployment insurance for a great length of time, but you certainly would not want this man knocking on your boss's door and saying to him that he would work for half your salary...
these kind of useless jobs like marketing and design are nonsense anyway., one should major in a hard discipline like engineering or comp sci and chinese. This will stand one in good stead in any economic environment.
Majoring in engineering and compsci won't guarantee you a job these days either, but these articles never seem to focus on those with specialized skills unable to find employment. Siemens and a few medium-sized engineering firms recently hosted a career day at a nearby state university (ranked Top 50 in Electrical Engineering & CompSci). Nearly 150 recent grads showed up. Four people were actually hired.
But that's part of the problem, this guy ISN'T willing to work for half the pay. He sits back and does a CBA on the diff between unemployment and what a potential job might pay and then decides if he wants it. He can go without Starbucks for some time, and has already maxed out his cards on all the crap everyone needs (iphone, ipad, LCD TV, laptop, etc), then argues that the banks are crooked to justify why he doesn't pay. hey he went to college so that makes him a superstar, and someone was once dumb enough to overpay him, thereby creating this fantasy land in which he lives. Why? So he can go buy more crap! Wait until they start teaching English in Mexican schools.... then we're all screwed. Until then, keep living in this fantasyland where you define your own self-worth.
unemployment benefits just are just competition for employers who are hiring low-wage labor. why get a job at home depot or starbucks when you can earn that much sitting at home looking fruitlessly for a job that pays what you earned in 2007? (keep dreaming) as long as they're collecting benefits, they won't feel pressure to find a job unless it pays more than the benefits. i know a couple of people in this position. congress needs to stop extending the goddamn benefits. these people need to work at walmart or do something that contributes to the economy.
"It was the spring of 2008, and business in the reverse mortgage department at First American Title in Tallahassee, Fla., had gone from a fire hose to a trickle." She was making in the 6 digits during those good years. So where did the money go? I bet she spent it like it was never going to end.