Sunday, April 24, 2011

Jobs and Joblessness

I was watchin' a TV program [Parenthood] and was struck by how much our society's economic situation has changed. In this episode a man, in his early to mid-40's, married father of two teens, is fired from his job. It gave me pause.
Back when I was in the workforce, two weeks severance pay gave you enough money to make your bills until you found a job with commensurate salary and benefits. In extreme situations, you might not find a new job for a month, two at the very most.
Now? Now some folks are out there actively lookin' for any kind of work, not just in their "field" but ANY kind of job for months if not a year or more! I have lucky friends because I don't know anyone involuntarily unemployed so I have listened to the news reports and thought, "Oh, those poor folks."
Why it took fiction to bring this cold hard fact home to me I don't know. But I hope those of you who are in a job you hate but can't leave and those of you lookin' for work encounter better days just around the corner.
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3 comments:

  1. CrucisApril 25, 2011 at 1:54 PM

    I was laid-off in December 2009. I had been with the company long enough (20 years) to get nearly a full year's severance payments. In that year, I did not get one, single, response to my resume, letters, e-mails, drop-in visits. Not one. In a year. I tried various schemes to conceal my age, 62. I removed the year I graduated college. I dropped some of my early employers. All to no avail. I'd been laid-off from my employer a few years earlier and recalled. That time I got one interview and it was a farce. That company wanted to do an internal promotion into a new position but couldn't unless some outside applicants were interviewed as well.

    Age and experience, apparently, loses to youth and lower pay expectations. I would've been willing to take a pay cut too, but never had the opportunity to even get in the running.

    So I retired. Actually, we're not doing so bad, all-in-all, but it's not what I would have preferred.

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  2. Old NFOApril 25, 2011 at 7:28 PM

    Concur...

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  3. HollyApril 28, 2011 at 9:06 AM

    Crucis, thank you for sharin' what I'm sure is a painful episode in your life.
    I understand the need to feel productive. The longer I was on disability, the more I wanted to do Something. I volunteered at the Courthouse on the Square Museum two times a week. I've also gotten involved with Act for America, an anti-terrorism activist group. Just sayin', if you're lookin' for somethin' to do.

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