Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post

funchy · 11-18-2009, 02:08 AM

After being the perfect worker, never taking a single sick day in 5 years of dedicated work, I was laid off in Jan as part of a downsizing.

Around here, nobody is even interviewing. I have a bachelor's degree in computer science, and I think right now the only place that's hiring around here is Walmart.

I was told I was "ineligible" for Unemployment Insurance claims because I was taking classes. According to the Unemployment office, I need to be available to work "any shift, any day".... even know the jobs I was looking at didn't conflict with the school schedule. They wanted me to drop out taking F's and take the first minimum wage McJob I could get. I found it odd they'd penalize people who are seeking retraining to become more employable, but that's the government for you.

Here's something interesting: officially I am not a part of the ~10% unemployment rate for my state. If you count others others ineligible for Unemployment Ins for other good reasons, plus the teen & retiree workers who cant get part time work, the discouraged workers, and others... my guess is that the real unemployment rate is more like double what they say it is, so that's like ~20%. (It's true the unemployment numbers they usually give are based mainly on Unemployment Insurance recipients, not on the real # of people who are not working) When we compare this "deep recession" with markers of the Great Depression, maybe we're closer than we think to the Depression?

Some of my friends are doing ok. My best friend is looking at his year-end projections and expects an involuntary drop of $10,000 in pay this year because he's commission based (working for a major soda corporation). Another had his house foreclosed on when it sat on a market with a massive loan [negative equity] for too long, even know he and his wife are both working... they are leasing now. On my street out of 6 properties 2 are for sale (have been for ages, no offers). I wish I could put my own home on the market, but no way would it sell unless I practically gave it away. Even the housing developers in my town are selling off some of the platted/planned "developments" that never broke ground, rather than waiting to build.

The company who owns the huge regional shopping mall for my area is in Bankruptcy. The mall itself won't close, but it's a sign of deeper economic problems.

The nonprofit I'm the director of has seen donations drop to about half of what they were in 2007. Supporters are still here but they keep saying "I really wish I could donate this year but..." spouses lost their job, losing their home, taking pay cuts, whatever. Grant money vanished since much of the small-to-mid sized grants are from Foundations which in turn kept their money in things linked to the stock market. As a result the number of the program helps has also dropped in half, leaving a gap in services in the community.

The nonprofit also lost its credit line when that bank decided to stop lending to all small businesses of that category. Running a small business (profit or nonprofit) is hard enough without suddenly losing the cushion of knowing you have a credit line. The org decided not to bother trying to open another one right now. It's being run on a cash basis, making it impossible to give the lifeline emergency help, so again the community suffers. (if anyone is wondering: I work on a volunteer basis, so I don't have to worry about a paycut or layoff there)

I made the best of things. I went from parttime school to fulltime, aiming to get a degree in a field that actually is hiring. I'm going into healthcare. However, it's disconcerting to hear from my friends that their healthcare/hospital facilities may have hiring freezes on. When I graduate in 2011, hopefully things will be improving.

Perhaps things are different elsewhere? This is just what I'm seeing here in my little corner of the world.

11-18-2009, 02:08 AM	#2 (permalink)
funchy Family Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: east coast, USA Posts: 1,628	After being the perfect worker, never taking a single sick day in 5 years of dedicated work, I was laid off in Jan as part of a downsizing. Around here, nobody is even interviewing. I have a bachelor's degree in computer science, and I think right now the only place that's hiring around here is Walmart. I was told I was "ineligible" for Unemployment Insurance claims because I was taking classes. According to the Unemployment office, I need to be available to work "any shift, any day".... even know the jobs I was looking at didn't conflict with the school schedule. They wanted me to drop out taking F's and take the first minimum wage McJob I could get. I found it odd they'd penalize people who are seeking retraining to become more employable, but that's the government for you. Here's something interesting: officially I am not a part of the ~10% unemployment rate for my state. If you count others others ineligible for Unemployment Ins for other good reasons, plus the teen & retiree workers who cant get part time work, the discouraged workers, and others... my guess is that the real unemployment rate is more like double what they say it is, so that's like ~20%. (It's true the unemployment numbers they usually give are based mainly on Unemployment Insurance recipients, not on the real # of people who are not working) When we compare this "deep recession" with markers of the Great Depression, maybe we're closer than we think to the Depression? Some of my friends are doing ok. My best friend is looking at his year-end projections and expects an involuntary drop of $10,000 in pay this year because he's commission based (working for a major soda corporation). Another had his house foreclosed on when it sat on a market with a massive loan [negative equity] for too long, even know he and his wife are both working... they are leasing now. On my street out of 6 properties 2 are for sale (have been for ages, no offers). I wish I could put my own home on the market, but no way would it sell unless I practically gave it away. Even the housing developers in my town are selling off some of the platted/planned "developments" that never broke ground, rather than waiting to build. The company who owns the huge regional shopping mall for my area is in Bankruptcy. The mall itself won't close, but it's a sign of deeper economic problems. The nonprofit I'm the director of has seen donations drop to about half of what they were in 2007. Supporters are still here but they keep saying "I really wish I could donate this year but..." spouses lost their job, losing their home, taking pay cuts, whatever. Grant money vanished since much of the small-to-mid sized grants are from Foundations which in turn kept their money in things linked to the stock market. As a result the number of the program helps has also dropped in half, leaving a gap in services in the community. The nonprofit also lost its credit line when that bank decided to stop lending to all small businesses of that category. Running a small business (profit or nonprofit) is hard enough without suddenly losing the cushion of knowing you have a credit line. The org decided not to bother trying to open another one right now. It's being run on a cash basis, making it impossible to give the lifeline emergency help, so again the community suffers. (if anyone is wondering: I work on a volunteer basis, so I don't have to worry about a paycut or layoff there) I made the best of things. I went from parttime school to fulltime, aiming to get a degree in a field that actually is hiring. I'm going into healthcare. However, it's disconcerting to hear from my friends that their healthcare/hospital facilities may have hiring freezes on. When I graduate in 2011, hopefully things will be improving. Perhaps things are different elsewhere? This is just what I'm seeing here in my little corner of the world.