Ah - so worker’s comp is only for people who are incapacitated as a result of their work. I see now.
What about people in the USA who are simply unemployed? Is there any state benefit they can claim (“the dole”)? Over here, claimants must present themselves to an office every fortnight - that’s every 2 weeks - and are supposed to demonstrate what they have done since their last visit to seek employment. To qualify for jobseeker’s allowance you must be “available for work”.
Yes, most definitely. It’s my wife. We own the house, but have to live here for another couple years due to an agreement with the local redevelopment authority. They gave us a grant that repaired big problems in this 90-year old row house in a mining town.
My wife works a decent job, her medical covers both of us, barely, but she is due to be vested as an employee-owner next year.
The money is a big problem- we only have one car; we had severe financial problems that we’re still working out, and agin, we’re in the middle of the woods. We can pull up stakes and move somewhere else but it would mean leaving our families and friends.
Damned if I do; damned if I don’t. All I’m sure of is that I need to make a change.
Unemployed, after my string of contract positions finally ran out. I still get called in by my previous employer to fill in when someone’s on vacation or ill, but it’s hardly regular work.
Am increasingly frustrated by applying to entry-level positions in my field only to find myself against folks with 5-10 years experience. Stupid economy. Stupid job market. Stupid master’s degree. Grrr…
The chances of a regular Manpower branch having a data analyst position is slim to none. Not sure where you live but if you are willing to give the temporary/contract world a try, you should stick with the agencies or divisions of agencies that deal with IT or professional/technical positions. Manpower does have a professional division (Manpower Professional) as do most of the other large staffing firms. Check out which firms are listing positions on Dice for your location i.e. Modis, Ajilon, Volt, etc
People who are unemployeed usually qualify for Unemployment benefits through the state they live in. In NY it maxs out at $405 a week. Not much when you have a $1800 Manhattan appartment.
My problem when I was unemployed in 2002 was that I really didn’t mind it that much. Other than the stress of not having income (aside from the $405) and not knowing what I wanted to do for a living, I kind of enjoyed bumming around the East Village and drinking excessively with some of my pals.
People who are unemployed in Canada usually don’t qualify for Employment Insurance benefits. That’s why we have a $46 billion EI surplus in Canada. The federal government is doing an excellent job of keeping Canadians away from the money that they (working Canadians) put into the EI program.
I live in Birch Bay, but Bellingham is close. Not a lot of IT up here, so I looked to Manpower for data entry work. That’s how I started, and I can still do it. But they seem to be hiring mostly for admin positions.
I did send my résumé to Manpower Professional in Seattle, and I’ve also applied for positions listed by Volt, Ajilon, etc.
Right now it seems like my best chance of local work is as a videographer. That’s cook, because ‘filmmaking’ is my second-biggest passion. The owner of the comany came round to hang out yesterday (and to show off his ‘new’ bike), and we chatted a bit. Lots of work coming up in the next couple of months. If I understand his thinking, he’s thinking of a partnership type of thing where we’ll shoot weddings and stuff for income and then work on our own projects in the off-season. He says he knows a distributor that will carry our films. But to start out, he’s offering ‘freelance’ work. That is, he can send me out on the weddings (I suggested I start on the stationary camera, but he really likes my work on the jib), commercials, etc. I can make some good money doing that, and we can look at more artistic persuits later.
But the videography isn’t going to go into high-speed for a couple of months. In the meantime, I’m looking for any decent job. I applied for two clerk positions with the County, which would be good since they would leave weekends free for videography. And I’m sending out between three and six résumés every week for anything I might be qualified for between Blaine and Seattle.
Well, just got a call back from a former employer who I called in the hope of getting a job, and it looks like I will no longer be unemployed. Factory job, but it has benefits and it’s a steady income. Benefits are good because I’ve been having a recurring toothache and no money to treat it. Midnights too, which is what I wanted. Hopefully I’ll be able to attend the fall semester at university to resume my degree.
For some reason though, I won’t be conviced until I sign the paperwork and am good to go. It feels too good right now. Once I’ve started and get my first paycheck then I’ll know that this period is over.
I’m glad I don’t start for a couple of weeks. That’ll give me time to get out of this lazy funk I’ve been in.
Good for you, Sgt.Pepper. I went for an interview for a temp job that I would really like to get - it’s between me and one other person, I guess, and I should hear today. I’m trying not to get my hopes up - I am ready to go back to work, though. It’s so easy to get into slothful habits when you’re not working - like surfing the Dope for hours a day. 
I GOT IT!!! WOOT! Starting work Tuesday.
I’m not unemployed right now, but I will be as of June 1. Right now I’m holding out hope for Grad School, because I might at least get a stipend there, and an MFA might not improve my chances of becoming gainfully employed, but at least it’ll keep me occupied for a few years.
If I don’t get into a grad school (and the prospects are not looking good, sadly) then I’ll start the long, hard process of finding a job. Fortunately I’ll have a degree. Unfortunately, lots of people have degrees and experience, and still can’t find work.
On the upside, my husband has a decent and stable job, and if I can’t find anything, all we have to do is cancel our luxuries (cable tv, cell phones etc) and we’ll be fine.
Being an adult is scary and hard.
Unemployed. According to an article in El Pais (one of Spain’s biggest newspapers), about 50% of people who take an assignment abroad for their employer come back to find themselves either jobless or back in the old job. My case was a combo of both: after 3 years implementing SAP in a huge company, travelling over half the planet, I was supposed to go back to being — a weekend-shift lab tech! I’m a Chemical Engineer, but being female spent many years running into “but we can’t put a girl in Production!,” so most of my background is in Quality, Safety and Environmental.
The weekend-shift position had been made redundant in July 2003.
And the company insisted that I had to go back to that position or an identical one and it had to be in Spain (so, I was not allowed to get a job as a plant engineer in Italy, for example, or an RnD chemist in Germany).
So myself and the other 3 europeans who were part of the project (and whose jobs had also been made redundant or covered by other people) got re-redundated last December. Hey, I just invented a new verb!
Since our last 8 months had been spent working for an asshole who refused to believe any news he didn’t like, had zero technical expertise, could not use excel or access to save his life and despised anybody with a manufacturing job, I was actually happy to stop seeing his face.
I have unemployment subsidy: for the first year, about 70% of my old salary, and then 60% for 3 months. If my company had not transferred me to the US (like I had agreed with my hiring manager, but apparently our agreement went against some policy of which HR has been refusing to give me a copy for 2 years), I would have had subsidy for 18 months, not 15. What I have in the bank would be enough to live on for several years, though.
I’ve studied the job market and set my sights on two different kinds of job:
“Engineer/Chemist” regular stuff at factories. There are lots of jobs for this in the areas around Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid, but that means everybody in the country watches those areas - the area around Pamplona and Zaragoza has a similar amount of movement right now but a lot less people sending resumes there. My family lives exactly halfway between Pamplona and Zaragoza.
“SAP Functional Consultant/Organizational Consultant” kind of stuff. Most of it is “temp” jobs for a few months, but it always requires you to go where the customer is. What does the customer care whether you’re traveling from Madrid or from the Canary Islands? They have to pay for the same hotel anyway.
So I’ve moved “back home”, renting a flat in the same building where my mother lives. She owns the penthouse and there would be enough room for my body there - but I need a space I can call mine, and I need to be able to have some control over what I eat and how much of it. Her solution to any problem is more food.
Got an email yesterday from someone who may give me a 6-month consulting job in Germany and the US (stays below 6 months, so as long as I get my salary from Germany I don’t have a US job and therefore do not need a worker’s Visa). And I have about 3 more irons in the fire right now: one for Quality Engineer in a factory, one for Safety Consultant with a large firm (they want people with industry experience and will train!) and one for Organizational Consultant, again with a large firm and again they want industry experience.
Is it crazy, to be unemployed, single, and thinking of buying a house?
Ain’t that the truth. If anyone told me that when I was a kid, I sure wasn’t listening.
Nava, I bought my first townhouse when I was a temp - and I lost my job the first month into my mortgage. Woowoo. I don’t think it was a bad decision, though - I ended up selling after a year and making a good profit on the place. I guess it depends on your risk tolerance.
(By the way, if you like the Calgary area, the oil and gas sector here is always looking for technical people, and from what I hear, they actively try to get women into traditionally male-oriented jobs. Heck, all of Canada is crying for skilled technical workers.)
Two job-things today.
I woke up at 0300, drank a half-pot of coffee, showered, dressed, and headed into Poo-Is-Brown (UPS). They’re looking for pre-load people. I took a short ‘tour’ with the HR girl and another guy who is looking for work. Basically it’s sorting packages. Hours are 0330-0800, Monday through Friday. During heavy periods you may start at 0230. I really don’t want to work that shift. Also, they want a one-year ‘commitment’. What does that mean? Once you start, you’re not allowed to quit? :dubious: Also, it’s only 20-25 hours per week. I want a full-time position. I elected to delay the interview, because I had another appointment today.
I came home, read the SDMB, and took a nap for about 40 minutes. I guess I was tired, since I didn’t realise I could have slept for over an hour before I had to go to my next appointment.
I went to the County Courthouse to test for a Clerk III position. The test was 10-key (entering a bunch of numbers), data entry (account information), and typing. First time I’ve been tested on such things. A passing grade was 95% accuracy. I don’t remember what I got on the first two tests, but I typed 53 words per minute (minimum required is 50 wpm) with 99.6% accuracy. Maybe they’ll pick me, and maybe they won’t. While I was there I picked up a job announcement for another Clerk III position for the Treasurer.