Things are going pretty badly among the people we know. Four or five houses at our end of the street are up for sale. We were thinking of putting a sign in our front yard saying “Was it something we said?” We know several people who are facing foreclosure, one who has become homeless (his own fault really as he is a druggie) one who lost her job because her car was repossessed and she couldn’t get to work, several who are bankrupt … it’s rough. What’s more, most of these people are EMPLOYED but are not making enough to survive.
The coupon firm that my wife works for is being hit hard. Normally coupon firms do well in tough times, and they did do well at the start of the 9/11 economic downturn, but now they are having clients back out of ads, not pay for ads they are running, and it’s a lot harder to get new ads. The woman who lost her car was a salesman at the firm, and she just wasn’t making enough money there. She may not have been such a good saleswoman, but all the salespeople are saying the same thing.
Sales on my website are trending downward, though not catastrophically.
We hear so much bad enconomic news that we have trouble believing we are in a recovery of any description, jobless or otherwise. And we don’t trust the media any way – they have been lapdogs for the current administration since before it came into office.
So, we thought we do a media-free poll: how’s it going among the people YOU know? I’m not looking for surveys or anything like that, just information about the people you know personally, to see if that jibes at all with what we are getting from the media. Please don’t post stuff that’s just economic theory or political in nature, we just wanna know — how’s it going?
It’s going terribly. Most of my friends I knew from work, and maybe 2/3 of us (including me) got laid off. Few of us have jobs, and those that do are getting maybe half or less the salary they were getting before. We work(ed) in telecom, which was one of the hardest hit industries in the “downturn”.
I guess a lot of one’s perception has to do with where you are.
Locally, it seems to be going pretty well. While I’ve lived through several bleak periods in the oil patch, when someone asked me last week for the names of geologists or geophysicists they might recruit for a new venture, I could only think of one I might recommend, and him only because he’s remained independent by choice. That’s a far cry from most of my years in the business.
Rig rates, while still low (~1100), are up >20% over last year. My industry is in a shambles, but everybody’s busy as heck.
There’s feverish construction activity in this city, which I take to be a positive sign. That’s made realty a seller’s market, which isn’t so great for the likes of me, but is probably to the general good.
Again comparing the current to past experience, my friends and acquaintance seem to be doing all right with no dire financial happenings, such as foreclosures or layoffs, apparently imminent. While some have jobs that are a bit tenuous, they have jobs. Compared to periods I remember from the '70s, '80s and '90s, things have been much, much worse.
And there are not as many street corner beggars right now, although I’m not sure their presence or absence really reliably says anything about the economy.
Well, no, it doesn’t necessarily follow that feverish construction activity would make for a seller’s market. I think it might make more sense in the reverse.
I graduated in college in June. Of my friends who also graduated, only one has a full time job. One more has a part time job as a recreation leader- after a year of looking for work. The other seven or so (includeing me) are still without jobs.
Not American… but economy in Brazil is flat and stagnated over here… few sectors are doing well and good jobs are scarce. Common to see people with a lot of degrees doing lesser work.
Just came back from Peru and its even worse there. Argentina is in shambles too.
I’m one step away from homeless. Unemployed since march, selling off all my music gear to stay afloat. I’m working declaring bankruptcy. Mortgage payment is late. Car payment is late. utilities are late. Credit cards have long since cratered.
Many of my friends are in the same boat. One has been unemployed for over a year now. In my band, only the drummer has a job(thats got to be a sign of the apocalypse).
My parents have had to start teaching again, their retirement they worked all their lives for has been cut in half.
At least our president isnt getting blown. Thats all that matters.
We filed bankruptcy in November. My brother is days away from foreclosure on his home. We know three other families considering bankruptcy just in order to stay in their homes. Easily half or more of the families we know have either lost jobs, or taken paycuts (some, like us, multiple cuts (5) since 9/11.)
It’s not like we were out of control spending either. When we filed, both vehicles (12 yrs old & 10 yrs old), the boat (22 yrs old) and the rv (10 yrs old), had been paid off for over seven years. We’d been trying to sell the rv and boat for months. Our only debt’s were the house, some hefty medical bills, and a credit card that had not been used for new purchases in over 18 months at the time. We just took so many pay cuts that we couldn’t keep the car repairs going and the house payments and monthly bills current without some relief from the credit card finance charges and medical bills. Now we’re on a catch up and payback plan without getting hit with new finance charges and penalties that are more than the payments. We thought the court would say we had to sell the boat and rv, but I guess they are so old already that they aren’t worth the effort.
It’s very demoralizing even when you can see on paper that in three years or so if we stick to the plan we’ll be back on track.
I work in the same city as Ringo. The difference in the way we see conditions in the same city is interesting. Five years ago I would see the homeless, but had never been approached. This year I am approached one or twice a month waiting at a downtown bus stop for the park and ride to return home. I don’t have the feeling that there are more (or less) homeless, but they seem more desperate to me.
For the sake of full disclosure Ringo is better educated in a more lucrative field than I.
We lost the major employer in our (small) town. Folks who worked there typically had at least twenty years of service. I’ve heard of people with other companies being laid off, working shorter work-weeks, and the like.
On the personal front, my husband lost his job last year and replaced it immediately, but at a much lower wage. I was fortunate enough to find a job that helps, but things are still tight.
I’m just happy we still have a place to live and food on the table. It could be worse.
Yep, it sucks in Philly too. Many of my friends are changing jobs or out of work. I got laid off and I am in a “stable, growing field”. (Secondary Ed. Teacher in the Inner City.) I took a pay cut to work in a private school.
Bookbinder’s Seafood House*, where I worked for a stint just closed their doors for good yesterday. So, I have more friends out of work.
*Yes, a Bookbinder’s went out of business two years ago, there were two different restaurants and now the other one bit the dust.
Pretty awful. I’m secure and some of my friends are but we’re the lucky ones, and we’re feeling the pinch. Well-educated and experienced friends are still out of work after layoff and several more just got the word they’ll be losing their jobs in a few months. It sucks.
I just paid off my house and am sheltering money like mad because I don’t see things getting better anytime soon. We’re innundated by applications at work but we’ve been in a hiring freeze for ages. We haven’t had jobs available forever and even the national journals are very thin on job opportunities. From the grapevine there are plenty of jobs vacant but no money to fund them.
And, joy oh joy, the word just came down that we’ve facing cuts at work next year, if not sooner. I’ve spent every waking hour this week trying to figure out how to make up almost $100K in cuts without laying people off, reducing services, hours, etc. --and it can’t be done.
We’re staying afloat. Mr. S got downsized in February 2001 and hasn’t found a comparable job yet. It was scary for a while because my freelance-only income was only 1/3 of our total – but we cut back on extras we didn’t need, switched to cheaper things, etc., and I increased my workload, so now I’d say we are living on 50-60% of what we did before he lost his job.
Mr. S has been working less than full-time, and some weeks not at all, at his two jobs (temping for a food-packing plant and substitute janitor at the local schools). The food-packing temp jobs may go away by the end of the year, so he’s hoping a regular opening will come up at the school – he’s already been passed over for one full-time job, but the custodians are a lot of really old guys, so basically he’s waiting for someone to retire or die. His self esteem has been up and down – he’s an artist at heart, but it’s hard to stay upbeat when nobody seems to want you even though you’re a good worker, and your big hope is to be a janitor. And we’re keeping our fingers crossed that our two paid-for-but-150K-miles-each vehicles hold up for a few more years. Thank God our house payment is very low, with five years and $6K to go as of next month. (We won’t talk about CC debt – except to say that we ARE working on paying it off, and I think we’ve been cured of/scared off that habit, once the debt is gone.)
I try not to think about the fact that we’re living from check to check, and if for some reason I became unable to work we’d really be up shit creek. But on the other hand we’re staying afloat (in an area that has had high unemployment and low wages forever) and even have a little money for fun now and then, and I count myself VERY lucky that I have plenty of work – even turn down projects regularly because I’m already (over)booked.
Sad thing is that we do have some friends who never seem to be hurting for money (and we don’t think they ever have been), and they don’t seem to understand that aspect of our life. (Got a problem to solve? Just write a check!) Even when we had plenty of disposable income, we both still remembered being poor, and were able to relate to our friends who were (and still are) in tight circumstances, help them find creative solutions, do things together that didn’t break their wallets, etc. Everyone should have to be hard up for money for at least some period in their life, IMO.
I’m Australian, so my economic environment is a little different. Inflation is very low, unemployment is low (maybe 7 per cent) and the economic growth forecast is positive.
Off the top of my head, I don’t know any unemployed people. I’ve had friends out of work before, but for the last couple years or so, everyone I know is either working or studying.
The graduate job market is as tough as ever, but all my friends from law school (we graduated late last year) have successfully migrated into the working world. We are very fortunate.
I had several friends who were laid off when the company where we all used to work folded (I got out just in time), but they’ve all found jobs since. I don’t think I know anyone who is unemployed and looking right now. My job is secure (mainly because they’d never find anotehr sucker to work these hours), but I’m taking TaxGuy’s advice next year anyway.
In short, I hear a lot of bad news, but pretty much everyone I know seems to be doing OK if not prospering.
well, it’s not going terrible. at the same time, it’s definately worse than a few years ago. A lot of my friends are waitstaff, which is usually a good indication of the economy since their pay is so based on tips. No ones been getting fired or anything(among my friends), but they’re all making a lot less.
This is one of the reasons I don’t want trust stats. In the U.S. (don’t know about Australia) unemployment figures can be very misleading. They don’t count the so-called “discouraged” workers who are no longer seeking work. They don’t count people who have left the unemployment insurance rolls without finding work. They don’t take into account the underemployment that a lot of folks here have reported.
There’s also a widespread suspicion that unemployment and other economic figures in the U.S. are subject to distortion from whatever Administration is in office to make themselves look good.
Personal anecdotes, subjective as they may be, are at least authentic.