I’m now on Federal emergency unemployment, having been virtually unemployed (a few one-day temp assignments) since last October. I’m registered with a couple of temp agencies that I’ve done well with in the past; but even they, professional job placers who have a financial incentive to see me work, can’t find anything. Even the fast food joints aren’t hiring, and the local paper now prints it’s help wanted ads double-sized, since they wouldn’t have enough to make up a full classified section otherwise. There is nothing I can find that I’m qualified for (G.E.D.), and even people with much better training than me are having employment problems. I can’t even find openings to apply for, as an exercise to prove I’m trying. What do I do if the last cent of unemployment runs out and I still don’t have a job? To put it in it’s bluntest terms, if I don’t get a job soon, my wife (retired, too sick to work) and I will lose our house. Maybe one of my wife’s children would take her in (me, who knows?).
I just can’t believe that in this day and age someone willing to work can’t find something, however lousy, that they’re qualified for. Son of a bitch, is this really the Great Depression II, complete with soup kitchens, shantytowns and men who haven’t worked in years??
Not true in most cases. The unemployment rate for Los Angeles is 10.6%, its 9.4% in Chicago, both higher than the national rate of 8.9% or the 8.4% rate in the OP’s hometown of Minneapolis.
The problem simply is that jobs are being cut in massive numbers and very few new ones are being created.This article provides some intersting insight:
I have been looking for full time work for the last three years. Ever since the first of this year even the temp agencies have dried up.
Still I recall the recession in the early 80s, that was much worse than now. I think 'cause people have more credit now.
The temp agencies I went to said that since I’m over 40, I’m gonna be last on the list. I’ve been through program after program, I’ve had people examine my resume. I still get interviews, companies pay my expenses to fly me out to meet with them. But the fact is, I’m not the only interview. And if someone is out of work less time than me, or is younger than me, or whatever they’ll get it.
And you gotta be realistic and cope with that. I live in Chicago, and even place Accountemps, which I used to always get work at, have nothing for me. And I used to be an assitant controller. And I’ll work cheap.
I used to be a system admin so I know a ton about computers. I used to be able to put ad in Craigslist and flyers, computer help $7.50/hr (minimum wage in IL) and I’d get calls. Now no one calls. I spend a lot of my time now teaching volunteer classses about computer, just cause I’m bored.
Times is tough, hopefully we’ll all be around when they get better
Conservative—I’ll let this slide for now since you’re new, but this is General Questions, and political asides are not welcome here. Other forums, yes, but try to keep politics out of GQ. Thx.
No…it’s not even in the same universe as the Great Depression. We had over 20%…nearly 30%… unemployment then for gawds sake! It was incredibly bad. We haven’t even reached the '70’s level of badness yet.
I’m not sure what you are asking in this OP to be honest. If it is something along the lines of how does unemployment insurance work? then here is a link:
FWIW, I think that there is an effort on to extend unemployment benefits, so you probably won’t be cut off any time soon. The actual conditions vary though from state to state.
If you are asking what should you do, my (non-GD, perhaps unsolicited) advice would be to use the time you have while you are out of work to get some kind of training. I don’t know what your interests or skill sets are, but for my part I’d probably would on re-acquiring many of the IT certs I’ve let slip if I were out of work. There are lots of loan programs and such with the government to get training. Build up your resume and then start seriously looking again. Perhaps consider moving to some place where jobs are more available. It sounds like things are really bad where you are…where I live things haven’t really changed much at all, and unemployment hasn’t had a huge impact. For that matter, the housing market hasn’t crashed here either…they are still building like crazy in my neck of the woods.
Bear in mind the unemployment rate published by the BLS and reported in the media uses a strict set of numbers. The BLS also publishes a different set of numbers as well, called U-6 numbers. And those numbers are almost double the rate the media reports.
The official national unemployment rate is 8.9 percent for April 2009.
The more accurate nationwide unemployment rate using the U-6 number is 15.8 percent for April 2009.
For the OP, if you aren’t already on food stamps, you may want to apply for them, to help stretch those unemployment dollars a little further.
Also, prioritize spending. House payment first, unsecured creditors like credit cards last. This way, if the unemployment does run out, at least you’ll be current on the mortgage, and have a little more time before foreclosure proceedings get started.
If you have a house, maybe you’ve got a yard with room for a garden. It would give you something to do, and stretch the food budget further.
Here are three places I would sugggest you look for jobs.
First, take advantage of the resources at the local WorkForce Center. A) You might find some useful information and B) if you do need to rely on public or charity assistance at some point, most people will expect you to have tried this. Their website doesn’t make things seem as bad as you’re making them sound. There are many jobs listed, as well as other services available to you.
Second, look for jobs posted near the university and advertised in the university newspaper. Yes, these folks are looking for college kids, and maybe some will react negatively to having another type of person apply. But maybe some will react positively, if you have some good qualities as a worker. And you mentioned not being able to even finding places to apply. This should give you some.
Third, look for jobs on the websites of organizations you’d like to work for. Newspaper classifieds are dead. Those days are gone and are probably never coming back, thanks to the internet. Sites like Monster work for some people, but can also be a waste of time. Get the hang of filling out online applications, keeping track of where you applied, checking back, and resubmitting as necessary, because that’s the drill these days.
The advice to consider upgrading your skills is good, too.
Get creative. People are doing things they never dreamed they’d do. House-sit. Walk dogs. Pick up dog shit for people. Mow lawns. Give bartenders your name and number and be the local “tipsy taxi”. You might be able to cobble together a little something if you just stretch your imagination a bit til things pick up.
There’s also plenty of opportunity in the field of direct care for people with developmental disabilities. There’s a high turnover rate in that job because, well, it sucks. But it’s a paycheck.
Yes, and I suspect the U-6 by-city numbers are correspondingly higher for the biggest cities. The point is that this isn;t simply a geographical issue, where you could tell out of work autoworkers to move from Detroit to someplace else. There is no someplace else.
Have you looked for jobs with City or state agencies? Most of these jobs are never posted anywhere other than their own emplyment websites, at times a civil service exam is required, it depends what you do. Or federal jobs, like at the post office? (usajobs.com).
City of Minneapolis is lookin for a 911 operator requiring only diploma/GED:
Food Service at a jail not too far from Minneapolis:
Target is based in Minneapolis. Any huge company like that always has turnover.
Not even a tiny fraction of the jobs that are “out there” ever appear in a newspaper classified anymore. It’s been “dead” as a source of job going on 10 years now.
You should be able to make money on the Internet by studying the market value of various items on sites like eBay and Craigslist and then find and flip the items for their true, higher value.
There are also websites that allow prospective programming employers to simply post the programming task and the ransom and then allow the programmers to compete for the jobs.
If you absolutely can’t make money in the “real” brick & mortar economy, which is totally fucking broken, you should be able to come up with something online if you’re willing to dedicate the time and creativity to it.
Consider Amazon Mechanical Turk. I have no idea how much cash you can make there, but it’s something.