Comments on: Unemployed, and No End in Sight http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:28:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: retired young http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-22572 retired young Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:40:30 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-22572 Started at $4.25 an hr when I was young worked my way way up to 70k as a salesman then 140 k . Saved 10% for 22 years. Now im unemployed and no one will hire me. Im 39 and retired. Started at $4.25 an hr when I was young worked my way way up to 70k as a salesman then 140 k . Saved 10% for 22 years. Now im unemployed and no one will hire me. Im 39 and retired.

]]> By: James Taylor http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-17573 James Taylor Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:16:21 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-17573 The American Labor force is pretty much non-existent without the few foreign auto manufacturers who have established manufacturing plants in the United States. All of our jobs sem to have been off-shored or no longer exist. After 12 years of working for a company making grossing over 55,000 dollars a year, I decided to call it quits and go back to finish my education. Shortly after completing a Bachelors Degree of Science in Business Administration and now currently working towards an MBA in Public Administration, I'm still unemployed after 7 months. As a matter of fact, my wife and I have come to the conclusion to start over and take a 10.00 dollar per hour job. The American Labor force is pretty much non-existent without the few foreign auto manufacturers who have established manufacturing plants in the United States. All of our jobs sem to have been off-shored or no longer exist. After 12 years of working for a company making grossing over 55,000 dollars a year, I decided to call it quits and go back to finish my education. Shortly after completing a Bachelors Degree of Science in Business Administration and now currently working towards an MBA in Public Administration, I’m still unemployed after 7 months. As a matter of fact, my wife and I have come to the conclusion to start over and take a 10.00 dollar per hour job.

]]> By: William Rayner http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-15034 William Rayner Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:08:04 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-15034 This is discouraging and a tangible reality for those of us presently squeezing sustenance from our unemployment benefits. My wife and I lost our jobs last November, one week before Thanksgiving. The national unemployment rate may be at 5%, but in our community it reached 9.9% in December '07 and I suspect has by now crested 10%. Are there jobs available here. Yes, if you can afford to earn less than what you're receiving from your unemployment benefits. To compound the problem, both my wife and I are in our mid-50s. We've learned that our degrees, given their age, are viewed as meaningless and our experience evidently valueless as positions we apply for are routinely given to people half our age. In my particular profession, graphic design/art direction, I'm now viewed as a dinosaur. I've been forced to expand my search into areas I never previously considered such as delivery driver, retail clerk, custodian and so on. There's a bitter irony in all of this. When we were younger and looking for work, we were told we needed more experience. Now that we're older and have a life-time of experience to offer, we're told we are over-qualified, a polite way of saying "You're too damn old." It seems that employers are content to hire the young and inexperienced. After all, they're cheaper and malleable and gullible and when they inevitably leave in 12 months, well, we'll just hire another one. Benefits such as health insurance are a fantasy here. Our previous employer of five years didn't offer it. They didn't even pay sick leave. If we're lucky enough to find employment before our unemployment benefits expire, the chances of the positions coming with health insurance are slim to none. Is it any wonder so many people in our position, after a lifetime of work and contribution to the system, become bitter and disillusioned, ultimately give up and fall through the cracks. This is discouraging and a tangible reality for those of us presently squeezing sustenance from our unemployment benefits. My wife and I lost our jobs last November, one week before Thanksgiving. The national unemployment rate may be at 5%, but in our community it reached 9.9% in December ‘07 and I suspect has by now crested 10%. Are there jobs available here. Yes, if you can afford to earn less than what you’re receiving from your unemployment benefits. To compound the problem, both my wife and I are in our mid-50s. We’ve learned that our degrees, given their age, are viewed as meaningless and our experience evidently valueless as positions we apply for are routinely given to people half our age. In my particular profession, graphic design/art direction, I’m now viewed as a dinosaur. I’ve been forced to expand my search into areas I never previously considered such as delivery driver, retail clerk, custodian and so on. There’s a bitter irony in all of this. When we were younger and looking for work, we were told we needed more experience. Now that we’re older and have a life-time of experience to offer, we’re told we are over-qualified, a polite way of saying “You’re too damn old.” It seems that employers are content to hire the young and inexperienced. After all, they’re cheaper and malleable and gullible and when they inevitably leave in 12 months, well, we’ll just hire another one. Benefits such as health insurance are a fantasy here. Our previous employer of five years didn’t offer it. They didn’t even pay sick leave. If we’re lucky enough to find employment before our unemployment benefits expire, the chances of the positions coming with health insurance are slim to none. Is it any wonder so many people in our position, after a lifetime of work and contribution to the system, become bitter and disillusioned, ultimately give up and fall through the cracks.

]]> By: sierra http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-15026 sierra Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:12:04 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-15026 "American labor" must be crushed to a world level playing field before American corporations can compete in a globalized world! (Incoming White Paper on labor of the Reagan Administration in 1980) That's the program...whether "We the People" agree or not.... And, the latest "bubble" of "virtual capital" instruments is indicative of more disaster to come for the laboring people (of the Western World). “American labor” must be crushed to a world level playing field before American corporations can compete in a globalized world!

(Incoming White Paper on labor of the Reagan Administration in 1980)

That’s the program…whether “We the People” agree or not….

And, the latest “bubble” of “virtual capital” instruments is indicative of more disaster to come for the laboring people (of the Western World).

]]> By: deborah twiner http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-15012 deborah twiner Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:10:06 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/unemployed-and-no-end-in-sight/#comment-15012 Not to mention ppl like myself that find a job have to wait, in my case 6 months for health care ,and then when it finally is about to kick in. I get fired for some made up reason. LOL can't win for losing. Not to mention ppl like myself that find a job have to wait, in my case 6 months for health care ,and then when it finally is about to kick in. I get fired for some made up reason. LOL can’t win for losing.

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