Post by Chris_Wendt on Jul 10, 2009 12:17:03 GMT -5
As we entered July with summer getting into full swing, many of us noticed that the usual slackening of traffic on the roads as well as on the railroad and subways was more obvious and apparent this year than in past summers.
There is a pall hanging over our nation, where the most recent unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent and all but promises to eclipse that level and continue worsening, into double digits. This means that presently, one out of every 11 workers is unemployed, and that soon that will be one out of every ten...nine...and so forth.
The odd thing about unemployment is that, regardless of the rate of unemployment, if you are lucky enough or fortunate enough to be able to hold on to your job, then the unemployment rate does not seem to effect you or your family. But, if you lose your job, then whatever the unemployment rate may be will not matter, because, to you, the unemployment rate has suddenly become 100%. Similarly, your working neighbors and friends are not feeling 9% unemployed, they are experiencing 0% unemployment, and empathy for your unemployed situation is not easy to come by.
A commuting associate of mine lost his job this spring. I found out what happened through a mutual acquaintance. The person took this pretty hard, and, although is not looking specifically for 'empathy' from the rest of us, I also heard from his father that he is really in trouble, but it has not been possible for any of us to provide meaningful relief to him. I know he has school-aged kids, and can only imagine the stress this situation may be bringing to their lives. Last I heard, he was enrolled in a trade school to improve his future job prospects, if and when the economy recovers.
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But there is a much more insidious dark side to high unemployment. That is the double-edged sword of one-in-ten people who used to have jobs, most of them primary bread winners, now being back in the job market, competing for fewer available jobs with YOUR children as they graduate and try to enter this bleak job market. We all know how well prepared all these young people will be with skill sets and subject knowledge coming fresh out of school...but what they cannot be adequately prepared for is the paucity of job opportunities and the extreme competition they will face from more mature applicants (unemployed bread winners) who come to the job interview armed with the one thing recent, bright-eyed graduates definitely lack: a resume full of WORK EXPERIENCE.
An almost humorous after-effect of this very situation is that more and more young would-be graduates (would-have-been entrants to the workplace) are opting to stay in school and pursue graduate degrees. The funny part of that is, grad' schools are filling up, and the competition to get into grad' schools is getting almost as ferocious as the job market is!
This is no laughing matter, though. Young people who delay entering the job market for whatever reason also delay leaving the nest, and, worst of all, they delay the purchase of their first home. That is worse news by far for the floundering economy, desperately in need of recovery...
...which is no where in sight!
Thoughtfully yours,
Chris Wendt
There is a pall hanging over our nation, where the most recent unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent and all but promises to eclipse that level and continue worsening, into double digits. This means that presently, one out of every 11 workers is unemployed, and that soon that will be one out of every ten...nine...and so forth.
The odd thing about unemployment is that, regardless of the rate of unemployment, if you are lucky enough or fortunate enough to be able to hold on to your job, then the unemployment rate does not seem to effect you or your family. But, if you lose your job, then whatever the unemployment rate may be will not matter, because, to you, the unemployment rate has suddenly become 100%. Similarly, your working neighbors and friends are not feeling 9% unemployed, they are experiencing 0% unemployment, and empathy for your unemployed situation is not easy to come by.
A commuting associate of mine lost his job this spring. I found out what happened through a mutual acquaintance. The person took this pretty hard, and, although is not looking specifically for 'empathy' from the rest of us, I also heard from his father that he is really in trouble, but it has not been possible for any of us to provide meaningful relief to him. I know he has school-aged kids, and can only imagine the stress this situation may be bringing to their lives. Last I heard, he was enrolled in a trade school to improve his future job prospects, if and when the economy recovers.
*********************************************************************
But there is a much more insidious dark side to high unemployment. That is the double-edged sword of one-in-ten people who used to have jobs, most of them primary bread winners, now being back in the job market, competing for fewer available jobs with YOUR children as they graduate and try to enter this bleak job market. We all know how well prepared all these young people will be with skill sets and subject knowledge coming fresh out of school...but what they cannot be adequately prepared for is the paucity of job opportunities and the extreme competition they will face from more mature applicants (unemployed bread winners) who come to the job interview armed with the one thing recent, bright-eyed graduates definitely lack: a resume full of WORK EXPERIENCE.
An almost humorous after-effect of this very situation is that more and more young would-be graduates (would-have-been entrants to the workplace) are opting to stay in school and pursue graduate degrees. The funny part of that is, grad' schools are filling up, and the competition to get into grad' schools is getting almost as ferocious as the job market is!
This is no laughing matter, though. Young people who delay entering the job market for whatever reason also delay leaving the nest, and, worst of all, they delay the purchase of their first home. That is worse news by far for the floundering economy, desperately in need of recovery...
...which is no where in sight!
Thoughtfully yours,
Chris Wendt