The reality is that a lot of the jobs in the “recovery” are low-paying positions for which many men are overqualified. Plus, if you are a white, hetero male you are silently discriminated against by all the Affirmative Action policies that give preference to everyone but white hetero males.
Not that non-white males have it much easier judging from black unemployment numbers. But a good many of the new jobs are service sector positions which prefer women they can boss around and underpay.
I consider myself blessed. I’m a white, hetero male in his mid-50s. I was laid off at the end of 2010 and only this month am back working at a job that pays 93% of what I used to make (probably 85% in real terms).
I was unemployed for 16 months (not consecutively) and have gone through three jobs since then. I wound up taking a contractor position for $12/hr just to get myself back in the workforce and was in it for nine months before this new contract job came along.
Yes, you can recover after the recession but it is not easy and I can’t tell you all the applications I sent out, all the interviews I had and all the money I lost in the interim. I give God the glory. I surrendered to Him and let Him find the jobs for me. I am not doing what I’d really love to do but I am doing well enough and I have Christ’s promise that He is sufficient.
It also helps to live in Texas where job opportunities continue to grow and the state government still believes in a robust private sector.
Most of us are contractors now in some way or another - no benefits.
“if you are a white, hetero male you are silently discriminated against by all the Affirmative Action policies that give preference to everyone but white hetero males.”
I tend to agree if not wholeheartedly agree and if those policies are indeed being lived up to, how exactly is it made to happen? Who is in a position(s) to make that happen and how does a system of “silent discrimination” really work?