Posted on 02/06/2010 2:24:01 PM PST by Steelfish
Frustrated Job Seekers Deciding To Call It Quits
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD, AP Business Writer February 6, 2010
Many jobless people have reached a conclusion that captures the depth of the unemployment crisis: Looking for a job is a waste of time. The economy is growing. Yet it's creating few jobs. That's why in the past eight months, 1.8 million people without jobs left the labor market. Many had grown so frustrated by their failure to find a job that they threw up their hands and quit looking for one.
And it's why Barbara Bishop sat down at her kitchen table in suburban Atlanta last month and joined their ranks. Her decision came seven months after she quit a PR job that seemed about to be axed. Sending out resumes got her nowhere. So Bishop made a list of her skills and decided to launch her own business.
"I don't want to look any more," she said of the job hunt. "It's become very discouraging."
The nation's unemployment rate is 9.7 percent. But so many jobless people have quit looking that if they're combined with the number of part-time workers who'd prefer to work full time, the so-called "underemployment" rate is 16.5 percent.
Their outsize numbers show that even though the economy is growing, the job market is stagnant. Employers remain reluctant to hire.
The exodus did halt in January, when a net total of 111,000 people re-entered the job market. But 661,000 had left in December. And the overall trend since spring has been people leaving the work force.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I have been laid off from Wells Fargo Auto Finance Since 12-08. I have not quit looking but although I have found some jobs that did not want to pay me when time came, I have been without an income since then. It is discouaging but what can you do. I was always at the top of my profession when employed but that makes not difference in this market. If you don’t have a degree.. No job. Savings are about out...Now what?
So much for hope and change...Thank you Obama
Your comment speaks to what I wanted to ask. How do people who have quit looking support themselves?
My sympathies and good wishes to you. I wish I were an employer. I’d offer you a job.
Those aren’t the real numbers, BTW. They’re from a household survey with an adjustment. We’ll see the uglier news—a little truth—soon enough.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
I’m really getting sick of these articles and tv segments saying that the unemployed are quitting looking for work and have stopped looking for work. Even this article didn’t even describe a quitter although the title touted it!
How about this - count all the so called ‘quitters’ and add them to the unemployed number. They are still out there, they just aren’t being counted anymore.
They are the newly formed ‘Lost Generation’
btt
If some State wanted to take a big bite out of the problems related to unemployment, a good bet would be to revitalize some of their small towns, as a place for thousands of people to “tread water”, until the economy improves.
The idea is to take what had been a farming community, but is now largely deserted, and put a lot of people there with the idea of their having a “guided subsistence community”, that costs a lot less than direct State aid. (And a lot more practical as well, if inflation is high, or a full depression has set in.)
Instead of money, for the most part, the State provides materials and advice on how to farm for self-sufficiency, with towns specializing in a few types of agriculture, then the State doing “commodity swaps”, so towns have most of what they need as far as food goes.
Such a situation is also labor intensive, so adults are working, children are attending school, and State aid is reduced to just those things that cannot be produced locally, such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, etc.
The big goals of such a product are first, the get the unemployed off the dole and get them working and providing for themselves, which takes pressure off the State treasury and narrows the labor market.
Second, to get the unemployed into tolerable housing, out of the cities, making them less vulnerable to crime, and keeping them in better physical condition, and taking an active part in sustaining and improving their lives.
Third, to keep their children in school and motivated to do as well as possible. In addition, learning technical and trade skills that they normally would not learn in the cities.
Fourth, to produce commodities in State that would normally be shipped from out of State, except transportation costs have become too high. Thus, extra goods could be sold in the cities, to start providing money income to the rural towns, improving their standard of living.
An idea like this has a lot of selling points for when times get very hard. It is not ideal, nor is it very long term, but just as a less expensive way for a State to take care of its citizens when there is little or no money left, and the economy has crashed. As such, it beats the heck out of the alternative, which involves a lot of unnecessary suffering.
If you’re young enough, the military will take you.
And they’ll pay for a college degree while you’re at it.
If you haven’t tried, I recommend that you check out “usajobs.com”. Speaking from experience, the feds are the only ones hiring that I know of. You may start at a pay level you were at, but there’s going to be plenty of upward mobility when the older folks start retiring in a few years.
Would you like to share the URL to your JobSearch Thread?
What you are recommending is a reprisal of this concept out of the past.
http://poorfarm.benjaminbruce.com/history/index.html
There is a road a few miles from my home called “Poor Farm Road”. I have often thought that this makes a lot more sense than trying to put people in homes they can’t pay for and giving out food stamps. It would provide a safety net for those who can’t make it any other way while not promoting the idea that the world owes anyone a living. It would be like belonging to an oldtime farm family, everyone expected to do whatever they were able to do. Most people who were capable of making it on their own would be glad to work hard to make a life of their own rather than staying on the “Poor Farm”. Anyone who caused trouble on the poor farm could always go and work on the chain gang.
“Would you like to share the URL to your JobSearch Thread?”
#
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/lookingforajob/index?tab=articles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2441076/posts
Are you looking for a job?
TRUTHUSA.com ^ | January 30, 2010 | n/a
Posted on January 30, 2010 5:05:45 PM PST by Cindy
It’s a new year and time for a new thread.
If you’re looking for a job and/or a career; this is the thread for you — so bookmark it and tell others about this thread.
Updates will be ongoing.
Don’t think 56 is young enough. Plus already put my time in.
They said that's it necessary to read it every single day, as postings are deleted as soon as the job opening is filled.
Also, you might consider registering with your state Unemployment Office and see if there are any retraining programs that you qualify for.
Whatever you decide to do. PLEASE consider taking action NOW, any action - it's imperative to do something to turn this around.
I have been applying for jobs for going on 14 months now. I am taking action.
Have you registered with your state unemployment office, with monster.com, etc?
I am NOT meaning to in any way be critical, I am simply worried for you, and hope you have a plan for action.
Are you willing to relocate? I've read that North Dakota is having SEVERE difficulty filling all sorts of jobs, many people have moved there for the new oil boom, and I've seen mantion that ANY companies not directly affiliated with the oil rigs CAN'T find enough help.
Surely, a population of well paid oil rig workers would like to purchase new cars, right??
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