Posted on 07/07/2013 7:46:19 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Trying to find a job in America today can be an incredibly frustrating experience. Most of the jobs that are available seem to pay very little, and there is intense competition for just about any job that is open. But it wasn't always like this. When I was in high school, I was immediately hired when I applied for a job at McDonalds because they were so desperate for workers that they would hire just about anyone that could flip a burger. But in this economic environment, a single nationwide hiring event conducted by McDonalds resulted in a million job applications, and only a small percentage of those applicants were actually hired. Our economy simply does not produce enough jobs for everyone anymore, and the percentage of "good jobs" continues to decline. That means that it is getting really hard to find a job that will enable you to support a family, and a lot of people end up doing jobs that they are massively overqualified for. But when times are tough, people are going to do what they have to do in order to survive.
One thing that we have seen in recent years is an explosion in the number of "temp workers" in America. Even some of the largest companies in America are using them. They like the flexibility of being able to bring in workers when they need them and of being able to dump them the moment they don't need them anymore. Sadly, those that work in the "temp industry" often work in deplorable conditions for very little pay. The following is a brief excerpt from an absolutely outstanding Pro Publica article...
In cities all across the country, workers stand on street corners, line up in alleys or wait in a neon-lit beauty salon for rickety vans to whisk them off to warehouses miles away. Some vans are so packed that to get to work, people must squat on milk crates, sit on the laps of passengers they do not know or sometimes lie on the floor, the other workers’ feet on top of them.
This is not Mexico. It is not Guatemala or Honduras. This is Chicago, New Jersey, Boston.
The people here are not day laborers looking for an odd job from a passing contractor. They are regular employees of temp agencies working in the supply chain of many of America’s largest companies – Walmart, Macy’s, Nike, Frito-Lay. They make our frozen pizzas, sort the recycling from our trash, cut our vegetables and clean our imported fish. They unload clothing and toys made overseas and pack them to fill our store shelves. They are as important to the global economy as shipping containers and Asian garment workers.
Many get by on minimum wage, renting rooms in rundown houses, eating dinners of beans and potatoes, and surviving on food banks and taxpayer-funded health care. They almost never get benefits and have little opportunity for advancement.
But these are the types of jobs the U.S. economy is "creating" these days. Low paying part-time jobs are continually becoming a bigger part of the economy. This is one of the primary reasons why the middle class in America is shrinking.
You can't support a family on what most of these part-time jobs pay. But our economy is not producing many high quality full-time jobs these days. The average quality of American jobs just continues to sink.
The following are 15 signs that the quality of jobs in America is going downhill really fast...
#1 The number of part-time workers in the United States has just hit a brand new all-time high, but the number of full-time workers is still nearly 6 million below the old record that was set back in 2007.
#2 In America today, only 47 percent of adults have a full-time job.
#3 Even though the U.S. economy created nearly 200,000 jobs in June, the number of full-time jobs actually decreased.
#4 There are now 2.7 million temp workers in the United States - a new all-time high.
#5 One out of every ten jobs in the United States is now filled through a temp agency.
#6 The U.S. economy has actually lost manufacturing jobs for four consecutive months.
#7 The official unemployment rate has been at 7.5 percent or higher for 54 months in a row. That is the longest stretch in U.S. history.
#8 According to one recent survey, 76 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
#9 At this point, one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less.
#10 High paying manufacturing jobs continue to be shipped overseas. Sadly, there are fewer Americans employed in manufacturing now than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.
#11 Today, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.
#12 The U.S. economy continues to trade good paying jobs for low paying jobs. 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.
#13 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
#14 At this point, an astounding 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
#15 According to a study that was released by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, only 24.6 percent of all jobs in the United States qualify as "good jobs" at this point. In a previous article, I detailed the three criteria that they used to define what a "good job" is….
#1 The job must pay at least $18.50 an hour. According to the authors, that is the equivalent of the median hourly pay for American workers back in 1979 after you adjust for inflation.
#2 The job must provide access to employer-sponsored health insurance, and the employer must pay at least some portion of the cost of that insurance.
#3 The job must provide access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
All of this is absolutely heartbreaking.
Once upon a time, just about any adult that was willing to work hard in America could go out and find a good paying job that would support a middle class lifestyle.
Now those days are gone forever.
But different conditions exist in different parts of the country.
What are you seeing in your area?
Are good jobs difficult to find?
Bring back quality American jobs.
Stop outsourcing.
Bring them back.
HOW?
Yeah, tell all this to the common freeper who squeals get a job every other post.
I am starting to favor restrictive tariffs, though that is only one idea.
We have now however reached a point where China exports more than America.
It is time to change.
Well, as far as McDonald’s, other fast food places, gas stations, 7-11s, the anecdotal evidence is that people working in these places were not born in this country.
I can’t say what the green card status is of all of these people, but it appears that lower level American born workers are competing with foreign born for some of these jobs.
All of the visa overstayers are applying for jobs thru company websites. They think they will be able to get the job soon. There are 500 applications for each position. They are willing to work for 1/2 to 1/3 of the previous rate of pay for the position.
I have had the blessing of an inspection by the Federal Wage and Labor people. The young lady’s words to me were, and I quote, “We are here to create jobs. We don’t care about rates of pay and benefits.” Welcome to Democratland. You thought the 40 hour workweek and time and a half for overtime were created to help the workers. They weren’t. They were created to force employers to hire more people. Welcome to Democratland. What they care about is getting elected.
Why 15 signs? Why not 16, or perhaps 14?
Can’t stand the way they do headlines and titles like this...
RE: Why 15 signs? Why not 16, or perhaps 14?
Because he thought of 15 and maybe want others to add more signs if they see them...
One of the Sunday shows (I think CBS) had *conservative* columnist David Brooks on and he says that there is no excuse for not passing the Senate amnesty bill, claims that it will ‘fix’ illegal immigration but he also said that ‘no one disputes that it will create huge economic growth’
Growth?? ?? He sounds like the 2012 Romney campaign: ‘if a rich guy gets richer no matter how it must be good for you because all the rich are job creators and that's good for you’.
How does adding millions more workers to compete with American workers who are still struggling help them?
More-so, because most are poor and Hispanic (minority) they will in most cases get free college (I see this here all the time) while US born white kids will take on a lifetime of college debt, if they dont just give up.
Just prior to the last increase in minimum wage, some friends and I were eating at a food court (we ate there a couple times a week during lunch break). As we sat there making small talk, I watched the staff behind the various counters - how they treated customers, how they treated coworkers, how the handled orders, followed instruction, etc. After a bit, I looked at my friends and pointed out my guesses for which employees wouldn't make it more than a month after the increase. I'd hazard I was about 80-85% correct.
Don't even bother opening a lemonade stand
And don't dare try to sell raw milk
Amish Criminal Mastermind Peddles Raw Milk
And let's not even begin to discuss GE and the mercury squiggle light bulbs.
I respectfully disagree.
We need our government to make American jobs the priority.
Maybe some factory owners won’t like that, but maybe they’re exporting American jobs.
Bring back American jobs.
Having competitive tariffs on foreign goods and services would do a lot more to stimulate and grow the economy than the present system of Free Trade and high income taxes.
As politicians and unions demand more from employers these numbers will keep rising.
Yeah taking care of dad with dementia took me out of the job pool and he died early 2009 right when financial industry crashed ( I was commercial industrial insurance) and have been grateful for anything I can get ever since.
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