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I've been out since Aug 22 ... since then I have had 3 phone calls and 1 interview in high tech and have put out 100+ resumes. So I thought that I would take the advise of a few well meaning "start your own business" types out here and start my own computer repair business. Well, I decided to call a couple of existing (3) computer repair businesses in the area to see if they needed help. I figured the best way to learn the "ropes" was to work for someone who had an established business first.

Each one I called said the same thing ... they didn't need help and the have had to let go of their people because there is no work to be done right now.

I then talked to my friend who builds decks and docks to see if I could pound nails with him (bad knees and all) ... he said that he had a couple of job pending but they fell though cause people don't have the money to pay for the work right now. His power was turned off last night (no joke) cause he couldn't pay the bill. He's moving on to a delapideted house boat cause he can't pay his condo rent now ... lack of work.

My other friend (Gil) is a roofer and he was putting a roof on a neighbors house (by himself ... he's 51) two days ago. So my deck buddy (Dave) and I went over to see if he needed help. After all a job is a job. Gil said that he had to let all his workers go cause this was the last job he had booked ... and the first he had since Sept.

So Dave and I went over to a friends (Bill) house and ran into the coffee lady Sheryl. Sheryl had (HAD) a roadside coffee business, She would park a custom coffee serving trailer on the side of the major commute road and sell coffee to the commuters. She said she had to shut the business down because the traffic had dwindled to such a point that it wasn't worth the time and she was going to lose her house if she didn't get gainful employment. Bill was a mechanic at the Chevy dealership in Hayward ... he was laid off in Sept. Bill said that none of the dealerships that he applied at are hiring and most are laying off.

I personally have till the end of November until my house goes up for sale. The house next door, which is a mirror image of mine, took 11 months to sell.

So where is this "recovery" I keep hearing about ... cause it sure ain't here.

California, eh? Why don't you just get one of the $70,000/yr dockworker jobs?

Unemployment varies by region. My friend runs a framing (house) company and he's been going like gangbusters. Several of my coworkers are looking for a new job and are fighting off companies who want to pay them $10k more than they make currently.

If you have skills and are willing/able to move, getting a job is not a problem, even now when the jobs picture is just starting to improve. If you don't have skills or are pigeonholed into one industry or city/region/state, you're going to have a much tougher time, obviously. That's nothing new.