Posted on 06/27/2004 2:04:13 PM PDT by A. Pole
NEW YORK - After 20 months of looking for work and sending out hundreds of résumés, Jeffrey Schwab has given up trying to find another job as a draftsman. He's now taken early Social Security and is considering whether to sell his Bellingham, Wash., home to move to something smaller. "From what I can tell, there's not much to look for," says Mr. Schwab, who has 35 years of pipeline-design experience. "I am standing around with nothing to do."
Even though the economy has created 1.2 million jobs since January, some 265,000 people have dropped out of the job hunt during the same period. They would join some 19.1 million Americans in the same situation as Schwab, who are unemployed and not looking for work largely because they are convinced they won't find it. This figure, at a record level, is up 44 percent from 10 years ago.
If the job market continues to improve, this large number of people could decide to get back in the job market - which would hold the unemployment rate relatively high, even as new jobs are created.
"If this flow of nonworking Americans were to reverse, it would send the jobless rate toward 8 percent," says John Challenger of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in Chicago.
That would certainly be the case in Pennsylvania, agrees the state's governor, Edward Rendell (D). The official unemployment rate is 5.4 percent, but it's "much greater," Mr. Rendell says, when factoring in men who have been cut off welfare and never got back into the workforce "and as a result never show up in the unemployment rolls."
Sometimes a rising jobless rate, says Bob Brusca of Fact and Opinion Economics in New York, can be a positive sign of a vibrant labor market that's luring more people in than it can absorb. But "that change has not occurred."
Many workforce dropouts in the age group of 25 to 54 have spent years working in shrinking industries, such as telecommunications or software development. "There are many people who have been downsized - a permanent job loss - that are taking a long time to return to work," says Andrew Stettner of the National Employment Law Project in New York. "They have had such a hard time when they are looking that they have given up, even though they don't necessarily want to."
In Tiffin, Ohio, that's the case with Merree Phillips, who lost her job a year ago as a development officer at Heidelberg College. She says that at times frustrations sap her motivation. "Some weeks you don't work as hard since it's so easy to get discouraged and you wonder whether it's worth it to keep pounding your head against the wall," she says. "I have not gotten to the interview stage of any job I have applied for."
Ms. Phillips thinks that the job market is actually shrinking in her area. A year ago, she says there were 20 to 25 listings for professionals in the want ads in The Courier, a Findlay, Ohio, newspaper. Sunday, the online edition had only four such ads. "I don't want to come off as a slacker, but there aren't even any decent prospects," she says.
Some workers who have officially stopped looking are going back to school. Enrollment at the nation's community colleges, which offer much of the job retraining, is soaring.
One of those who has gone back to school is Penni Neff, a divorced mother of a teenage boy who lost her job at a hospital.
Now, she's in school to become a licensed practical nurse.
"Gee, I don't know why people throw their arms up and say 'I give up!' " she writes in an e-mail.
"Sorry, I'm not doing it, but I get doors slammed all the time," says Ms. Neff, who has four months left to finish her courses before she starts another training program to become a registered nurse.
Neff's move is probably in the right direction, says Mr. Challenger. "She's evidence of the migration of going from the old economy to the new, particularly jobs that are service-related," says the outplacement guru. He says other areas that the long-term unemployed should consider include international business, housing construction, real estate, utilities, and the energy industry. "People often pigeonhole themselves," he says. "We're seeing almost 50 percent of people changing industries, but not functions."
Challenger adds that hiring someone who has been out of work for a long time can be rewarding for employers as well. "[The new workers] are really hungry to get back, so you are getting someone who is really committed and is not going to move quickly as a free agent," he says. "You can save people's lives and get very committed employees that way."
A job would certainly help someone like Schwab in Bellingham. His wife, who was also laid off, is now working 30 hours a week at a store, but she does not get benefits. They are now considering all options, including the sale of their home. "We needed a bigger house to care for my wife's mom, who had Alzheimer's disease," he says. "But it's more expensive to pay for and heat."
Bump
Who's fault is that? I was not jobless but I got a second job because I need extra money. This second job isn't giving me enough hours so I'm taking up maid service. And what? If you are unemployed get up off yer lazy arse and go do something.
Hiring up, but many jobless not looking
Bring back the 'draft'.......
/sarcasm
The so-called "hiring" is a joke! Lots of advertisements, but nothing else.
I bet Laz is gonna ask if you have one of those cute little outfits. :)
Don't give him any ideas *LOL*
I hope it never gets to that point. :)
Disappearing jobs - the first bitter fruits of offshoring. There is much more to come.
If you want on or off my offshoring ping list, please FReepmail me!
Sure. Businesses are going to spend money advertising jobs just for the fun of it? Ridiculous.
I have a relative who is a draftsman out of a job. The problem is that computers now easily do their job. A lot of people are refusing to be retrained especially if they are 40+. This has nothing to do with the job market or who is President. They are obsolete and won't admit it.
Good for Ms Neff mentioned in the article.
Both my daughters lost very good jobs during the dot-som bust. They collected unemployment,researched,networked,and learned new skills(while working part time) and now have new careers.They were out of full time work for about 6 months.
There was no whining,just hard work.One of them even tossed her credit cards and reapplied when she got work. She did without and managed just fine and this was after earning very good money.
They made me proud.
I agree, Lockheed once had draftsmen (persons?), heck, they used to have secretarys (typists) but now the engineers do their drafting on computer, (in fact, designers have to learn the companies software, Pro-E, or you can't design) This is just how life is. But I bet a 35 year draftsman could earn a teaching credential in a summer intern program and teach math. This is something in pretty high demand if willing to relocate. If not, go ahead and retire.
I am trying to make a non-profit educational foundation (cyber-library) from a historical web resource that I started six years ago which is very highly regarded in academics. The IT industry is not going to give much consideration to a fiftysomething with a degree in Mathematics who has 20 years of experience when they're looking for 1-2 years of experience and no college.
I'm biting the bullet right now and living off my savings which are dwindling. Yes I would happily take a lower paying job but everyone says that I am "over qualified." It makes me angry that there are always some people on these threads who have nothing helpful to suggest except to say "get a job, any job you lazy jerk."
Yes, I get very discouraged at times, but G-D never closes a door without opening another.
The guy in the article has 35 years experience. I have been an institutional equities trader for 33 years. It's called "GETTING OLDER". Things change. We'll have to take a back seat ... get used to it.
Pipeline design is what they give the newly hired drafter. To stay at that level for 35 years takes effort.
When Jeffrey and I started work in '69 we used mechanical adding machines and to multiply numbers we used slide rules or (I swear I'm not making this up) added logarithms. Most of us grew with the field and have been very happy, but others (like Jeffrey) never wanted to learn autocad or anything else on a computer. My last boss was another example-- he was right out of Dilbert. I could have given him an Etch-a-sketch and told him it was a notebook computer.
It's getting more and more difficult to find the clouds in all the silver linings.
Edward Rendell (D). The official unemployment rate is 5.4 percent, but it's "much greater,"
right.
I think he is saying: "They send out forty ads, but then only hire one guy. What's up with that?"
It's a buyer's market. Employers want the cheapest labor they can get their hands on. Benefits are long gone for the most part.
Many people are working in the "gray area". What does the government expect? You need a roof over your head, and enough Top Ramen to survive the week...
I hear you...this is my third career now in 29 years in the workforce...that seems about average for today's world.
Never has a job been so satisfying...but it almost pays the least I have ever earned in my life. That is a concern since as a newly-divorced single dad (my 16-year old daughter lives with me) I have to figure out how we are going to make college work...but somehow, we will. Her mom will help, and I will apply for financial aid.(This would not have been necessary had her mom and I stayed together...we tried for years)
Anyway, like "Mears" children, I think the key is to be open-minded. One thing I have learned from my career changes, there is always a need for GOOD workers. Sometimes, you have to be willing to be flexible, or just keep your thought open to new and unthought of ideas...
There's a awful lot of whining going on, which isn't going to do anybody any good. Having a broad skill set is the best thing you could possibly do to ensure future employment... I'm a QA engineer, but I just got my degree in Communication with a minor in Poli Sci. People ask me all the time, "So what does that degree have to do with your job?", and the answer is absolutely nothing. That's the whole idea.
I've also been known to give music lessons and do some wedding photography on the side when the need arises. This reminds me of the grocery strike we had just a few months ago - lots and lots of whining, and nobody preparing for their future. Your talents have to be diversified, like it or not.
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