Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Working two jobs and still underemployed
Wall Street Journal ^ | 12/2/09 | Jeanne Dugan

Posted on 12/02/2009 10:40:56 AM PST by central_va

For Richard Crane, the "new normal" in the labor market began when he was laid off from a New Jersey battery plant in the summer of 2006.

Mr. Crane had been earning more than $100,000 a year operating heavy machinery at Delco, a former unit of General Motors. He worked there for 23 years, since graduating from high school. But when he lost his job he was thrust into a netherworld of part-time gigs: working the registers at Taco Bell, organizing orders at McDonald's, whatever he could find.

"I thought it would be temporary," says Mr. Crane, 49 years old. Three years later, he is selling outdoor furniture by day and pumping gas by night, while worrying about his skills atrophying and spending scant time with his teenage son. He makes about a third of his former pay.

Mr. Crane is part of a growing group of underemployed -- people in part-time jobs who want full-time work or people in jobs that don't employ their skills. Since the recession began two years ago, the number of people involuntarily working part-time jobs has more than doubled to 9.3 million, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest number on record.

The proliferation of underemployed could represent a profound reordering of the employment structure. Many people who had comfortable full-time jobs with benefits and advancement opportunities now are cobbling together smaller jobs often at lower pay, in a shift that economists say could become permanent for many individuals stuck in the cycle. Underemployment, along with unemployment, is widely seen as a force slowing the economic recovery.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; recession
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-69 next last
To: central_va
I don't know what is going on, but it is sickening. Comments directed at whether his age adds up, why he was making what he was, him making that much too soon, etc.

Bottom line, the guy is busting his back end and so is his wife to hang on, and most on this thread are trying to discredit him. Unbelievable.

21 posted on 12/02/2009 11:15:39 AM PST by LuvFreeRepublic (Support our military or leave. I will help you pack BO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Colvin
Nice try, Bump.

I always thought I would have it made when my annual salary was greater than a stripper. They make over 100K per year.....

22 posted on 12/02/2009 11:16:15 AM PST by central_va ( http://www.15thvirginia.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: central_va
I've got a B.S. and an M.S. and have been working steadily for the last 26 years, the last 20 of them in IT. I still don't make $100K. So I sympathize with the man's personal situation but I can't comprehend that he has a right to expect to get a job that good with the education he has. His prior salary was probably artificially inflated by a union, and that sent the jobs overseas.
23 posted on 12/02/2009 11:16:50 AM PST by RonF
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DonaldC
A machine operator can mean a lot of things.

C.N.C. operators are in demand and with some over time and depending on the area, $100,000 is entirely believable.

24 posted on 12/02/2009 11:18:19 AM PST by Graybeard58 ("Get lost, Mitt. You're the Eddie Haskell of the Republican party." (Finny))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: LuvFreeRepublic

The guy was making more than a degreed professional. He can have his job, I don’t care. It’s the WSJ that made his salary public. It is somewhat shocking.


25 posted on 12/02/2009 11:18:46 AM PST by central_va ( http://www.15thvirginia.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: DonaldC

He could have been running a political machine. Who knows?


26 posted on 12/02/2009 11:19:31 AM PST by Vermont Lt (My wife reads my posts. In case the FBI shows up, we will have cookies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: central_va
I understand this guy is having a difficult time, but he was way over paid. He should have saved 1/2 his income.
27 posted on 12/02/2009 11:24:35 AM PST by FightThePower! (Fight the powers that be!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vermont Lt

Well regardless if his compensation was right or not, he was living the American dream and is now finding it much more difficult. At least it sounds like he has a work ethic, just not focused enough to get new skills effectively, maybe.


28 posted on 12/02/2009 11:24:52 AM PST by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: central_va
News flash, some people do make more than a professional with a degree. So what; it happens. And salary info available to the public. Quite often it is. This guy is a hurting American and he is being cut down and yet what I see in this guy should be admired.
29 posted on 12/02/2009 11:25:29 AM PST by LuvFreeRepublic (Support our military or leave. I will help you pack BO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: LuvFreeRepublic

“Bottom line, the guy is busting his back end and so is his wife to hang on, and most on this thread are trying to discredit him. Unbelievable.”

C’mon, this guy was working at Delco = auto industry = UAW = death to American manufacturing.

Bottom line is that with unions they push the price of labor up, and with higher price comes a lower quantity demanded. It’s just plain and simple economics. I don’t know the guy, but I know that when HS grads doing blue collar work are making north of $100K, then their job is jeopardy. That’s why unions need their power cut down to size, ultimately they put themselves out of business. Witness the auto industry. GM has been losing market share for over 35 years. DOA. RIP. This guy should have switched careers long ago, couldn’t see it coming?


30 posted on 12/02/2009 11:39:15 AM PST by lowtaxsmallgov (Low Taxes, Small Government - we can do it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Right Wing Assault

I know a guy who was earning $100k in a Ford engine plant in 1988! Drilling holes. That included overtime.

In the Tiger Woods tradition......


31 posted on 12/02/2009 11:39:43 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: LuvFreeRepublic
Ok, I lived below the poverty level for many years getting my education. I was even homeless as a junior in college, living between the undergrad gym and my car. I guess he is getting his life style education now. He might be bitter, or he might realize how good he had it. Who knows? I can't seem to feel sorry for him.....

Funny, I have never seen any "jounalist" write my story, what it is like to put yourself thru college on your own. Living like a dog, studying engineering, hoping you have enough to pay tuition and be able to buy ramen noodles to last the semester.

32 posted on 12/02/2009 11:39:55 AM PST by central_va ( http://www.15thvirginia.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: central_va
There are a lot of Americans in this tough sort of job situation out here.

Now the Democraps intend to legalize 10s of million more low end job seekers who will compete to suck up jobs at this end of the job ladder?

Swell, huh?

33 posted on 12/02/2009 11:42:18 AM PST by Gritty (If directed from Washington when to sow and reap, we should soon want bread-Thomas Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DonaldC; central_va

Why should white collar workers be paid significantly more for shuffling papers, than the people who actually make something?


34 posted on 12/02/2009 11:44:21 AM PST by Age of Reason
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: AngelesCrestHighway
know a guy who was earning $100k in a Ford engine plant in 1988! Drilling holes. That included overtime.

And in 1988, I knew a twenty-something who was making $100K selling mortgages to people who couldn't afford them.

I'm sure those drilled holes lasted longer than those mortgages.

35 posted on 12/02/2009 11:47:22 AM PST by Age of Reason
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: LuvFreeRepublic

The article is propaganda. The guy is the subject of propaganda and fair game.

The world he crapped on is gone forever.


36 posted on 12/02/2009 11:48:06 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Lukenbach Texas is barely there)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Age of Reason

To ask the question is to answer it - that guy isn’t making anything anymore, is he? Obviously he was paid too much.


37 posted on 12/02/2009 11:48:35 AM PST by lowtaxsmallgov (Low Taxes, Small Government - we can do it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: central_va

38 posted on 12/02/2009 11:49:55 AM PST by TonyInOhio (I hate Illinois Nazis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Age of Reason

I guess you can train an unskilled assemblyline worker in hours. A BS,MS or PHD costs thousands and requires years of effort. A trained skilled machinist should make respectible pay, I agree.


39 posted on 12/02/2009 11:50:05 AM PST by central_va ( http://www.15thvirginia.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: central_va
Lots of people face hardships. Some do sooner; some do later. I look at the quality of their character and how they respond to hardships. Do they have the strength to face hardships and are they compassionate enough to value these same strengths in other Americans, whenever they are put to the test. Apparently you did not read the part about this family living like "dogs".
40 posted on 12/02/2009 11:50:07 AM PST by LuvFreeRepublic (Support our military or leave. I will help you pack BO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-69 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson