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It's all about perspective - They cannot fathom the realities of what they are not experiencing.
When one of us says "Damn, there's no jobs and I can't land even a minimum wage job" They see it as us being lazy. The reality is that Damn... there's no jobs and I can't even get a minimum wage job!
Many good reasons for that, and one of the biggest being that many of us unemployed were prior upper middle class families who have college degrees, experience, etc. This causes a problem of being overqualified for the jobs like McDonalds, Walmart, or even the gas stations (and trust me, this is a reality - no one wants to hire someone with a degree and experience who will up and leave when something better comes along. We've been told so ourselves). On the opposite side being educated and having experience gives us stiff competition for the other 14 million of us that are looking for work.
For example, I try to get rough numbers of applicants on every job I apply for. For the most part I can get those numbers out of talking nice with HR. I have yet to apply for a job below 50 applicants (and this includes minimum wage jobs), and the majority of jobs within my skills, education, and experience have 100+ applicants.
This would lead an intelligent person to deduce that there are not enough jobs for the amount of workers out there, and many of us (millions to be exact) are left floating around stuck in limbo without the ability to get a job - the odds are quite stacked against us despite our best attempts. At this point it is a numbers game, and more like playing the lottery. Do the math over a year of applications vs. the number of qualified applicants per job and you will see it is all based upon luck in getting the job.
That being said, the only thing that will fuel a real recovery will be continuing unemployment benefits (among other things below) until the unemployment rate gets below X%, or a steady, real growth in the economy and employment is shown over four quarters.
What will do that? For one, extending the tax cuts that are already in place will be a tremendous help to businesses - large and small. No business is willing to invest money in new hires, new clients, new equipment, etc. if they know that right off the bat at 12:01 on January first they're going to be paying more in taxes.
Second, as said above, extend the UIB. There are 14 million unemployed and even if only HALF (at the sake of pandering to these people) are seeking work proactively that is 7 million people that depend on their benefits from week to week to live and get by. Many have already sold or lost their houses, many more (millions again) could lose their houses by the inability to make their payments if UIB is cut. This means that foreclosures would skyrocket again. This doesn't even take into account all other bills that are paid by people on UIB or all of the usual services that they pay for as well.
No one is living high off of the hog on UIB - no way in hell, I hate to break the reality to those who say otherwise.
Third. Stop pushing any and all new bills outside of really really pushing along a recovery. That means no health related bills, no amnesty bills, and no bills that do not help the American worker or American businesses. The reality is that our current president should have been thinking about the American Workers and American businesses the past two years instead of health care, green jobs, bailouts, and wreckless spending on ridiculous earmarks that have done nothing to improve our economy. This isn't a political thing at all - but a common sense thing - don't spend on what you really don't need. You need to invest in the American worker, and you need to invest in the American business for the economy to grow - all else is but fluff and additions not needed at the time to ensure out economic stability.
Lastly, if we make it out of this I hope that hard feelings don't exist between Americans who were on unemployment and Americans who were lucky enough to keep their jobs. We are kind of seeing that in some places with employers discriminating against long term unemployed but I hope this is not a lasting trend that we will see. We are all Americans, and we all need each others help in this economic situation. This is a situation unlike we have seen for decades - almost a century, and the reality is that if we don't stand together and help one another out we will crumble and fall apart.
To those reading this that are anti UIB - think of the above, and remember that UIB is not welfare. Those on UIB WANT to work and NEED to work. None of us who made great money before enjoy receiving benefits and receiving so little that we do. As a matter of fact we hate it, just as much as you would should the need arise. So please, be a little more respecting and understanding and that we want this country to prosper as much as you. We are you. Each and every one of you working today could be in our shoes. Sit back and really think about what it would mean if you lost your job today, everything that would come with it. Now think about if there were no jobs, and what we say is real (and it is). What would you do? How would you feel if people attacked you and called you lazy because you don't have a job even though you were a previous hard worker and still are but just can't get that job?
Above all....Think...
The part in red would make a good thread. "How to invest in the American worker." or "How to invest in American Companies".
The 99.00 dollar question is "Why do they take money out of the workers check each pay for this insurance if they are not going to honor it". UI is just for this reason. It is so unbelievable that this is even happening. Who is doing the laying off and termination of jobs? Everyone prefers to work. I am appalled at the stupidity. Irregardless of how long someone is out of work, this insurance is supposed to be honored. It's not like the unemployed are getting a whole lot of money. They now have to pay for their own medical , car payments, rent or mortgage, groceries. gas for car, heat etc. Welfare is not the same thing. It is so far from it that people who think it is the same are very ignorant and should keep their mouths closed.
Yeah I was denied UI...heh... I certainly paid into it :/ I had to blow out through my savings.
Trust me I'd rather be working... As somebody who ALWAYS had a job from 94-2008...then suddenly NO FULL TIME WORK FOR OVER 2 YEARS NOW.. it is a bit disappointing.
I feel bad for the unemployed who are truly unemployed and out of work 6 months to a year maybe a bit more. Some of my friends fell into that category. But people unemployed for 99 weeks... I suspect many were on the govt cheese too long to wake up and it hurts them in getting a job. I understand some people made 250k, but that was a different time. Those people may now need to make 100k, and the 100k people 50k, etc.
“If you put enough government cheese in front of people, they are just going to keep eating it.”
Xerox has out sourced it's HR Department to the PHILIPPINES HELLO this is HR of one of the biggest company's in American History.
Hey can you XEROX this for me..... Not can you HP or Cannon this for me.
The plug has been pulled from us An you have not seen nothing yet.
I googled around a little bit and came up empty handed. If there were any links to substantiate this story the OP would be able to provide them otherwise its nothing more than unsubstantiated hogwash.
The 99.00 dollar question is "Why do they take money out of the workers check each pay for this insurance if they are not going to honor it". UI is just for this reason.
I'm not a basher of the unemployed as I was there for over a year, but this is a misnomer. The employee does not, directly, pay for Unemployment Insurance. The employer pays. That's why employers are trying desperately to classify the release of an employee in such a way that the employee will not receive benefits.
I'm not a basher of the unemployed as I was there for over a year, but this is a misnomer. The employee does not, directly, pay for Unemployment Insurance. The employer pays. That's why employers are trying desperately to classify the release of an employee in such a way that the employee will not receive benefits.
Depends which state you live in. In NJ, employees do contribute through their paycheck to the Unemployment Fund, albeit not very much compared to the employer's required contribution.
Part of the problem is that Americans have an almost religious belief in the free market. They take the notion that it is good to work and to be productive to an extreme where it becomes obligatory to do that for at least 50 weeks per year. Thus, if you end up unemployed, whether voluntarily (just taking some time off for yourself) or involuntarily, you are committing a huge sin in their view.
Consequently, employers end up discriminating against the unemployed. Suddenly, people who have years of experience performing X and who have degrees in Field X are regarded as being completely incompetent and incapable of performing X because they were unemployed for a couple months.
Those who are upper middle class and smugly and comfortably employed have no concept of what the current labor market is like. If you graduated in the 1950s or 1960s, the job market has been wonderful for you and you were probably able to establish a good career in your chosen field. Today, everyone and their brother is going to college and just about every field has a huge oversupply of college graduates. Seniors who established careers in better times just cannot fathom how hard it is to do today and regard those who are unable to as being complete losers.
Job searching is also problematic when you look outside of your field. Hiring managers have a hard time understanding why you couldn't find a job in Field X when the news media wrongly reports that Field X is booming and lies about a shortage of people in Field X. You are then assumed to be a complete loser since you aren't earning a mint working in Field X.
Part of the problem is that Americans have an almost religious belief in the free market. They take the notion that it is good to work and to be productive to an extreme where it becomes obligatory to do that for at least 50 weeks per year. Thus, if you end up unemployed, whether voluntarily (just taking some time off for yourself) or involuntarily, you are committing a huge sin in their view.
Consequently, employers end up discriminating against the unemployed. Suddenly, people who have years of experience performing X and who have degrees in Field X are regarded as being completely incompetent and incapable of performing X because they were unemployed for a couple months.
Those who are upper middle class and smugly and comfortably employed have no concept of what the current labor market is like. If you graduated in the 1950s or 1960s, the job market has been wonderful for you and you were probably able to establish a good career in your chosen field. Today, everyone and their brother is going to college and just about every field has a huge oversupply of college graduates. Seniors who established careers in better times just cannot fathom how hard it is to do today and regard those who are unable to as being complete losers.
Job searching is also problematic when you look outside of your field. Hiring managers have a hard time understanding why you couldn't find a job in Field X when the news media wrongly reports that Field X is booming and lies about a shortage of people in Field X. You are then assumed to be a complete loser since you aren't earning a mint working in Field X.
I agree. I was watching CNBC a couple of months ago when France was protesting the rising retirement age. Some guy on there who looks and sounds a little like Larry King said, "The French get three months off a year, Universal Health Care, and now they're protesting raising the retirement age from 60 to 62? The French are just lazy! They don't work like us. We retire at age 67. They're just lazy bums who are throwing a fit b/c of something that should happen."
When I lived in the UK, I liked it because they actually believe in resting. Instead of 4 days to 1 week off for Spring Break, you got 3 weeks off. I got the chance to travel through France, Spain, and parts of England and I learned more about their cultures. My friends look at me like I was insane when I say we only get, on average, 2 weeks off a year.
My current employer is a pretty guy and he was shocked to see that someone with a college degree was not getting hired in this region. However, I'm hoping more and more people are starting to realize how difficult it has become to find employment regardless of your skill set. My last employer looked at me like I was lazy when he found out I hadn't had a job in 6 months. I told him that the economy was bad and I even moved to Seattle and tried finding work in D.C. before I moved back home.
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guy and he was shocked to see that someone with a college degree was not getting hired in this region. However, I'm hoping more and more people are starting to realize how difficult it has become to find employment regardless of your skill set. My last employer looked at me like I was lazy when he found out I hadn't had a job in 6 months. I told him that the economy was bad and I even moved to Seattle and tried finding work in D.C. before I moved back home.
