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Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 36,962,945 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations
There is zero rational reason to not keeping looking - after all, an offer could come up at any time. However, people can feel that the market is so bad now that the situation is hopeless, but may not be at some point in the future when general conditions improve. The premise is really no different than "hiding out in school."
This line of thinking is inefficient and not going to help, but I can see how people come to this conclusion.
Rationale, fine, what ever adjective you want to qualify it with... but the non-rationale reasons don't cut it with me and indeed point toward depression.
Quote:
Originally Posted by deposite
We can't assume every unemployed person is doing this either.
Every? No, you can assume every anything, but if you went back to school you'd not be part of this calculation (I believe)... or if you're volunteering full time you'd still be looking for work (if you're smart about it). Yeah, if you find under the table work or hit the lottery those are fine reasons (though I doubt the under the table person would say there are no jobs out there). But just not looking anymore? Sorry, no.
Some Americans are so entitled, they think they're "above" working menial labor/working in the fields/getting dirty...while immigrants (without a penny to their name) are coming into this country, swallowing their pride, doing what it takes, taking initiative and making it. There are generations of immigrant families that are sending their kids to college, buying up homes and filling up higher end positions.
So tell me, how hopeless is it, really?
There are jobs out there...for people who really want to work.
Some Americans are so entitled, they think they're "above" working menial labor/working in the fields/getting dirty...while immigrants (without a penny to their name) are coming into this country, swallowing their pride, doing what it takes, taking initiative and making it. There are generations of immigrant families that are sending their kids to college, buying up homes and filling up higher end positions.
So tell me, how hopeless is it, really?
There are jobs out there...for people who really want to work.
Dairy Queen is hiring for $7.25. AT&T is hiring call center reps at $8.50. People can do better than that on social assistance and charity. Why would they work?
I don't understand how you can just "give up"? How do you pay your bills? Do they go onto Disability or Welfare? Sure, I understand wanting to give up but that's not a financial option for me.
You either collect unemployment until it runs out or you marry somebody who supports you.
On the extreme side, I know a few people who are fully supported by their parents. That means mortgage, food, and $ for fun. In expensive cities. But that's rarer. A couple of people merely lived with their parents until they found a job. That's more common.
There are millions who have "given up" but are probably still monitoring the job market and will reenter if or when things improve.
Precisely.
That article is flawed in a few other ways - the people responding say they "agree to to some degree" with the statement that they've given up looking for work, which then gets them all lumped into the same category as people who have "given up" looking for work. Without knowing the exact question or what counts as "agreeing to some degree," we can't really say they've "given up looking for work." I seriously doubt nearly half of those out of work have truly given up completely: they make lack hope, have run out of jobs to apply to, etc. but there's a vast difference between that and truly "giving up."
Also, no, there are not "plenty of jobs out there," and I am dang tired of having to remind people of the easily available facts on the subject:
That's 2.6 people out of work per job opening, and that's if you believe the laughably optimistic U3 unemployment number. When you use the more realistic U6 number, you're left with about 5.1 people out of work or badly underemployed per job opening. There are not enough jobs to go around - nowhere near it - so the system is instead attempting to define the long-term unemployed (along with the badly underemployed, etc.) out of existence so they can continue to play pretend that we're in a "Recovery."
Dairy Queen is hiring for $7.25. AT&T is hiring call center reps at $8.50. People can do better than that on social assistance and charity. Why would they work?
And why would someone who got a college degree and student loans not at least try to find something better than these places? In other words, those jobs would be the absolute last resort and in many cases, people with degrees are looked down upon at those places because they are deemed "overqualified"
Dairy Queen is hiring for $7.25. AT&T is hiring call center reps at $8.50. People can do better than that on social assistance and charity. Why would they work?
And why would someone who got a college degree and student loans not at least try to find something better than these places? In other words, those jobs would be the absolute last resort and in many cases, people with degrees are looked down upon at those places because they are deemed "overqualified"
I also love how the "get a job!" people ignore the ratio of jobs per people out of work, as well as the fact that the random positions they list as examples of "all the jobs out there" no doubt have hundreds and hundreds of applicants. No matter who gets the job, there are still not enough to go around, and why the heck would Dairy Queen or whoever hire people with college degrees to fill sundaes? Ever heard of "overqualified for the position?"
There is zero rational reason to not keeping looking - after all, an offer could come up at any time. However, people can feel that the market is so bad now that the situation is hopeless, but may not be at some point in the future when general conditions improve. The premise is really no different than "hiding out in school."
This line of thinking is inefficient and not going to help, but I can see how people come to this conclusion.
There is zero rational reason but long job search is emotionally draining, espeically considering the way job seekers have been treated by hiring mangers and HR.
One sends hundreds of applications and resumes all day long, fills out long, tedious, and redundant applications, in many cases have to take these hour long HR quack psychometric assessments and it all goes into a black hole in most cases.
Every so often they get an interview and HR jerks them arround, berates them about being unemployed, having a gap, they spend all day at grueling interviews being interrogated and the company smiles, says they will get back to them and they just cut off all contact and stop responding to calls and emails.
Then they have to be on guard for MLM scammers, and staffing agencies wasting their time and gas to meet their contact quotas and pump them for manager contacts and who is hiring.
It is not hard to see how people can get discouraged and loose their self esteem after months and months of that.
There really isn't any. I'm a white guy with no kids, so it's sink or swim for me.
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