On Being Unemployed
I am unemployed, and have been now for a little more than three months. People like me often say “I lost my job” — as if their situation were the result of some personal failing or act of stupidity. Like “I lost my car keys” or “I lost my wallet.” No. Let me say, instead: My job was taken from me.For nearly a year, roughly 15 million Americans have been officially unemployed, according to the monthly reports. So I know I am not alone. But there are many times when it doesn’t feel that way.
On a freezing night with a biting wind, around the holidays this past winter, I went to see the film Up in the Air with my wife, her sisters and my two teenage kids. Laura mentioned the film in a great post last January. The film’s protagonist, played by George Clooney, works for a firm that gets hired by other companies to fly him around and fire people from their jobs. In addition, he has the temerity to promote a kind of sidecar career for himself, lecturing people looking for work about how they need to clean out their backpacks, or whatever.
I sat there trying to contain my anger, while part of me felt a deepening sadness — not just for the people being thrown out of work, but for the spreading epidemic of corporate callousness and for the needless devastation wrought by this monster recession. On the way out of the theater my kids asked me what I’d thought of the film, and all I could say was “this all just makes me so angry,” adding I was glad that I still had my job.
Two months later, I did not.
For nearly twenty years I had managed a successful, multi-million-dollar retail store, part of a specialty chain. In a move to further reduce store payrolls, which along with overall benefits had already been reduced several times in recent years, it was determined that my modest salary — which was below the median household income in my state — no longer fit the new payroll scheme. The day I was informed of this I was also told it was my last day.
I was stunned. To say that I had been the face and the name, the personification of the store and the company in a highly coveted market would be an understatement. Yet, no new role was offered, no severance, nothing. Less than a year earlier, after a significant restructuring in which a number of long-time employees had been let go, particularly at the firm’s headquarters, the company’s president had indicated to me that my job was safe. So much for that.
I came home to find my wife having lunch in the kitchen. When I told her what had happened, she cried. I held her and told her we’d be alright. But part of me didn’t really believe it. That I haven’t cried yet probably isn’t a healthy thing.
Within a couple of weeks, my long-time assistant manager was also let go. We happen to both be 59 years old. It had been determined that the new payroll scheme would not support having two assistants. Apparently, the private equity group that had financed the company’s buyout several years earlier now wanted to see more of the ‘R’ part of their ‘ROI’. Think back to my post titled “Sharks”.
I applied for unemployment insurance for the first time in my life. I began submitting claims online, but was told on the phone that I would not see any payments for a while, because my eligibility had to first be determined in a telephone hearing — and, because of the high volume of first time claims (this was, by the way, late February 2010) that hearing wouldn’t be scheduled for a month. Fortunately, I had filed my 2009 tax returns early and we’d already received our refunds.
I filed to continue our family’s health insurance with the COBRA administrator, and for the federal COBRA subsidy — the one that, while you’re unemployed, temporarily reduces monthly premiums by 65 percent, but that got stripped out of the jobless aid bill in the House last week. So, unless the continuation of that program is restored, newly unemployed people will no longer be eligible for the reduced premiums.
Despite the lightning fast online application process, COBRA insurance approvals appear to take weeks. So prescription medications, of which there are several for my son and myself, were paid for in full until the COBRA insurance was confirmed. I postponed an annual physical checkup.
Meanwhile, of course, the networking, resume writing, posting, emailing and door-knocking began and has continued unabated. Unlike many folks I’ve heard about, I’ve actually had several responses and even some interviews. But, as yet, no actual offers. Have I mentioned that I’m 59 years old?
The stories of these mundane details may vary from person to person. Mine are certainly not unique. What are far more significant are the stories of how being unemployed affects your life, your thoughts, your emotions, your self-esteem and your sense of social worth.
On these matters, I can only speak for myself. What struck me most immediately was that, without my job, I had no place to go to. Not just the routine of going to work, but having a sense of ‘place’ and belonging in and to a place, was suddenly taken from me. The psychologist James Hillman has written extensively on the subject of the soul being nourished by its sense of place, and that our workplaces are, or should be, vital places that help instill a sense of shared purpose, of mutual encouragement, so that they themselves have a sense of soul.
But increasingly our workplaces are being robbed of their soulfulness, replaced by the cold domination of callous cost-cutting and disregard for people. The layoffs don’t just harm those laid off. It is as if the lost souls of those laid off linger in the workplace, haunting those who remain on the job.
While it is difficult to admit, for me the sense of rejection has been palpable. Several decades of experience and prior accomplishments at times feel all but negated, as if they not only mattered little but may as well not have happened at all. I find myself struggling, at times to fight off a sense that society has deemed me expendable.
And a fear of the future, which while I was working had receded largely to lurk only in a far-off corner somewhere, is now back with a vengeance. What will happen if I need surgery? What if my old car dies on me? Will we ever be able to have a real vacation or travel anywhere again? Will I be able to help my kids go to college in a couple of years? Will I ever be able to afford not to work? Will I ever be able to work?
The staggeringly huge number of unemployed Americans has been fading from the headlines. In a series of diaries posted on Daily Kos in the spring and late winter of 2009, I noted to the astonishment of some that with nearly 15 million unemployed, the number of unemployed Americans was more than it was in 1933 at the depths of the Great Depression. I made note of that fact again in my very first post here on Main Street last September. And it’s as true now as it was then.
Now, however, there appears to be a growing sense that mass unemployment is something that must be accepted, as if it’s somehow unavoidable. Moves are already underway by some in Congress to chip away at and begin to dismantle the jobless aid programs for the unemployed. Two months ago, when I wrote “Wall Street Declares War on the Unemployed” some readers probably thought I was exaggerating in order to make a point.
Where is the outrage? Where the fierce urgency to find and implement effective solutions to this, our most pressing national economic emergency? My sense of being socially expendable is increasing. When a society begins trashing its human capital on a mass scale, it is headed down a very ominous road. How can this be happening?
One reason, I think, is the sheer invisibility of much of our current-day unemployment. Gone are the Depression-era breadlines and the mass street demonstrations of the 1930s by unionists and the unemployed. There’s no longer a need to stand in line at the unemployment office to file your claims — it’s all done so privately and invisibly online. And the sense of isolation, which Susan wrote about here, is reinforced by the media’s disregard and the implicit message that if you’re unemployed it’s your own fault.
But it’s the silence and the impersonal invisibility of our nation’s unemployment nightmare that must be countered creatively. Perhaps this blog post will help.
Tags: Jobs, labor, unemployment
Nah. It’s the chemicals they put in the water that makes everyone so docile…
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I saw the movie too. But I had a different take on it. I thought it highlighted the problem with calculated, strategic profitability models. It came out at an opportune time due the the massive unemployment. Many people know someone personally who is affected by this crisis. The stigma of being without work is being reduced as hard working, loyal people seek fruitlessly for employment.
Although it is difficult to see now, this may be the beginning of a better employment model. Corporate interests have made significant gains in legislative support, increased work loads of current staff and decreased real income slowly for decades. Harmful exploitation of workers and the environment boils to the surface in mainstream newspapers and on commercial television. More people are becoming aware of greed and deception in every arena.
The first step in solving a problem is recognition. For the millions of families wondering how to maintain food and shelter, urgent need become crisis. Now that intelligent, articulate people like you are affected, choruses of voices are being heard through forums like this. Labor unions, once deemed obsolete, are regaining support. While that is hardly comforting to your immediate situation, look forward to looking back on this period as the demolition before the employment model is renovated.
In the mean time listen to relevant music with messages of hope free @ http://www.SassyAlternativeMusic.com/FreeStreaming. I recommend “Incite Social Evolution”, expressing some of the same feelings you have and “Pay Day Blues” to put a smile back on your face. Thank you for sharing your story.
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Mitchell – I think you’re absolutely right about the impersonal invisibility of the unemployed. I’ve been unemployed for 2.5 years now. I’m 54. I’ve been living in shame and isolation for many months.
Thank you for your candor, and I wish you all the best of luck with your job search.
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Susan – Thank you for your comment. I’m so sorry for you – I didn’t know that. And thanks for seeing the invisibility factor too – it struck me that this is a huge barrier to getting policymakers and Congress to respond adequately.
You are such a talented writer. Perhaps for both of us, in a sense, this is our job search.
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This is a good article.
The part about being expendable is a fact. Just being thrown away like old garbage can kill your self esteem.
My husband is now 56 1/2 years old and has been playing the unemployment game for almost 3 years now. He must have made all of the wrong moves. We have lost our credit, our home and our dignity.
Is this what America is all about? Throwing away dedicated hardworking older employees is immoral.
Is there ANYTHING that he can do to be GAINFULLY employed again?
Our hope is almost gone.
This is supposed to be American the land of opportunity for those who are honest and hardworking. This is no longer the truth.
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this is happening to me to only I am a female alone. I am at the ruin credit part already homeless. yes my hope is gone.
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Nearly half of those looking for work have been out of a job for more than six months. Older workers — those over 55 — are out of work longer that younger age groups. Nearly 60 percent of older workers were out of a job for six months or more compared to 44 percent of younger workers.
Source MSNBC 06/04/10
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37510854/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/page/2/
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“You can add a million jobs but if everyone gets paid 20 cents an hour it won’t make a difference,” said Dan Greenhaus chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak. “You look at jobs to see what people’s incomes are and their spending power.”
Source MSNBC 06/04/10
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37510854/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/page/2/
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Good opinion piece here:
==========
Robert Reich
Why We’re Falling Into a Double-Dip Recession
Friday, June 4, 2010
We’re falling into a double-dip recession.
The Labor Department reports this morning that the private sector added a measly 41,000 net new jobs in May. (The vast bulk of new jobs in May were temporary government Census workers.) But at least 100,000 new jobs are needed every month just to keep up with population growth.
In other words, the labor market continues to deteriorate.
The average length of unemployment continues to rise – now up to 34.4 weeks (up from 33 weeks in April). That’s another record.
More Americans are too discouraged to look for a job than last year at this time (1.1 million in May, an increase of 291,000 from a year earlier.)
Of the small number of jobs created by the private sector in May, many came from temporary help services.
Which is one reason why the median wage continues to drop.
Why are we having such a hard time getting free of the Great Recession? Because consumers, who constitute 70 percent of the economy, don’t have the dough. They can’t any longer treat their homes as ATMs, as they did before the Great Recession.
…
http://robertreich.org/post/663417196/why-were-falling-into-a-double-dip-recession
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I understand your plight. When I lost my job of 22 years in 2002, I decided to go back to school and finish my college education; I was 46…it was now or never . I graduated from Indiana University in 2006 and was in the top third of my class; something I might ad was never achieved in mandatory education. I started looking for a job before the end of my senior year hoping to find a job quickly. I had done everything right; I took internships in my sophmore and junior years; I was so filled with hope. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t find a job in one year; two years; I worked for two Democratic candidates; one for 15 days, and the other for 5. Why so short? They didn’t raise enough money. Three years later, I found what I thought was the perfect job; it lasted 3 months; I am now on year four and still no permanent job or for that matter, a temporary one. Why? I live in the county that has the highest unemployment in the nation…Elkhart County Indiana with 20% unemployment for 6 months straight, and no let up in sight. I have diabetes which is a very expensive auto-immune disease, wear a custom made brace on my right leg which prevents me from doing any work standing, and the stress of being unemployed and broke has taken its toll on my self identity, and my esteem. I cannot get disability since I don’t have enough “credits;” because I haven’t worked in 8 years! I can’t get welfare since I am not married have no children, I’m educated and I can perform a job sitting down. If I could find a job I wouldn’t need welfare!
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IUGrad -
You’re a courageous soul just for having gone back to college at age 46, and clearly smart, capable and competent. I think you’re right to recognize that your geographic location isn’t helping you. If you have family or friends in job markets that are a bit better, you might consider giving them a shot.
Meanwhile, thank you for taking the time to share your story. It’s important that unemployed workers find ways to get their stories out there. There are, obviously, many millions of us.
All the Best -
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How sad many are… My husband (57) is self employed and I (50) work for him…no benes, no sick days, and we will work till we drop. Im grateful the kids are grown and mostly on their own with occasional donations from us. Our place is almost paid for and we live rurally and can grow some of our own food. The thing that I dont get is why arent we, the generation that protested so many injustices are now almost silent? Why arent americans protesting infront of congress?
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well now they are since this was written
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I know how this man feels.I developed a minor medical condition @age 17.the only problem then was restriction from operating avehicle.One could get to decent jobs on the bus.When heavy industry went down I ended up with a CETA let go with out any training andnot being held on to civil service.I ended up on SSI since and despite 2.5 years toward a double BA in chemistry and physical geography and ! year training in welding and machining the few places in western NY are not bus accessible or pay so low that I would lose medicaid and be homeless
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Thank you for putting into words exactly what I have felt. I am 58 years old and have been unemployed for 2 years now. Tier 2 unemployment is supplementing my part time work for the 2010 Census which will last until the end of this month. We are close to defaulting on our home; creditors are calling all the time; Cobra at $1200 a month is not feasible; right now life is a bitch – then what – we die? I have moved beyond feeling invisible and on toward anger and at times sadness that sinks into despair. I am one person of the 15 million unemployed thought of by “Tea Party” supporters as not working hard enough to rise above this. Is it my perception or are there really that many misinformed Americans out there? Especially when the Obama administration is the most transparent I have know (what a breath of fresh air!). Real information is easily available for those who are still thinking for themselves.
The beginning signs for this recession started during the Reagan years when the US middle class began to shrink; household income to stagnate; civil rights and education as the great equalizers reduced to just words; corporate interest and greed to dominate DC policy and media spin. It has come to fruition: 15 million unemployed; most of our children graduating from college at least $30,000 in debt; our homes over mortgaged; hands-on-jobs jobs that provide the basis for a strong economy shipped to India and China; our intellectual capital waning because of a broken education system; and all of us at each others throats the result of a slanted media that reports celebrity nothings instead of real news. All of this we let happen mostly because we were busy trying to survive it instead of recognizing it for it really was. I don’t know.
I am discouraged.
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wow you said it all my friend–sooo sad like a death but worse cause we are all still breathing
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This is so powerful. I think it articulates in a lot more depth what so many of us are feeling, and what we are hearing from so many of the people we talk to. It is outrageous, disgusting, and stupid to let so much talent be wasted. And yet here we sit, with the Republicans united in opposition to anything to help working families, and with a group of corporate Dems and our broken Senate procedures blocking any action on our greatest national emergency in decades.
The fact that there is so much catharsis in sharing this gives me some hope. We need to find more ways to voice what we are feeling, those of us who are unemployed, and the rest of us who have to worry that we might be at any moment.
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I have been unemployed for over a year and I am 55 years old. The defeat and shame I feel somedays is simply overwhelming. I did everything by the book, worked hard all my life, bought a house, saved. That is almost all gone now and there are days when I struggle to simply get out of bed.
I too cannot understand why there is not more outrage at our government for the lack of help and support.
Thanks for being out there and giving a voice to so many that arent being heard.
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Being in NY I lost my job back in April. Now my husband is next because Bloomberg just announced he plans to lay of 10,000 NYC workers. (Those grossly overpaid lazy slobs whom everyone thinks make $350,000 a year to sit on their asses). But you know, somebody has to make a sacrifice so that those Wall Street bonuses will not have to be taxed after THEY are the ones who outsourced all the jobs.
One thing you can do is to trash your employer on Glass Door .com I think companies must be very worried about this sort of bad PR otherwise they wouldn’t be firing employees for saying negative things on Facebook and Twitter. As if they haven’t figured out that treating your employees like Shit is why they would trash you.
Anyhow, when I go an an interview and feel I have been discriminated against because I am in my 40′s I just trash the company on that site. If everyone did that, and they boycotted everything (and stopped stampeding around Walmart on Black Friday) maybe these idiot companies would rethink their hiring.
I personally believe we are all doomed but I continue to keep doing what I am doing in hopes that others will wise up.
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My husband & I are both roofing contractors in the State of Florida and the industry has taken a serious slow down. When I considered getting a job for extra income, the thought made me cringe,, I would have been getting a dollar amount per hour and hoping for a raise at 90 days if lucky, and HAVE to be there at a certain time each day and CANT leave until another certain time, I have 3 kids and become used to being able to set the schedule and be readily available for the roofing company for situations that call for my help….And for my children’s favorite activities/events.
This would have put a great strain on our life and probably would not have been worth the paycheck at the end of the week. Here’s a thought for those who are unemployed and need to create an income while looking for a job.. Find an MLM that makes sense to you.. This is what I did; I am not going to promote my MLM on here, but just suggest that while you are jobless and perhaps need something where you can sit and work as your health might now allow you to labor so much.. I suggest finding one that is at ground level, not one that has been around for years,, that will only frustrate you.. Find one that has a reasonably low investment, make sure you find out who started it and how they are qualified to start something new,, what have they accomplished in the past.
On a serious note: Let’s say you find a part time or even full time job,, you are probably worth more than they are paying you to begin with. I know from previous experience that most of the time those paychecks are not cutting the mustard, unemployment is not really cutting the mustard either.. If you look at the newest MLM opportunities out there, make sure you get one where it is a “Team” environment.. Not where you get a box of videos and books and then your set out on your own to ‘figure it out”. You want live people, people who are happy to help and want to see you succeed, you will know when you find it.. I had never thought of this until I was approached by someone who told me basically what I am telling you and that person and several more have literally given me the advice and tools to succeed and all because they wanted to, Not because they had to.. All I have to do is ask them questions like “what do I do in this situation” , “What are you doing that works for you” , and many many more.. Once you find one,, NEVER NEVER NEVER give up.. it grows, slowly but surely, It is happening to me,, every single month it grows. Find something that is “Alive”!! For me, I was not looking for the next snake oil surprise, or miracle diet pill, those things fade away about as quick as they come in.. There is no get rich quick miracle,, You want something you need to go get it!! Believe in yourself and make sure you bug the heck out of everyone in the company for more info, they like it!! Matter of fact I have been told from some of the top leaders in my MLM that they love it when I call and they are getting a kick out of me and how truly dedicated I am to this company and myself. I have set short term and long term goals, realistic ones!! Yes, our Roofing business is still going on, but the industry is slower than we have expected this year,, and for a longer period of time than past years,, When I considered getting a job, or working on an MLM like a pitt bull on a pork chop, I picked the one that would create more income and be fun, exciting and educational,, It is always fun to learn something new!! And one of the best parts is now that I have gained this knowledge I have people just starting out calling me for answers and I have them and that, my friend, is really really cool!!! Hope this helped someone,,
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Thank you for writing this. It’s helpful to read/hear of other people dealing with unemployment.
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The increasing percentage of unemployed people is one indication that economic situation is still at stake. As holiday season approaches, jobless individuals keep on thinking of the possible source of income. For the shoppers, Black Friday is their most-awaited day. While many are forced to cut back on their holiday shopping plans, others are using their entrepreneurial ability to make a brand new profit-making niche out of the situation. Instead of sitting and waiting for nothing, they use this opportunity to be profitable. Article resource: Paid Black Friday shoppers find seasonal income
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3 monthstry 3 years buddy
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