Read This Article!

Never has an article better summed up the plight of the unemployed in 2010: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unemployed-and-Likely-to-Stay-nytimes-4054267660.html?x=0&.v=1

It’s all there: the growing numbers of long-term unemployed; the frustration job seekers face; and how that frustration can become despair and hopelessness.

My only quibble with the article is that it repeats the misconception that unemployed people were laid off because of poor performance. I don’t know how we can fight against that perception. (However, there is a quote from a business owner that refutes that assertion. Good for him.)

I concede there may be some workers that were terminated because they were not doing a competent job. But not as many as people think. The vast majority of jobless lost their positions due to a poor economy, falling company revenues and the misfortune of not having their lips attached to their supervisors’ posteriors. Or they were in a profession—such as journalism—that is in a period of massive change or decline.

It’s like we are being stigmatized for being out of work, when, in reality, it’s the companies that should be stigmatized for doing so poorly that they had to let a great number of good workers go.

Yes, I understand that HR people don’t like to see “gaps” in a person’s employment history. But certainly they read the papers and understand the shape the economy is in these days. How can they hold it against us for being laid off and having difficulty finding work? After all, they are the ones who don’t want to hire us.

That being said, I’ve made sure to do some freelance work to at least keep my writing skills and bylines current.

While we struggle to make ends meet on our measly unemployment benefits, our former bosses get big bonuses and kudos from Wall Street analysts because profits are up. Did it ever occur to these dolts that corporate profits are up simply because they laid off so many workers? It’s sure not due to any innovative revenue enhancers they may have devised. From what I’ve seen after working in the corporate world, bosses are not that smart.

We did nothing wrong. We went to college, got advanced degrees, worked hard and paid our taxes. Now, we are treated like lepers.

The article makes a good point about the U.S. becoming like Europe, where countries have become accustomed to a large underclass of unemployed citizens. If that’s the case, then this country better be ready to pay the high taxes citizens in those countries pay.

So what’s the solution? Extending unemployment benefits is a start, although perhaps benefits should be cut off after a maximum of 99 weeks. But my opinion on that issue may change.

How about more dollars for career training at local community colleges? Give every unemployed person a voucher worth a maximum of two years of training at the community college level, in whatever field they choose.

My sister is going to her local community college to become a chef. She took out a loan to pay her tuition, but why not make it free? In the short term, the cost may be great. Longer term, the country will reap the benefits of having more people actually employed.

Once my sister is done, she will get a job in food service and become a productive, tax-paying citizen again.

I’m not sure the same can be said of her sister.