A note to share my recent good fortune and a word of hope to those who share my recent affliction.
This week was my first week back in a job since being laid-off over 18 months ago. That's not a typo. I was laid off in November 2008. This job is a 70% pay cut from my last position. In nominal terms, it is the same salary that I received in 1992 and in real terms (inflation adjusted) very close to the same salary that I received for my first job after college in 1986. And I am sincerely thankful for it.
To those who are still looking, keep the faith. It's much like fishing but you only need to catch one. Keep pumping that bait (resumes) out no matter how remote the possibility. This position came from a resume sent to a job posting via my local unemployment office. The only comparable position that I saw via that particular board the entire time.
For me, networking did not help as most of my peer group is also out of work. I even tried obscure stunts like tracking my local congressman's earmarks and sending blind resumes to the companies receiving the hand-outs. Counting conservative, I would estimate that I applied to over 2,000 positions ( I stopped actually counting when I passed 800 during the first 6 months ). I heard back from fewer than 12. I had 3 interviews. Keep looking. I know it hurts. Just stick with it. I'm praying for you.
To those more fortunate, please be aware of the situation outside of the 15 seconds the "mainstream" media gives you.
Today the government put out July labor stats (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf). While I have real problems with the way some these stats are calculated (birth/death model, seasonal adjustments, etc.) let's stick with them.
Here are some highlights:
- 14.6 MILLION people "officially" out of work.
- Of those, 6.6 MILLION have been out of work for more than 27 weeks (6 months).
- U3 (commonly reference unemployment rate) is at "only" 9.5%. This number is garbage.
- U6 (which includes marginally attached, discouraged, and those who can only find part-time work) is given at 16.5%.....16.5%...16.5%. Think about it. Many argue that it's a good 5% higher in reality.
- The private sector added 71,000 jobs in July. The important point here is that the United States needs 100-150 thousand new jobs per month to keep pace with population growth. The landslide may have stopped but the hole is still getting deeper.
There is no one President, Congressman, Political Party, Banker or Baker to blame. The fault lies with a generation. Or maybe with a set of generations.
Most important are solutions and this is where I despair. I hear nothing of acceptance, much less potential solutions from our leadership inside and outside of the government. Perhaps we live in a "post-leadership" world.
In fairness, I don't think anyone knows what to do. The economists that I follow are in turmoil and their researchers just now starting starting to output meaningful data.
I do know that the 14.6 MILLION people above need help. And 6.6 MILLION of those need life support. I've heard it said that what you get from the Government is a hand-out, what you get from a Friend is a hand-up.
We need more friends in this world.
//ckirk
This week was my first week back in a job since being laid-off over 18 months ago. That's not a typo. I was laid off in November 2008. This job is a 70% pay cut from my last position. In nominal terms, it is the same salary that I received in 1992 and in real terms (inflation adjusted) very close to the same salary that I received for my first job after college in 1986. And I am sincerely thankful for it.
To those who are still looking, keep the faith. It's much like fishing but you only need to catch one. Keep pumping that bait (resumes) out no matter how remote the possibility. This position came from a resume sent to a job posting via my local unemployment office. The only comparable position that I saw via that particular board the entire time.
For me, networking did not help as most of my peer group is also out of work. I even tried obscure stunts like tracking my local congressman's earmarks and sending blind resumes to the companies receiving the hand-outs. Counting conservative, I would estimate that I applied to over 2,000 positions ( I stopped actually counting when I passed 800 during the first 6 months ). I heard back from fewer than 12. I had 3 interviews. Keep looking. I know it hurts. Just stick with it. I'm praying for you.
To those more fortunate, please be aware of the situation outside of the 15 seconds the "mainstream" media gives you.
Today the government put out July labor stats (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf). While I have real problems with the way some these stats are calculated (birth/death model, seasonal adjustments, etc.) let's stick with them.
Here are some highlights:
- 14.6 MILLION people "officially" out of work.
- Of those, 6.6 MILLION have been out of work for more than 27 weeks (6 months).
- U3 (commonly reference unemployment rate) is at "only" 9.5%. This number is garbage.
- U6 (which includes marginally attached, discouraged, and those who can only find part-time work) is given at 16.5%.....16.5%...16.5%. Think about it. Many argue that it's a good 5% higher in reality.
- The private sector added 71,000 jobs in July. The important point here is that the United States needs 100-150 thousand new jobs per month to keep pace with population growth. The landslide may have stopped but the hole is still getting deeper.
There is no one President, Congressman, Political Party, Banker or Baker to blame. The fault lies with a generation. Or maybe with a set of generations.
Most important are solutions and this is where I despair. I hear nothing of acceptance, much less potential solutions from our leadership inside and outside of the government. Perhaps we live in a "post-leadership" world.
In fairness, I don't think anyone knows what to do. The economists that I follow are in turmoil and their researchers just now starting starting to output meaningful data.
I do know that the 14.6 MILLION people above need help. And 6.6 MILLION of those need life support. I've heard it said that what you get from the Government is a hand-out, what you get from a Friend is a hand-up.
We need more friends in this world.
//ckirk
