Frustrated job seekers deciding to call it quits

Source: Associated Press

Many jobless people have reached a conclusion that captures the depth of the unemployment crisis: Looking for a job is a waste of time.

The economy is growing. Yet it's creating few jobs. That's why in the past eight months, 1.8 million people without jobs left the labor market. Many had grown so frustrated by their failure to find a job that they threw up their hands and quit looking for one.

...

The nation's unemployment rate is 9.7 percent. But so many jobless people have quit looking that if they're combined with the number of part-time workers who'd prefer to work full time, the so-called "underemployment" rate is 16.5 percent.

Their outsize numbers show that even though the economy is growing, the job market is stagnant. Employers remain reluctant to hire.

The exodus did halt in January, when a net total of 111,000 people re-entered the job market. But 661,000 had left in December. And the overall trend since spring has been people leaving the work force.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100206/ap_on_bi_ge/us_work_force_dropouts

And I've only been out of work since last July. I know people around my area that are going on 2 years of being unemployed now. There simply are no jobs at all around here.

Not everyone who's given up looking has someone they can rely upon.

It's increasingly common and fairly stealth if you know how to do it.

Depending on the unemployment extensions I will be among them in the near future so I have been reading up on it. I'm not alone.



Best how-to blog I have found so far:
http://guide2homelessness.blogspot.com/2004/10/introduction-to-project.html


These are good for tips on how to live in your vehicle:

http://www.vandwellers.org/

http://cheaprvliving.com/index.html

There are some cities that are setting up places where people can park safely and get a decent nights sleep, there are so many people out of work and working who need a place to park. I wish this would become more common.

Most, I said, not all.

We do still have various networks of support outside the government programs and family members. But those two do take care of most of us who lose jobs even for extended periods of time.

What we're seeing now is that even those systems are breaking. As unemployment runs out, credit cards run out, savings run out, family members lose their jobs, etc., there will be a critical mass. Individuals have reached the breaking/broken point, but the society as a whole hasn't. . . . .


.. . .. . . . yet.



Tansy Gold

I don't think you meant it that way but as someone who will very likely will be facing this situation it's about the farthest thing from giving up that I can imagine.

"There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness. These lots are believed to be part of the first program of its kind in the United States, according to organizers.

The lots open at 7 p.m. and close at 7 a.m. and are run by New Beginnings Counseling Center, a homeless outreach organization.

It is illegal for people in California to sleep in their cars on streets. New Beginnings worked with the city to allow the parking lots as a safe place for the homeless to sleep in their vehicles without being harassed by people on the streets or ticketed by police.

Harvey stays at the city's only parking lot for women. "This is very safe, and that's why I feel very comfortable," she said."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/26/usa.creditcrunch


Special zones urged for people who sleep in RVs, cars in Venice
L.A. Councilman Bill Rosendahl says the sites could be city property, church parking lots, industrial areas and other places away from neighborhoods.
January 22, 2009|Phil Willon and Martha Groves

Tough economic times have spilled onto the streets of Venice, which has become a favorite place to park for scores of otherwise homeless people living in cars and campers. The practice has ignited a mini-uprising among residents living in the pricey coastal community.

The number of cars and recreational vehicles has swelled so much over the last year that Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the city's coastal areas, has proposed creating special zones away from neighborhoods where people can sleep in their vehicles.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/22/local/me-rvzones22


More seniors using vehicles as shelter

Seniors living out of RVs and cars are typical of what the state and the country will see in the future, as the numbers of poor elderly increase over the next several decades, say advocates for the homeless.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009004008_wheels08m.html


It's everywhere and lots of people are resorting to living in their vehicles.

Don't people have to pay rent, mortgages, bills, buy food? Or are these second wage earners in the home where some income is coming in? I've decided to work as little as possible, but enough to at least pay my bills. Fortunately I do not have much to pay and the way the system exists I am better off being poor than making even minimum wage working full time.

It's really heartbreaking. People often ask for old campers. then they hook them up or just park them on a
a friends property.

no jobs. Community garden crop/timeshares, community housing. Pack em in, folks, its time to start survivin. No labor base, and the corporates are brought to their knees in a matter of weeks. LOCAL SUSTANABILITY. LOCAL COMMUNITY HOMESCHOOLING. Little community bubbles trading with one another, like the indians did. The village, the tribe, the nation. and in that order. In fact, if we really started sticking to the corporate 'man', i think that the native american population may use their casino power to back us up. IF WE BAND TOGETHER AND TURN ON THEM, we may change a lot of bad that can and will happen if we continue to allow them to regulate our labor, consumption, and very lifestyles. WE DONT NEED THE MONEYGRUBBING CORPORATES. their amassed wealth means nothing if we give it no value:

the resource is the land
the value is the people
the government is how you choose
our sovereignty is not for abuse.

RISE UP AND LIVE FREE

RIGHT ARM, FARM OUT.

Forget the elected officials they do not care about you.

Find something you can do, make or sale.

n/t

I have a small online business (self employed full time for years until 2007) that buys the food in my household but my husband, a 56 yr. old carpenter, is collecting unemployment. We lived in a small camper for 2 years, his trade collapsed in 2006, and looked for work out of state. Came back in 2008 for a job that lasted 6 months. No more work after that ended. No one wants to hire him for minimum wage jobs because they figure he'll be leaving as soon as he finds a better job and/or because of his age and/or the fact there are 100 other people applying most much younger. At his age and mine there are no jobs. We both still look and would take anything but for our age group and situation, there is nothing.

We are not alone, most of his co-workers are in similar or soon to be similar situations (depends on how much savings people still have) and in my neighborhood there are many small business people losing everything. We know two small outfit lawn care business owners that laid off everyone and still can't find enough work to keep themselves working fulltime.

People my age are screwed and unless there is a big turnaround in the economy in the next month or two this 2 person household is looking at our thankfully paid off truck as home.

There is nothing. Nobody wants somebody who is overqualified and too damned old.

...so you'll be ready to go to work when they start. Check the job corps programs in your city. Many of these (re)training programs are FREE to you! Some even provide free public transportation. They also help with resumes, interviews and placement.

Keep the faith!

and just a few years from collecting SS.

...you'll be in your mid-50s whether or not you retrain.

By the time one gets "retrained," especially going into more fucking debt to go to college, one is ready to retire.

"Retraining" is more bullshit peddled by globalization propagandists to cover for the fact there are no jobs to be had. And if you're older, there's nothing.

By the way, I have no spouse to support me, so there is no fucking way I have the money to retrain for another career after mine was stolen.

If you want to fight for your limitations, go ahead.

My post was about FREE re-training programs that are currently available; some only last a few months.

But if someone has a Bachelor's degree in a field they were told when they got it would always be in demand, I'm guessing they might be a little bit nasty about re-training programs.

I laugh about this nursing thing everyone brings up. Nursing appears to be the web designer of 1999.

...even get upset -- but not at me. I'm not the one you're mad at and didn't appreciate being cursed at.

Their lifetime of work can give them a work ethic which they can transfer to their new occupation. We are never too old to learn new things.

Fine and dandy if you have a spousy to pay your way, but this isn't the case here. There is NOBODY to pick up the slack. It isn't a matter of being too old to learn--it's being too fucking goddamned old to be hired in a fucking goddamned job--ANY job. And I will be fucking goddamned if I am going back to college to get a fucking goddamned degree that would take me ten fucking goddamned years to get after my fucking goddamned career was stolen. And I already have a fucking goddamned master's degree now.

Do you even understand it?

But from what you said you made it seem that older workers are not capable of being retrained, and that's just not true.

You might want to take a look at this website for more information. There are programs out there set up to specifically address the training of older workers.

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9220/older.htm

And by the way, I don't deserve to have a tirade of four letter words thrown at me just because I am venturing an opinion that you disagree with.

Pre-nafta.

I stopped looking for work several years ago. I have a BA and a doctorate as well that have not gotten me any jobs. Even when I was fresh out of grad school.

And he is in his mid 50s. He is getting grants to go to school and his unemployment is being extended for as long as he is in school.

So don't knock these programs. I was blown away when my friend told me about this program he is in.

There may be some situations where retraining is impractical, and in that case we need other programs to help those unfortunate people. But many older workers such as your friend can be and are being retrained.

Or retrain for jobs that may never exist in any real numbers.

Either that or flood the market with new trainees for the already too few jobs and depress wages further.

They've been pulling that meme out for every recession since I was 25 and they were preparing to shove nafta down out throats.

a hospital in rockford "imports" nurses from the phillipines to fill their staffing problm.

...Health Practitioners, LPNs, Medical Billers, Medical Transciptionists, X-Ray Techs, etc., etc.

Just curious, because 3 years ago, my ex-fiance was applying, and despite a fairly decent GPA and decent admins, getting into a RN program was no walk in the park.

My mother lobbies on behalf of the nursing association, more nursing schools is a frequent topic.

or at the very least, to spend a few years teaching English overseas to ride out this recession. Korea and the Middle East are supposedly the best places to make money, but there's a lot of demand in China, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, too.

Hell, that's what I'd be doing right now if I didn't have an elderly mother who won't last much longer.

I'm 26, grew up in NM and have always been fascinated with the culture. I would love to go down there and live how they do and see if I could scrape by teaching english or something. My only concern now is the rampant violence of the warring drug cartels.

I need to get out of this country for a while.

The border area is bad, but from what I here, there are some very peaceful areas farther south.

I don't have a spouse as a buffer against destitution.

i`d rather be working but that`s not going to happen. i guess i`ll go back to college because it`s free.

They lost their long-term jobs and were unable to find anything else. They sold their houses, drained their savings, sold family heirlooms, worked temp, did anything to survive till age 62.

and heard how it was attributed to the 'discouraged jobseeker'. I have to wonder, do they measure these so-called 'discouraged' people by simply noting that they don't bother to file forms claiming unemployment when their benefits have run out?

No doubt most of them are still seeking work, they just aren't bothering to fill out a silly ass form with a government bureaucracy that has no more money to give them.

It has nothing to do with unemployment compensation.

So what are they going to do with their time? and how do they pay their bills?

I get your question though. When I see that someone is giving up looking for a job, I too wonder what they'll do, how they'll get along. I assume those who give up looking are in a position where they, hopefully, own their home and transporation outright, and have either decided to default on their debts or are not indebted. If not in debt, then the only essentials they'll need is food and utilities.

Still, it is very disconcerting and heart-wrenching to know there are so many people out there who have become hopeless in their search for a job. My best to all of them.

Its sad but I wonder if they really have exhausted all possibilities. Like moving to a better area or just take any job.. temp or manual labor.. anything to bring in some money.

Of course its easy for me to say not being in their situation.. yet.

I'm not being critical or anything like that, but I do wonder what those who "give up" do all day. Do you just sit around and watch Sports Center or something. By the grace of God I've never been unemployed for more than a couple of weeks since my first job at the age of 13. I can understand the desire to give up, I just can't imagine actually going through with it. If I don't have a job, then my job becomes working to find one.

I just dont know how this helps their situation by giving up. Or maybe they simply dont care anymore.

Do odd jobs, collect unemployment that is extended into perpetuity.

You don't want all the discouraged workers looking at once, it will deflate wages even further.

Also, i thought a person needs to keep looking for work to collect unemployment.

Once every two weeks you login to a computer or call into an automated phone center answer an 8 question survey, and get a check. There is no unemployment office anymore.

Also, before you bring it up, the BLS monthly report is a monthly phone survey, and has nothing to do with unemployment compensation claims.

oh well.

right now.

Their online system crashes on a weekly basis, they ask you not to call with questions, and if you have a problem you need to get your state rep or state senator to call on your behalf before anyone will do anything.

Remember, the states are having enormous fiscal problems as well and 36 of the 50 funds are bankrupt.

You see 9.7% is bullshit in reality, the U6 number is collecting benefits because you still get benefits as long as you are not full time.

Add to that the new people who qualify for Medicaid and Food Stamps and you are getting a more accurate picture of the real world.

You will get a letter one week you are being cut off and a letter a week later to ignore the first letter the federal government has extended benefits.

Half of my family is unemployed as well as myself and I send out resume's three times a week. They go in a stack of about 500 others.

Like staying home and taking care of their own kids or elderly family members. Or doing word of mouth handyman type stuff. Happens every recession. I see a lot of that around here. They are technically out of work but they are making money.

My college educated daughter who is unable to find a job in her field has gone back to raising her own kids instead of paying someone else to do it for her. She has also started watching other peoples kids. She does real good too. She makes more money than her college educated husband who works for a large insurance company. My wife did the same thing during some past recessions during the 70's and 80's when I was temporarily laid off.

They are doing better now than before the recession began. If she were to receive a call for an employment/unemployment survey she would say she is out of work and not looking. I know that.

Don

Do I have to do an OP to explain to people what is going on right now.

People just assume this is your run of the mill recession.

In my area there are NO day labor jobs, small retail if they are still open don't even offer an application. Larger retail is not hiring and construction is non existent. The local motels don't need maids, publix isn't hiring baggers never mind cashiers. My husband has connections throughout the county and there are NO construction jobs.

People do odd jobs, some are fortunate to have relatives who help, some have savings to live off of for a while, some like me have small online stores to bring in a few hundred a month, some folks get food stamps and help through their churches etc, etc.

Get a clue people. It's amazing and pathetic the first assumption is an insinuation of varying degrees of laziness.

Until they get pissed at their work place and send out a resume or get laid off, than they suddenly realize how fucking bad it is out there.

imaginary class of unemployed they call discouraged workers. Folks who don't have a clue are ready and waiting to assume the worst, like clockwork.
Makes it much easier to fudge the much publicized u3 number when the folks you don't count are publicly labeled losers and assumed to be lazy.
Reagan would be proud.

During economic conditions that look nothing like 2010.

too much and you just can't take it anymore. Especially if several rejections keep coming the same day, over and over. You're supposed to project "confidence", but how can you project "confidence" if you've gotten nothing but rejection for months or even years? And the longer you're unable to find work, the harder it actually becomes to find work since that's one of the first things prospective employers notice and ask about. Employers also don't like "desperation", which is what anyone who's desperately in need of a job will feel in an interview (BTDT, have the t-shirt). It's complete bullshit that they put any stock in that, but they hold all the cards, unfortunately, and they damn well know it. And if you're over forty--ha. Then you REALLY are slogging up an ice hill covered in molasses.