Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair
14.6 MILLION PEOPLE WITHOUT WORK
The U.S. government reports that just slightly under 10% of Americans who are qualified and ready to work have no work. 14.6 million of our fellow Americans are without a job.
These statistics were released by the government on July 2, 2010.
The world is facing growing problems with reference to employment. “The under-30 unemployment rate in Spain is at 44%, twice the adult rate in Spain (22%). Italy has also passed the 40% mark and Greece has gone even further.”(Doug Saunders-The Globe and Mail).
The unemployment rate for young people is considerably higher than for older workers. That said, historically young people without mortgages or children have found ways to “make do” and have become proficient at establishing lives not based on high income requirements. It is much more difficult for the older worker who has financial responsibilities and a family.
To the extent that older workers who are unemployed at the moment cannot fall back on traditional expectations, the future looks quite bleak.
Many of the current unemployed have been without work for a long time. The historical expectation that one will find a new job in six to nine months after commencing to look for employment simply is not proving true any longer.
In fact, recently there have been a number of columns suggesting that the jobs that were lost were not coming back and that suitable alternate employment (at the same level as the job lost) probably would not present itself.
My generation came to understand that people would probably have 6-7 different jobs in their working lifetime. We also understood that those jobs would probably be in the field for which we were trained and at the same level (read pay and responsibility) as the other jobs we held previously. Often, this was the case.
However, it appears that older people who are unemployed are now being encouraged to lower their expectations and look for a job, any job, that will help them meet their financial and family obligations.
This idea is not an easy sell.
Children are encouraged to do well in school. They are encouraged to study hard and then learn a skill. They are told that as skilled workers they will always be in demand. So they are ill equipped to believe they have to settle for less than they previously earned.
The fast paced world in which we now live provides us daily examples of how fast things can change.
Suppose you owned a large company that made locks. If you are reading about developments in the field of security you know that we are just a short distance away from having locks recognize our fingerprints or the special nature of our eyes. We will one day open our front doors as well as the doors on our cars by simply putting one of our fingers on a designated spot.
When that happens, you better be geared up to change your product in the lock business or you will be out of business.
Think back to when the big steel companies made…steel. Are you aware that some of them are making kitchen appliances today? And many others simply no longer exist.
How about the companies that made airplane propellers? If they didn’t retool and prepare for the jet age they either are non-existent or working with a considerably lower stock price.
Maybe you are the fabled New York Times and you didn’t fully anticipate the electronic age. You are still trying to sell Sunday papers to people who can read exactly the same stuff on their computers for free, and without leaving the comfort of their living room.
What is the message?
The message is that if you are unemployed you need to think outside the box, take a look at the cards you hold, and make some big decisions.
Here are some thoughts:
A job, any job, is better than no job.
Waiting for the ideal situation is not wise.
Work, any work, can be ennobling.
Your value as a human being, a parent or a spouse, is not now and never should be determined by what you do. It should be determined by who you are.
