"Lower-pay, higher-risk": Coronavirus layoffs send middle-class workers down the economic ladder

[TomCADem]

Given the economic suffering that Trump has caused to folks who are not in the top 1 percent, it is a wonder why the narrative is that he appeals to certain segments of the working class.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/27/lower-pay-higher-risk-coronavirus-layoffs-send-middle-class-workers-down-the-economic-ladder/

Californians need income and fast. Thousands of people who weathered the initial storm of pandemic shutdowns have started the hunt for new work. Faced with the most unforgiving job market in recent history, many are turning to the few industries hiring. Often, they’re the ones on the front lines.

A record number of Californians — more than 8 million — have filed first-time unemployment claims since March. The lucky ones managed a lateral career switch without too much financial damage, but as personal savings and emergency unemployment benefits run dry, an increasing number of middle-income and white-collar workers can’t afford to wait for their old jobs to return.

“There’s so many overqualified people who’ve lost their jobs applying,” said Debra Feleke, the hiring manager for a Safeway district that includes 21 stores in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. “Professors, I’ve had people with doctorates and masters. It’s really quite astounding.”

As more Bay Area counties move from the state’s “widespread” purple coronavirus tier to the less restrictive red tier, economists expect businesses to reopen and employment to rise. But thousands of jobs simply won’t come back. Hardest-hit by early pandemic closures were low-wage workers in the service and retail industries, but as those sectors start rehiring, others are expected to face long-lasting cuts, including DJs, waiters, airport staff, event planners and tour guides. In the last 12 months, the state’s arts and entertainment industry lost more than 1.5 million net jobs, according to a report from the Center for Jobs and the Economy.

[Demovictory9]

1. A repeat of 2008..educated older unemployed competing for any job

[BigmanPigman]

2. And those who are managing to hold onto

theirs will do anything to keep it...like taking pay cuts, poorer working conditions, etc. I saw it in the teaching field in 2008 and afterwards for years.

[Doreen]

3. A sad thing for the higher educated people is that

employers in low level jobs do not tend to higher over qualified people. They have a higher chance of leaving than lower educated people.