Many of the people out of work the longest likely will never work again

[Better Believe It]

Unemployment Scars Likely to Last for Years
BY BEN CASSELMAN
January 9, 2012

The U.S. job market is showing signs of a sustained recovery. But the country's prolonged struggle with unemployment will leave scars that are likely to remain for years, if not generations.

Economists and academicians believe long-term unemployment may be a bigger problem than high unemployment.

Research shows the longer people are unemployed, the less likely they are to find jobs. Economists aren't sure why- to what degree it's because workers' skills deteriorate, or because they find ways to cope and give up looking for work, or whether the stigma of being unemployed for so long makes companies unlikely to hire them.

But the effect is the same: many of the people out of work the longest likely will never work again.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203513604577144483060678656.html#mod=djempersonal

[izquierdista]

1. There is another explanation...

They have learned how to get by and maintain their lifestyle without working. Sure, you drive around in an old ratty car that needs a paint job instead of a new car that requires payments. You cut expenses to the bone and live frugally, repairing and mending instead of replacing, but it can be done. What the Journal of the Wall Streeters doesn't understand is that dropping out of the economy is being done by a lot of people. If those people were all consuming and participating in the economy, many boats could be lifted. But they won't be, because all the water is being used to float a small number of luxury yachts.

[Better Believe It]

2. Driving an "old ratty car" and cutting expenses to the bone doesn't sound like maintaining lifestyle

to me.

It sure sounds more like a forced cutback in living standards rather than maintaining lifestyle due to a big reduction in wages and/or unemployment.

Yes we can and do "cut expenses to the bone" when forced to, but we'd rather maintain and improve our living standards.

[izquierdista]

3. But I like to think I've maintained my lifestyle....

At least I have the time to do what I want now.

[Zalatix]

4. How do you eat without working? And about that rising tide

It lifts all boats.

Problem is, it can also drown villages.

[Better Believe It]

5. Dumpster diving in back of restaurants, food banks and food "stamps".

If you want to call that living with dignity.

[Zalatix]

6. Dignity? No, it's called helping the third world rise up.

Seriously. That's what the free traders on here keep saying. America must keep getting poorer so the rest of the world can be better off.

To them, this is all a good thing.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002132570

[Better Believe It]

7. But that's not helping the working class in other nations at all!

We are all being driven down by the 1%.

[Zalatix]

9. Shhhh don't tell 'em that. They might learn somethin'

Or maybe not...

[izquierdista]

8. The back yard

Chickens, collards, cabbage, radishes, lettuce, arugula, turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, pecans, carrots, onions. There is still plenty of okra and cucumbers I pickled this summer. In another week, the spring peas get planted. I don't buy much food at the store.

[Zalatix]

10. Have to move out of the country for that...

In the US you get evicted if you can't pay rent. No place to grow anything then.

Come to think of it, many Americans would leave this country if they could.

[hfojvt]

12. I had some rutabaga once

at that point I swore to myself "As God is my witness, I will never be poor again."

Shoot man, couldn't you plant an apple tree and some pole beans?

[izquierdista]

17. The apple trees haven't started bearing yet

But the pole beans were delicious this summer!

[Better Believe It]

23. A back yard? What's that? I don't have one.

[quaker bill]

30. I drive ratty old cars that need paintjobs

and always have. I have a job that would easily allow different, I just have other priorities. I have only had car payments once, and that was to get my daughter something more reliable, because she is not good with tools...

[DCBob]

11. And stories like this just add to their misery...

and make it even more likely they wont work again.

[Zalatix]

14. WTF? Are you serious?

Stories like this only tell the truth. Would you rather society just swept this problem under the rug? You think that makes it go away?

The truth is that prolonged unemployment makes it more likely that you'll be permanently locked out of employment... forever. You denying this doesn't make it untrue.

Look at all the people who have been out of work for over 2 years. For them, this will not improve. It will never improve. Not if we stay the current course, that is.

[DCBob]

21. How do you know its the "truth"?

This is speculation and it does not help the situation.

[Kolesar]

29. That post is flame bait

You joined DU 27 days ago and you are calling another poster a right wing "freeper".

It is odd that you use freeper as a reference. That RW site has been in decline and has about no visibility. How was it that you came to use "freeper" as a pejorative term on DU? I would not expect that you would know of it. Had you been reading free republic when it was in its prime?* Did you learn from other DUers that "freeper" is an ultimate insult? Do tell.

*opposition research, of course

[Zalatix]

33. Yes, I did read Free Republic, and yes I would consider Freeper an insult.

And yes, I was seriously angered by DC Bob's claim that this story was untrue or that telling this story would make things worse.

So what's your suspicion? Come out with it.

You're right on one thing, it was a flame bait post made in anger, and that's why I'm self-deleting it.

[Fumesucker]

25. Eh, I figured out well over a year ago that I'll never work for someone else again..

And I've been working my ass off for that long to create my own job..

I think the OP is completely correct.

[DCBob]

26. It may be correct for some but it seems defeatist to just write off people in this situation.

Surely there are options for those who have been long term unemployed.

Sorry about your situation. I could have easily been there myself since I am an older "obsolete" IT type guy. But I was fortunate to get a position with a company I had worked for before who knew my skills and capabilities.

If a person does give up then of course they wont find another job... no one is going give a job to someone who doesnt ask for one.

[Fumesucker]

27. As you revealed in your own case, finding a job is usually about having contacts..

Once you are out of work for a while your contacts dry up and blow away, when that happens your chance of getting a job plummets precipitously.

For a lot of us the job search is a humiliating and depressing task and gets more so with every day that you are unsuccessful, if you are in a precarious mental state to start with long term unemployment can push you over the edge into full blown clinical depression.

Acknowledging reality is the first step to doing something to change that reality.

Edited for speling.

[DCBob]

28. Totally understand.. Ive been there.

You lose all self esteem and begin to think you are worthless and no doubt some fall into clinical depression. I dont know the answer but articles like this reinforce the negative feelings and further push the individual into hopelessness and despair.

[Fumesucker]

31. When you meet someone new..

The second question most people ask after "Where do you go to church?" is "What do you do?"..

I answer these days that I'm self unemployed.

PS, just joking about the church thing, that's usually third..

[Fumesucker]

13. The older you are the more true this statement is..

Get over about fifty to fifty five and you become invisible radioactive to employers.

[LiberalEsto]

18. Amen to that!

I'll be 60 in less than two months.
Unemployed for more than three years. (luckily my husband has a job)
Just about given up hope of having a job again, or even decent paying freelance work, unless by some miracle there is a huge improvement in the economy. I don't expect that to happen.

I've found that the longer I've been unemployed, the more depressed and hopeless I've become. And yes, my work skills have definitely gotten rusty.

[nobodyspecial]

20. It really starts earlier than that

About 45. If you are not an upper-level manager or low-skill worker, they have no need for the older workers in the middle, especially if you are a female and likely juggling children and aging parents.

[supernova]

15. I'm an example of this article

I have been laid off since 2008. That was my last job in Corporate America with a salary and "benefits". Read: useless medical "insurance" that costs too much to actually use. No dental, no 401K.)

What will I do? What will I replace that job with? I can't afford to retire in the traditional sense. I will start my own company. I am looking to take culinary classes so that I can work and earn money to get by. I plan to build up a brand that I can profit from over the years.

I have an advantage in that I own my house and I own my car. I minimize monthly costs as close as I can, I have internet and Netflix but no cable TV. I cook a lot from scratch. No processed foods. The SO is working to restore and sell vintage electronics. We won't need Corporate America, or very little of it. If they don't need me, I don't need them.

[Tallulah]

16. This country wastes money

every single day on dumb unnecessary things. Fact. Is it wrong to want help right now ?

The government should give a food voucher to every household in America. $600 a month. We have all paid for this over a lifetime of taxes. The people need it now and until the nation as a whole recovers.

I don't care what pet projects get cut, what favors don't get paid, what trips have to be put aside. It's bad enough not having a job but going hungry in a country this rich is disgusting.

[LiberalEsto]

19. That's a good idea

Adequate food should be a right.

[DiverDave]

32. And add the fact that if you aint workin, some will NEVER hire you.

I dont see the sense in that, but alot of whats going on makes no sense to me.