“I’ve been turned down from McDonald’s because I was told I was too articulate”

[phantom power]

“I’ve been turned down from McDonald’s because I was told I was too articulate,” she says. “I got denied a job scrubbing toilets because I didn’t speak Spanish and turned away from a laundromat because I was ‘too pretty.’ I’ve also been told point-blank to my face, ‘We don’t hire the unemployed.’ And the two times I got real interest from a prospective employer, the credit check ended it immediately.”

For Ms. Barrington-Ward, joblessness itself has become a trap, an impediment to finding a job. Economists see it the same way, concerned that joblessness lasting more than six months is a major factor preventing people from getting rehired, with potentially grave consequences for tens of millions of Americans.

The long-term jobless, after all, tend to be in poorer health, and to have higher rates of suicide and strained family relations. Even the children of the long-term unemployed see lower earnings down the road.

The consequences are grave for the country, too: lost production, increased social spending, decreased tax revenue and slower growth. Policy makers and academics are now asking whether an improving economy might absorb those workers in time to prevent long-term economic damage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/business/caught-in-unemployments-revolving-door.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[RKP5637]

1. US will have wandering tribes, probably already does, people unemployed, screwed by

the system, on the fringe through no fault of their own, on the peripheral looking in ... because the current system is a caste system, although no physically identifiable marks are placed on one ... but electronically from a records perspective, tangible or intangible ... they are locked out! It is a recipe for disaster in the big picture.

[thecrow]

8. Stop! You are talking about me!

Me and millions of other people.... too qualified, or underqualified because I did the same thing for over 40 years and I'm applying for a entry level job because there is no work in my sector.
And I'm over 60 and have not had a new job since 2008, when I got "laid off" from an 18 year job.
Where do we sign up for the wandering tribe?

[RKP5637]

11. ... don't know, if you find it let me know ... we're about in the same boat! n/t

[thecrow]

14. LOL

[DanM]

2. Well, they can't come out and tell you the illegal reason they're really discriminating, right?? n/t

[lunasun]

5. Don't most studies show people of color like her have a higher unemploymnt rate in all /most states?

[pscot]

3. The ninety-niners

No place for them in the 21st Century.

[Arcanetrance]

4. They shouldn't be running credit checks as part of the hiring process

Chances are if you're unemployed for any long time your credit is gonna be screwed. I'm so sick of this capitalism run amok society we live in

[laundry_queen]

9. I agree. I think that should be illegal.

It's class discrimination, plain and simple, and it absolutely prevents any kind of upward mobility - not exactly something you want to see in a modern, democratic society.

[pipi_k]

6. Too articulate...

I was told the same thing once, after taking a basic test for an office job.

The problem was, I had scored too highly for the position.

Oh well. I probably would have hated it anyway, as the office manager told me that the women always had to wear dresses or skirts. Which I hate...

[ck4829]

7. "Yer too book-learned for our jobs" and acting surprised when the jobless have poor credit

Because just because people don't have jobs doesn't mean they have to stop paying for food and rent. Really? Really, 'job creators'?

Our system isn't just becoming Idiocracy, it's running as fast as it can while screaming straight into it.

[FarCenter]

10. Her resume probably sets off all sorts of alarm bells.

It took weeks to put the paperwork together, given that her papers and belongings were scattered across the country — there was a broken-down car and boxes of paperwork in Virginia Beach, clothes in Colorado and personal possessions at a friend’s house in Somerville, Mass. She managed to estimate her income — maybe $5,000 last year, but maybe half that this year — from odd jobs. Soon, she would officially have nothing.

[cbdo2007]

13. I agree....sure the article sounds bad, but we don't know if this person actually *is* hireable...

or if she is a hiring manager's nightmare.

We just did a lot of hiring and some people present themselves so poorly on their resume and in person that I'm not surprised a lot of them are still unemployed.

[bluedeathray]

12. You can probably count with...

Your hands behind your back too.

Poverty level wage payers need stupid employees to maintain the power over them. Sad state of affairs.