What's Being Done To Help Those Of Us Who Have Exhausted Our Unemployment Benefits? Nothing.

[stopbush]

Everybody's talking about the million people who just lost their unemployment benefits. But no one seems to ask what happens once those benefits are exhausted and there's no hope of finding work OR of receiving more benefits.

I became one of the "99ers" back in August when the last of my Federal extensions to unemployment insurance ran out. I loved the letter that informed me that my benefits were over - "we realize this is a very difficult time to find work. Good luck."

In the two years that I was on unemployment, I looked for work every day. I did hundreds of interviews for jobs, on the phone, via Skype and face-to-face. For the most part, I interviewed for jobs that were in my field and that offered a salary and benefits that was equal to what I had been making before I lost my last position. I NEVER got even a preliminary call from any job that I applied for that was below what my resume showed as my work history (so much for shooting lower - it doesn't help). Costco, B&N, food markets, McJobs, you name it. Not a peep from any of them.

I have to think that there are two reasons I wasn't hired: ageism (I'm 59) and the fact that I've been out of work for so long that people just assume I'm useless and not worth hiring. It's a vicious and self-fulfilling circle.

Now, here I am, still with no work, still applying every day, still doing interviews for good jobs, but now without even the small benefit of receiving unemployment insurance. As a family, we are having to dip into our savings and retirement funds to supplement my wife's part-time income. We can probably eke out two more years of austere living before we deplete our savings (and I realize that we are fortunate to have that much of a nest egg. Most Americans don't. We saved and went without in the good times in anticipation of the bad times. Only we never imagined times being so bad that I'd be out of work for 3 years in the prime of my earning years. Our nest egg is going to evaporate before we reach retirement age if things don't change).

In December, i did at least 5 phone interviews for jobs in CA and Hawai'i. I did a face-to-face interview on Monday with a recruiter who saw my resume on linkedin and called me for a job that potentially pays in the 6 figures. The interview went great, but I haven't heard anything since. The recruiter was a 30-something with a 20-something assistant. Still it was a great interview, maybe one of the best I've ever had.

Yet I have this sinking feeling that that's as far as it's going to go.

Networking hasn't worked at all for me, mainly because the area I live in isn't rife with jobs in my field. I live in OC, CA, where tech jobs and scientific jobs are plentiful, but that isn't my field, so it's hard to hit up friends and acquaintances or to attend mixers where anybody has any connections to people and jobs in my field.

It's extremely frustrating! I am starting to see why people just drop out of even looking for work. You do interviews for jobs that would be the equivalent of hitting the lottery, while at the same time you can't even get a show of interest from a McJob that would at least bring in SOMETHING. You feel like you're being toyed with, like all of those interviews amount to nothing more than people checking off their EOE box, using you as the "proof" that they don't discriminate against people over 50.

Tough to keep a positive attitude. Tough to not look desperate at some point. Tough to not have the endless rejections influence your attitude during the interviews you do get.

What's the solution? What's the end game? Is there an end game? Is it too much to hope that an actual job might materialize? That someone might see something of value in an experienced professional?

Is it too much to expect that our elected officials might take a serious look at those of us who were doing fine (or more than fine) 3 - 5 years ago, but who are now looked upon as damaged goods (for being out of work) and old hat because we're not 30-somethings?

Very frustrating.

The sad thing is that many of the people who have just lost their benefits will be looking at my scenario sooner or later - no prospects for work and no government money to help them keep afloat. Unfortunately, we are a growth industry! What is going to happen to all of us if we don't have work and we have no support at all from the government? Are we to all end up homeless and destitute? Are we all going to be singing happy songs in shanty towns?

I know it's tough to worry about the 7-10% of us who can't seem to get arrested these days when you're one of the 90% of the people who are employed, but somebody has to start thinking about a solution that directly addresses the core barrier to many of us being hired: blatant ageism. It isn't lack of skills or training or experience or pedigree or any of the other handy excuses out there that put the onus on the victims. It's ageism, just as surely as race and ethnicity were barriers to work in the past.

Rant over.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. You have written an excellent, thought-provoking rant, my dear stopbush.

I think you must be right about why you can't get work.

Ageism is horrible. I have no idea how we can combat it.

I wish there were something more I could do.

[dickthegrouch]

22. There is no Whitehouse.gov petition for this

I just checked and petitions.whitehouse.gov has no petition yet to achieve this. I have created one, as yet unpublished with the request:

Since austerity has been shown in many recent studies to be a damper on the economy, and individual or family austerity is highly detrimental to the overall economy and,
Recognizing that unemployment is still unacceptably high and that more than 1.5 million people recently lost unemployment benefits due to budget constraints, we call upon the government to restore those unemployment benefits.

I am prepared to publish it unless I get substantial feedback of different wording needed.

I will create an OP when it is published so everyone can sign it.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. It's a total disaster out there.

Only a very few elected officials care. America has become low and mean, predator and prey.

FDR halved unemployment in his first term. We know how to fix this: we need FDR, not Hoover. Unfortunately, we have Hoover.

I think things will be better in a few years, because Americans are finally waking up to just how fucked we are. But it will be a tough few years. It may require rioting in the streets. Probably will.

Hold tight. Do you have friends and family that can help out?

[indie9197]

3. What was your last job title if you dont mind saying? n/t

[stopbush]

5. Director of Development (ie: fund raising)

I have been working in the non-profit industry for the past 8 years. I do both fund raising and marketing. I've worked at arts organizations and also in health & human services (I worked for a homeless shelter).

Prior to that, I worked in the private sector in marketing, with a ton of direct marketing experience. I've worked for companies where I've been responsible for annual sales of anywhere from $18-million to $60-million.

I apply for any marketing or development job that I see for which I feel I'm a good to great match.

[indie9197]

10. It sounds like you are doing all the right things

maybe someone on DU can give you a tip.

I am currently unemployed also. My problems happened in 2006 when the company I had worked for for ten years was sold to a group of investors who took it public. They promptly got rid of the highest paid workers including myself.

Long story short, I have had to take temporary jobs from CA, ID, WA, TN , AL, just to make ends meet.

I would gladly take a permanent position in my field, environmental remediation, but the congressional budget sequestration is killing my prospects.

Luckily I can rely on unemployment benefits between jobs. Am on CA right now and have about four months left.

Good luck to you brother!

[stopbush]

16. Thanks. In the past, I've taken a few temp jobs to make ends meet,

but that has come back to bite me when I've applied for permanent jobs. Employers are suspicious of an employment history that shows a person working only a few months or years here or there. Saying you worked as a consultant doesn't play so well these days because the word "consultant" has become a euphemism for "can't get hired for a steady job." It's hard to make that work in your favor when employers KNOW that you're not some rich guy who works only when he elects to work.

I've found that the volunteer work I'm currently doing plays very well with potential employers in interviews. For one thing, it shows that you're not just sitting on your ass at home figuring out how to spend all that life-of-Riley unemployment money. For another thing, it shows that you have an interest in helping others. At least it gives one the opportunity to move the conversation into what one is currently doing, rather than the conversation being about things in the past, and often not the recent past, at that.

Good luck to you, too. Glad you have 4 months of unemployment benefits left, though those 4 months will come and go fast. Trust me.

[stopbush]

7. Our immediate family probaby has more in resources than do our relatives.

I've helped them out in the past, but I'm a few years off from asking them for help.

I'm trying to build a local network by doing volunteer work, hoping that a connection will be made that will lead to something. But it's tough - the husband of one of the ladies I volunteer with just got fired after over 30 years on the job. Downsizing. Welcome to the club!

And it's funny, because I'm considered to be one of the important go-to people at my volunteer "jobs." None of my fellow volunteers can understand why I can't get hired for a real job because they see what I can accomplish as a volunteer. I wish that was encouraging, but it seems to serve only to make me feel that it's even more hopeless.

[babylonsister]

4. Man. I'm glad you ranted.

Companies don't know what they're losing; yours is not the only field it's happening in, it's all over the place.

[airplaneman]

6. Good rant.

I am employed but its not secure and I am 59 also. I can see myself in the same place as you are come some day soon. Its clear that we as older workers are no longer wanted anymore or if we can get a job it will be at poverty wages. It creeps the hell out of me and I worry about others like you too -they talk about this on the news as if its OK and I know it is not.
-Airplane

[stopbush]

9. The news hardly ever talks about this problem.

There's nothing sexy about ageism.

I had hoped that maybe MSNBC would take up the subject, but when you look at their line-up of hosts and their guests, it's a snapshot of the problem! All the newest hosts are 30-somethings. It's a definite changing of the guard. Who's left among the over-50 crowd besides Tweety, Big Ed, Joe Scar and Andrea Mitchell? There was a time when older reporters kept their TV jobs - Huntley/Brinkley, Cronkite, Severeid etc.

I don't expect to see Rachel or Chris Hayes devoting much time to the subject of ageism any time soon. Yet it's a subject whose impact on the economy is going to be tremendous in the next 5 years.

[jtuck004]

8. Not 90% employed.The participation rate is between 62% and 63% of the working age population,

available via the Federal Reserve Economic Data out of St Louis.

It hasn't been that low since 1978, and we had about 222 million people. Now we have about 316.

Of course it's ageism, along with many other reasons, most of which have to do with keeping the wealthy healthy.

If you want to know what the future holds, look to India. Little pockets of wealth surrounded by tar paper villages. Divest yourself of everything and figure out how to live in a shack, but still keep a checking account, because it costs more to live without one.

I can't image that there is anyone who thinks this isn't how it is going to play out, except for RobMe supporters on one side and cheerleaders on the other - which leaves most of the working people out of luck. Your unemployment ended via the same act that made tax cuts for the 1% permanent. For the past what, 4 administrations, their lives have been getting better while the 99% has had theirs gutted to support the upwardly mobile bank accounts of the 1%, and this administration is no different. Check the bank accounts if you don't think so - intentions don't mean shit. An even halfway objective look at it makes it easy to see. But not everyone is capable of that.

Oh, and be sure to vote, because that will make all the difference.

Happy New Year!

[stopbush]

13. Thanks for the info.

I love how the rich came up with the whole "investor society" bull. Forget pensions, let's all do 401ks!

I had 401s at a couple of jobs in the past. I maxed out my contributions. When I left each job, I elected to cash them out and pay the early withdraw penalty, rather than roll them over. I'm glad I did, because those 401s all got decimated not long after I cashed out, including the roll over options I didn't go for.

What a scam.

We moved our money into a diverse investment portfolio that has been a steady producer for us. It kills me every time we have to sell off shares to make our monthly nut.

[jtuck004]

18. There are several stories out there about how the boomer generation is the first to be less well off

than their parents. The average near retirement family has slightly less than $150,000, and that's only about a third of that cohort. the rest have far less, most closer to $10K. That will be gone in the first year of retirement for many, and then nothing but Social Security, which is under attack as we speak. (That attack will get worse as the group gets larger, btw). And even with $150K in the bank, that is very likely to be gone within the first 5 to 10 years for most people, if they have no other income. Which is why when people are working they keep working. And for many that will be until they die.

The unemployment has dropped, but it is reported as a percentage of the workforce that is unemployed. But 10 million people have dropped off that calculation in the past few years. A small percentage because of age, but the largest percentage because there are no jobs, and after they try for a couple hundred they get tired. There is a page in the unemployment report of those that are "not in the workforce", not reported on the front pages, and there are 6 million people who answer "yes" to the question "do you want full time work" - yet they are not counted even though there really are no places to apply that aren't just going through the motions.

The union vote, where the machinists at Boeing just decided to take that crappy contract, was very much over this same pension issue. They had to give up their defined pension and take on a 401K, and that is going to cost a lot of them more than they know. Not blaming them, because there was a gun to their heads, it's just a fact.

And interest rates are dropping so much that Larry Summers is proposing that banks start charging for savings accounts.

I think we are in for a very interesting next few years, and I don't think most people are really looking hard at the underlying economy. Unless something changes, a lot, it's going to hurt a lot more people.

Don't mean to be down about it, but I deal in reality, and the reality is just not pretty no matter how it is dressed up. I find it a lot easier to deal with that, however, than trying to find some positive spin that keeps people from demanding change.

Good luck!!

[Nika]

11. I'm 59 as well and never thought I would be working as a dishwasher.

I gave up and just went for any job I could find after three years of no success finding what I used to do. I work at the Eugene Country Club and am actually enjoying the work. I am getting Oregon minimum wage of nine dollars and ten cents an hour plus a week paid vacation a year, and they promote from within so I could be cooking in the next few years.

Don't give up and don't fear to do something audacious and or innovative in looking for work. I am still looking for another job and i am hoping my being a worker currently will help get me hired in a job I am still qualified for even if it's been years now since I worked in that field.

It is demanding physically and I surprised myself I was able to rise to the occasion and excel at this job in a venue with a lot of catered parties, in house and elsewhere. I was a paratrooper for nine years and planted trees in my younger years, so I called on that experience to give me the mental toughness I needed to get very fit once more.

Being fifty nine is something I don't let discourage me. Ageism is nothing I suffer from. I have plenty of decades of life ahead of me, and I will survive them and flourish as best I know how. And I am going to work as long as I can.

[stopbush]

14. I started out as a dishwasher at my local hospital when I was in high school.

Well, dish washing was part of the job. I also did inventory and anything else they needed done. I mopped a LOT of floors!

I have plenty of decades ahead of me, too. I walk 4 miles every day, watch what I eat and stay in good health. My worries center on someone else hiring me to work. When is that going to happen?

We already made the audacious leap of sinking $ into my wife starting her own business. That leap hasn't really paid off for us yet. But she's only two years into it, so we need to give it a little more time (she's a licensed cosmetologist).

We don't really have the resources to make another audacious leap right now.

[Nika]

17. good luck with your business.

It sounds like you were way ahead of my suggestion to be audacious, anyway. I raced bicycles when younger and ride all the time still. I look like I'm in my forties. The Sous Chef was shocked to find out my actual age. I enjoyed the reaction. I do prep work and support chores, so I don't get stuck in the dish pit all the time. I am glad.

I miss what I did for so long, but I am in a better frame of mind now I've been working again this last year and I feel in better control of things which helps a great deal.

Good luck and thanks for the thread. I enjoyed reading it and know well what you are going through. I also believe you will survive and flourish in spite of this bad time.

[stopbush]

19. Thanks.

I also don't look my age to SOME people.

I drove an equipment truck this fall for one of my volunteer gigs. One of the volunteers rode with me. Conversation eventually got around to my age - they guy was shocked to learn I was 59. He had me pegged at around 45.

Unfortunately, while I look at being mistaken for 45 as being a good thing, many employers view 45 as being, well, old.

I know what you're saying about missing what you used to do, especially if you were good at it. That's the hardest thing about being unemployed and being rejected for good jobs - you know that you could be doing great things for some person or company if you were given the chance. You start to feel that your talents are like grapes being allowed to wither on the vine.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

15. The approximate number of people affected by this issue, visualized:

[Ruffhowse]

20. I agree

I see age discrimination constantly these days. I am 58 and still employed, but this job was what I had to settle for 5 years ago after being unemployed for 3 years. I don't really like this job and have been looking for a better one pretty much since I took it, sending out resumes and networking constantly. I haven't even had a salary increase since I hired on at this place, but that's another issue. I work in the IT field and there is extreme age discrimination in this industry. Employers want only 20 and 30 somethings who they believe are up on the very latest technology and will work for a lower wage than someone over 40. And this is in the field that has been and is expected to be a real growth field. I've submitted hundreds upon hundreds of resumes over the past 5 years, and have only had a handful of interviews. I believe once they figure out my age from the dates on my resume, it is promptly shuffled to the bottom of the pile. I did an experiment last year and re-wrote my resume to eliminate all references to age. Suddenly, people were interested in me as I got quite a few phone calls. But the one thing they all asked me was to resubmit my resume with dates...please...for their records or whatever, especially dates of employment and education. Well, that was going to give it away for sure, but I complied. And, surprise, surprise......didn't hear a peep from any of them after that. I think we can all figure out what that meant. So I can testify that age discrimination is real and rampant. What to do about it, I haven't a clue.

[snot]

21. What's being done to help those of us

. . . those of us who never qualified for unemployment benefits to begin with, because we were freelance, and . . . tough sh*t for us!

I feel for you, but there are a lot of us out here who have never received a dime, and we're tired of being completely ignored!

[stopbush]

23. Freelancing is a tough gig. I did that in my past as well.

Yeah, it sucked that one wasn't able to collect unemployment as a freelancer. On the other hand, you didn't have your pay "adjusted" to pay for unemployment benefits (employers typically pay their mandated contributions to state unemployment funds by underpaying their employees the amount needed to fund UI).

In most states, you qualify for unemployment benefits after you've worked 26 consecutive weeks at a job that is paying into the system. Your benefit rate is usually 50% of what your gross weekly income was, with a cap on how high it can go. For instance, in CA, the top weekly UI benefit rate is $450 a week, which means that if you made over $900 a week at your last job, you are receiving LESS than 50% of what you were earning in UI benefits.

Some people prefer freelancing to taking a full time job because they like the flexibility, but the trade offs aren't so great when jobs are scarce.

IMHO, the best thing to do is to look for that full time job that comes with benefits...if there are any available.

[dickthegrouch]

24. Whitehouse.gov Petition has been started

Please sign it and get all your friends to do so too

http://wh.gov/lX2Pu

It needs 150 signatures even to become visible to the public at the Whitehouse site.

[solarhydrocan]

25. Here's what is being done

TPTB are trying to Fast Track the TPP

Look the Third Way D's don't even talk about Jobs unless it is to say they're gone for good and why not get a job selling insurance, because insurance is the Next Big Thing. That or flip burgers.

Our Bridges, Subways and Iphones are made in China. What did everyone expect when both parties said "Free Trade/Low Wages" and Globalism are the future?

[woo me with science]

26. +100000