Men Not Working, and Not Wanting Just Any Job

[prole100]

New York Times
July 31, 2006

ROCK FALLS, Ill. — Alan Beggerow has stopped looking for work. Laid off as a steelworker at 48, he taught math for a while at a community college. But when that ended, he could not find a job that, in his view, was neither demeaning nor underpaid.

snip ......

Millions of men like Mr. Beggerow — men in the prime of their lives, between 30 and 55 — have dropped out of regular work. They are turning down jobs they think beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified, even as an expanding economy offers opportunities to work.

About 13 percent of American men in this age group are not working, up from 5 percent in the late 1960’s. The difference represents 4 million men who would be working today if the employment rate had remained where it was in the 1950’s and 60’s.

snip ......

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/business/31men.html?hp&ex=1154404800&en=f82d5d3f9f822e4f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[cornermouse]

1. I see the old canard has reared its ugly head again.

With the added attraction of hitting two birds with one stone. The unemployed and disability. What a gift to the republican party.

[prole100]

2. I Was Unemployed For Five Years From 2000 - 2005

I understand this story the way others never will.

[cornermouse]

3. It is a canard that most men would lay around the house because

they are too good to work for a living and prefer to live off various kinds of disability when they are perfectly capable of working. I don't believe it a coincidence that it plays on the paranoia that seems to be an integral part of the republican psyche. Like I said, a gift to the republican party and only three months before an election that they have to win in order to continue their agenda at a time that they are in deep doodoo, no less.


ca·nard Pronunciation (k-närd)
n.
1. An unfounded or false, deliberately misleading story.

[Demeter]

5. Sorry, But You Are Mistaken

I've personally seen too many cases of this behavior to let you scoff at the report.

These people are shell-shocked. They did what they were told to do, and got royally shafted. They are a prime resource for the first enterprising political party that comes along.

The modern corporate Democrats don't want them because their pockets are empty--no juicy donations, no bundles of checks.

The GOP has just about completely screwed them over, and is still going for what little they have left. And going after their women, too. And children. And grandchildren.

Now, if Hillary showed the slightest trace of a brain or a heart, she would know that "los descamisados", the shirtless ones of Evita Peron's political base, are ripe for the plucking, and she would either exploit them, as Evita did, or forge a New Deal, as Roosevelt did.

Sadly, neither Hillary nor anyone else has the insight to seize the moment. The only one who did (and he followed the Evita path) was St. Ronnie of Reagan, may he burn in hell forever. Alzheimers was too good for him.

[prole100]

6. Very Good Point - Just One Reason I've Given Up On The Dems

eom

[cornermouse]

10. I'll say it one last time.

The Article is not truthful. It is an attempt to blacken the eye of two different segments of society and appeal to the republican mentality; that people who do not have jobs are either lazy or its their fault and that disability is being used and abused.

This is not a negative comment about the original poster. It is a negative comment on the article. In all likelihood it is an article that is meant to begin the rabble-rousing of the republican base in preparation of the upcoming election.

[Demit]

4. The story does point out factors of wages driven downward, and the end

of the concept of employer loyalty to its workers. The feeling of having done everything right, and having the skills, and being told "an expanding economy offers opportunities to work"-- which of course are jobs with no benefits.

One thing I noticed was the almost casual way the article points out that women still make far less than men, and are a bigger part of the workforce than ever. Well, gosh, guess who that benefits! That's exactly the way corporations want it. Getting the work for less cost. It happened to me. The same company wanted to retain my services--I had been working as a contractor for them for two years--but at less money. I said no, and they shrugged. Because they knew they could find someone who would take the less money. It stinks, and because I'm in the same boat as the men in the story, the impression I got was of the deep, existential despair of a lot of formerly employed people out there. There's just no point anymore--and no future.

[prole100]

8. Very Well Said - When One Is In This Situation

One asks oneself repeatedly, what is the point?

Like the men in the article, I played by the rules and it got me nowhere.

There are many unintended consequences, like the like the loss of relationships.

I've been divorced for 12 years and have yet find a girlfriend.

I attribute that mostly to a loss of status and wages.

Who wants to date a "loser"?

[Mojorabbit]

7. This article acts like disability is an easy thing to get

It's not and this makes the whole article suspicious re accuracy for me.

[prole100]

9. Yes - Agree - It Seems The Authors Had To Throw The RW A Bone

eom

[grilled onions]

11. Not Mentioned--A Living Wage

How many minimal paying jobs does a man have to work in a week to pay for his rent the way one "normal" job would have done? How many skills does a man have to learn/relearn in a lifetime. You go to school to learn one major skill or trade only to find out less then a decade later that job has gone overeseas or is fased out. You hunker down,go back to school and start at the bottom rung again. How many times in a lifetime can you do that before you wonder if its ever possible to obtain the old fashioned American dream.

[madrchsod]

12. i worked in that steel mill

i lost my job there several years ago and the best i could find is "women`s work" at 8.20 thru a temp service.if you are over 50 years old you`ll never get hired at a decent paying job around here because you`ll cost to much for insurance and you won`t like the job cause it doesn`t pay as well as the mill. i`ve heard every fuck`n excuse employers can think of. we ain`t lazy fucking bums we just want a decent job to pay our bills. there isn`t to many of those jobs around here that pay a decent wage the top starting wage averages 9 dollars an hour . oh you can work at the new walmart distrubtion center and work yourself to death for 16-18 an hour 12 hours a day 4-5 days a week and i do mean death. older guys can`t take the work load that walmart demands. god am i sick of these assholes who write this shit

[fasttense]

13. I know what these men are going through.

In my mid forties (I'm female), I retired from the military expecting to get a half decent job to cover luxury items. But I couldn't find anything that paid much above minimum. So I'm still retired and looking, it has been about four years now. I would work if I could find something besides cleaning, cashier or waitress. I have twenty year of administrative/managerial experience but it seems to be worthless.

My brother is the same way. He retired after having hit it big in the dot-com boom but would work in telecommunications/computer programming if he could find something. He has twenty years experience and no one wants to hire him. He's been looking about as long as I have.

The job market is full of low paying, low skill, go nowhere jobs. My brother and I refuse to take them because after covering clothes, daycare and transportation costs, the job isn't worth the effort.

[shrike]

14. I have mixed feelings about this article

First, I think the emphasis on "disability payments" as an option is bullshit -- it's HARD to get disability. Ask anyone who's ever tried to do it.

Secondly, after reading this article I have the most sympathy for the guy who'd been in prison. It's just like I tell people; if you fall off the merry-go-round, good luck getting back on.

However, the two middle-aged men in the article -- there seems to be some magical thinking going on in their cases.
There's nothing wrong with playing the piano all day, writing novels that likely to go unpublished and reading the books you've always wanted to read. HOWEVER, it's best to plan accordingly. Instead of using his house as an ATM AND drawing down his 401K, can't he sell the house and get some modest little place (hell, even a double-wide), live on whatever's left? He must know he's not going to work again. Seems to be some deep denial there. I know people who've dropped out of the rat race. For good. But they live accordingly. One is a full-time artist (yep, that's all he does) and he's lived hand to mouth for years; doesn't mind it because it allows him to pursue his art, come hell or high water. He's lucky enough to have a friend who'll let him live rent-free at a winterized cottage, and he gathers plants and sells old aluminum and scrap metal for extra money. He recently got a windfall in the form of social security.

I have the feeling the other guy is betting he will land another $100K job. It sounds like he'll take nothing less. Can't say I blame him for not wanting to work for peanuts. If you're an older person working for peanuts they tend to treat you like peanuts -- I know, I've been there. OTOH, he's betting his house, and his equity. Will he win the bet?