Carl E. Van Horn, Center for Workforce Development @ Rutgers: "Jobless and hopeless in America"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Jobless and hopeless in AmericaBy Carl E. Van Horn, Special to CNN
January 7, 2011 10:56 a.m. EST

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/07/vanhorn.unemployment.jobs.study/index.html?hpt=Sbin



Editor's note: Carl E. Van Horn is Professor of Public Policy and director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. He co-directs, with Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin, the center's national Work Trends surveys that regularly gather information about the public's attitudes about work and the economy.

(CNN) -- The Great Recession has been an economic catastrophe for jobless and underemployed American workers and their families. The December jobs report issued Friday shows only modest private-sector job growth and offers slim hope that the nation's 15 million unemployed are going to find relief anytime soon.

Their financial reserves are exhausted; their job prospects nil; their family relations stressed; and, their belief in government's ability to help them is negligible. They feel hopeless and powerless, unable to see their way out of the ditch they find themselves in.

Joblessness not only leaves deep scars on people -- financially and psychologically -- but also has enduring effects on families, communities and societies. Beyond the personal suffering, the despair of unemployed workers undermines their trust of employers, the economy and government.

These are among the main findings from "The Shattered American Dream: Unemployed Workers Lose Ground, Hope, and Faith in their Futures," a research report prepared by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

The Heldrich Center first interviewed a national sample of more than 1,200 unemployed workers who lost their jobs during the recession in August 2009. More than 900 were re-interviewed in March, and 764 were contacted again in November.

One-quarter of those first interviewed in August 2009 had found full-time jobs some 15 months later. Most of the "fortunate" re-employed accepted jobs for less pay and/or less benefits. Four in 10 had to change careers to gain employment.