how do you feel working for peanuts ?

[blues90]

Like many I am out of work looking through the endless lists of cheap paying so called jobs . It appears even with many years of experience where I was making 55k per year now the wage looks like $10 -$12 an hour no matter what sort of work you find . I am not starting out I am 57 . I find that even though I need a job this is slave labor for someone living at home or with no bills just starting out . I have years of experience as a carpenter found the best cabinet shop job I could find for $1800 per month so all my experience means nothing . I also have 30 years experience in the auto repair service field for ford dealerships . since I was finally a manager now I can't find even a job changing oil for $10 per hour .

I don't know about others but I know this makes working an empty feeling of complete failure and dead end for me , how do you work with pride and reward under these conditions ? How do you7 make ends meet working this way . I would need two of these jobs of insult to keep going .

[Wcross]

1. I have always worried about that.

I have always had it in the back of my mind that I could one day lose my job and not find something similar. The way I have delt with it is to keep my expenses to a point where I could survive on peanuts.
I would take whatever job I could while searching for a better one. I did exactly that during the first Bush's economic downturn. Went from making 20 an hour to 7.50 an hour. I guess thats why I have the attitude I have now.

[grannylib]

2. Shitty. My job was outsourced to Canada for cheaper labor ($8.05/hour

starting wage for the entry-level workers obviously being an egregious amount for this company to pay...) I was a Supervisor making about $40K; ended up getting $9/hour at a job while I was looking for something else; now making $14/hour and being shit on constantly by the worst boss ever...
I have a degree, management experience, etc. and there is just NOTHING out there. And the fact that my current boss is sabotoging my chances of getting anything else is not helping...

So I sympathize completely. The economy is in the toilet as far as any ordinary working person is concerned...but then, who gives a shit about us? Wellstone is dead, and there seems to be nobody willing to take up the leadership role for the average Joe/Josephine.
Fucking greedy rich spoiled people are running the country for their own profit and benefit and to hell with the rest of us.

[China_cat]

3. I know exactly what you mean.

We've already been through it...with 2 years of no work at all. While he does now have a job, we're making what they used to take out in taxes.

I know how hard it is. The longer you find nothing the harder it is to keep looking. Booming economy, my ass.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. blues, I am so sorry you have to deal with this. I watched my father

go through this in the late 80's. He lost a high paying 30 year job with Stroh's. He was head of distribution. After they let everyone go (thank you Ronald Reagan and the microbrewery industry), he sent out 800 (not kidding) resumes and got 800 rejections..."Thank you for your interest but...read between the lines-you're too old". He spent 7 years looking for a job, lost his home and couldn't even get hired at McDonald's (they thought he was joking). He ended up selling dictionaries and blooper videos, the display for a week and I'll come back for your order type of thing where you get paid for what you sell... which isn't much. After that he got a doing telephone market research for $6 an hour. He did work his way up to about $9.50 as a phone room supervisor. woohoo. A few years later he landed a job with Bing Manufacturing. Not the type of job he was used to, being white collar, but it was a management position paying about $25,000 a year. From there he was hired by one of the Big Three suppliers...and now has a really good paying job. The reason I told you this is because you are not alone. Stick with it. They might be able to take everything you have materially...but they can never take your pride, your friends and your family. I will hope for things to turn around quicker for you than they did for my dad. It nearly killed me to see him working all of those menial jobs. And the fact that people will say (to this day) that it was somehow his own fault. Grrr...


Best of luck,
Laura

[Strangefire]

5. Desperate.

I've worked for the faaaabulous wage of $7.65 an hour, 30-35 hours per week, for the past 5 years.

I've searched for another job, but in this town, asking for more than $6.50 an hour apparently gets your application tossed to the back of an obscure filing cabinet.

I get by by living rather simply, but my lack of health insurance leaves me feeling a bit desperate at times.

[RebelOne]

6. I am in a highly specialized position, but

I am underpaid by about $10,000 a year. The benefits are fantastic, which make up for some of it, but I will be retiring in a few years, so I will just have to stick with this job until then.

[leeroysphitz]

7. I know how you feel blues90 and as bad as it may be I wouldn't

risk my job for ANYTHING because THIS is the alternative:

... currently hiring for a CNC Programmer. The applicant must have a BS in
Engineering or computer science. Apprenticeship with a minimum of 5 years
related experience ... Experience must include strong working knowledge or
comprehensive 3D CAD systems such as Unigraphics, ....
]

$13.00 per Hour in Newport News, Virginia

And here in Detroit it's much worse.

[Wcross]

8. 13.00 an hour with a degree?

Good luck hiring a "qualified" applicant!

[Deja Q]

12. Bachelors' degree - $13/hr is all given the cost FOR a Bachelors'?

[wildhorses]

9. like an elephant....

what?.....just sayin'

[mdmc]

10. hang in there bro...

not much advice...

I read a lot and do political work. I try to limit my spending and save money. I've had to rethink what I am willing to spend money on.

It ain't easy; it is life.

peace and low stress

[begin_within]

11. Like Charlie Brown.

[joneschick]

13. fortunately my husband is employed with decent health benefits

but if you'd care to join me, I'm reading "THe Disposable American, Layoffs And Their Consequences" by Louis Uchitelle. oh, and I borrowed it from the library.