A Poll Only For Those Who Have Ever Been Laid Off

[ThomWV]

How did it work out for you?

[rucky]

1. I had to switch careers

and pretty much start at entry level. my experience was valuable to my learning curve, but didn't count for much in my starting salary.

[blaze]

2. Hard to reply without a timeline

Originally, it was less pay, less benefits and I had to rent out a bedroom to get my bills paid. It was not a fun time. But a career change and fifteen years has led to a better job with better benefits.

[Edweird]

3. I was laid off for 3 weeks.(approx 1 yr ago) Got called back. I have since quit them

and I am MUCH happier with my new employer.

[seemunkee]

4. Lower pay, better benefits

Laid off in Oct 2007, found a new job in Feb 2008. I worked at a very small company so the benefits were not great. New company has good benefits but I took a pay cut. I will probably be up to where I was before the layoff when raises are given out after the first of the year. I went 1 1/2 years at my last job without a raise. I know I've got it better than a lot of others, the way things are I'm glad I have a job with a company that is stable and growing.

[SmileyRose]

5. I've been downsized 6 times in my 30+ yr work life.

each new job has generally lower pay and lower benefits. In raw dollars, not even including inflation, I make less than I did in 1987. I am a no college degree, not college material, nearly 50 yr old accounting clerk.

[slackmaster]

6. I've been laid off of "permanent, full-time" jobs five times; results have varied

I entered the work force in 1980.

After getting laid off an S&L in 1990, I walked into a very lucrative temporary consulting job and worked for about 15 weeks. That remains my highest income-producing year so far. With the severance pay from the S&L plus unemployment for the latter half of the year I almost broke $100K before taxes (and learned how much being self-employed really costs.)

I had a great job at a company that produced computer-based educational materials for grades K-6. That was a blast. I rode that wave from 1996 - 2004. After that I collected UnEnjoyment for five months and landed my present mediocre job.

The other three times occurred during recessions - 1981, 1982, and 1992. I ended up with a lower-paying job on two occasions, equal on the remaining one.

Demographics: I am a 50-year-old divorced empty-nester with a college degree in a field generally unrelated to my work as a computer systems administrator. I have been running commercial Web sites and back-office applications for a little over 10 years.

[liberalmuse]

7. I had to do something I never thought I'd do...

take inbound calls in a call center that paid much less after I was laid off my mapping job a few years ago. I didn't have much of a choice with a teen to raise. Luckily, I found a job quickly enough that I never had to go on unemployment. Then I moved to a new state where I actually started getting higher paying jobs.

Next week there will be mass layoffs at my current company, which pays really well with excellent benefits. If I'm cut, the odds are that my next job will pay a lot less. The good thing is, I have the highest stats in my department. The bad thing is, that may not matter as much as seniority.

Maybe I'll go back to mapping, but thanks to Bush and giving most of the contracts to his cronies, there may still not be many mapping jobs.

BTW, I am 45 and have never been laid off until Bush came into office.

[Number_Six]

8. Thank you, you #&$#%$#^%!@$#$# Republicans!

Clinton Era:

I was a field service engineer. I was never home. Monday, out the door to the airport. Friday, home, write checks, wash clothes, pack, gone Monday.

I was _not_ behind on anything. Not.

Then comes 2001...

"We're sorry, but....."

Downsizing? Let's be brutally honest. Like so many, I was a victim of trade policies that favor Wall Streeters....and not me. Or you. Or my other comrades.

New job was a 30 percent pay cut. A $1000 deductable on my health plan, which I am STILL paying off. "Oh, you'll make great money here!"...

...yeah, if I was married into the family, of course.

Every month is like juggling three chainsaw with the triggers taped to full power. I scream, yell, bitch, and to what?

Where's MY bailout, goddammit!?

Of course, I voted for President Obama. Man tends to remind me of FDR, in that, he knows what will rebuild the economy...jobs, jobs and more jobs, and not credit default swaps.

Okay, I'm cool now. Thank you. That felt so good!

[rucky]

9. Welcome to the DU

we always appreciate new talent here.

[LWolf]

10. In the 80s

my then-spouse worked for GM. He was laid off for a few weeks every year; we had to budget for that.

He experienced 3 bigger lay-offs. During the first, he worked as a laborer for a construction company until they called him back. During the second, he got picked up, after 4 months, by a different company, different job, same union (UAW.) He went from cars to aerospace.

The layoffs with the aerospace industry were worse; when a defense contract ended, he'd be laid off until they got a new contract, or until one of the other aerospace companies picked him up.

By then, I was no longer married to him, but I heard a lot about it from our children.

I didn't vote in the poll, since it wasn't me, and it refers to lay-offs that happened 2 decades ago.