If I've learned one thing about being unemployed it's never expect anything.. the second you do reality bitch-slaps you right back into
the now reminding you there are forces you have zero control over. The sad thing is it's literally a world-wide epidemic of sorts.. a global state of
conservatism with consequences of epic proportion. Employers need workers but aren't willing to sacrifice profit to complete said work-force.
"Unemployment falls to 7% in the US," is plastered all over
the news. This news causes many of those still unemployed to ask themselves, "Then why the heck
can't I find a job? What's wrong with me? What am I doing wrong?!" Some
reports state there are approximately 3 workers in waiting for every
job opening. CnnMoney.com website reports, "When Walmart recently opened
2 stores in Washington, D.C., more than 23,000 people submitted
applications for the 600 job openings. That means each applicant stood a
mere 2.6% chance of being hired. Harvard has a higher acceptance rate."
However, other statistics report ridiculously high numbers of job
openings out there and more to come in 2014. Something doesn't add up!
What does it all mean??
Well, one possibility could be that companies are posting available
jobs with no real intention of hiring.. or maybe they're just REALLY picky.
Making matters even worse, apparently the longer you're out of work the less "attractive" you are to employers. There's also the aspect of those long-term unemployed that became
discouraged after looking for a job year after year and simply "dropped out"
altogether (took early retirement, etc.) thereby falling out of the labor market and
skewing the numbers posing an inaccurate perception on unemployment
statistics altogether.
Who knows! In the meantime the long-term unemployed are
running out of options. EUC, or Emergency Unemployment Compensation and
otherwise known as federal unemployment insurance ran out as of December
28, 2013, and Congress can't make up their damned mind whether or not to extend
these benefits to the millions of Americans still unemployed. It's said
that Republicans believe extending unemployment benefits only hurts the
economy giving the long-term unemployed the "wrong incentive" to stay
unemployed. While Democrats believe it'll only lead to those losing
benefits no longer being able to spend money thereby hurting businesses
and local economies.. thus causing said conservatism. This doesn't stop the long-term unemployed from
running through their hard-earned savings, possibly losing their homes
or worse..
An unproven perception: Companies are looking for younger
less-qualified people who are cheaper to higher and teachable. And, they're not interested if you've been out of work for more than six months no matter what age you are. So,
those a little or a lot older, over-qualified, formerly over-paid
unemployed persons would appear to unfortunately be S.O.L. What next? We
can't just start lying on our applications/resumes right? How do you
get the message out to recruiters that you're willing to take lower pay or less benefits
and are welcome to change? What's certain is there's no simple solution
here.. assuming of course there's any solution at all.
So, I simply continue to tell myself, "Never give up! Never surrender!" Like a river we
must remain constant and at the same time willing to change direction at
the drop of a hat. If you hit a rock or otherwise immovable object,
simply meander around and just keep on moving. Don't stop.
