If You've been Downsized, Outsourced and Retrained..READ THIS!!!

[KoKo]

Our own DU'er UpInArms..has a post that will make clear to ALL OF YOU..including myself who have been Downsized since the 70's WTF it's all ABOUT...Here's the link...if you haven't done the easy "no invasive" subscription to basic NYT's then you will MISS THE WHOLE THING..but the snips will make you want to do the "free" subscription because it addresses EVERYTHING...and the reporter who wrote it needs some TLC...and some HITS! He must have "laid his life on the line to report the article...and he will need every good thing we can throw at him for "TELLING TRUTH TO POWER!"

It's a long article but OMG...explains so much to those of us who didn't get the "Brick Wall that Hit Us!" and....for those new to downsizing this article says so much it's worth the "print out to read later." I promise you with my heart and soul ...you will NOT BE DISAPOINTED!
==================================================================
Here's the post from DU'er "UIA's" on this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/business/yourmoney/26...

Layoffs have disrupted the lives of millions of Americans over the last 25 years. The cure that these displaced workers are offered — retraining and more education — is heralded as a sure path to new and better-paying careers. But often that policy prescription does not work, as this book excerpt explains. It is adapted from "The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences" by Louis Uchitelle, an economics writer for The New York Times. Knopf will publish the book on Tuesday.

<snip>

The presumption — promoted by economists, educators, business executives and nearly all of the nation's political leaders, Democrats and Republicans alike — holds that in America's vibrant and flexible economy there is work, at good pay, for the educated and skilled. The unemployed need only to get themselves educated and skilled and the work will materialize. Education and training create the jobs, according to this way of thinking. Or, put another way, an appropriate job at decent pay materializes for every trained or educated worker.

<snip>

You cannot be an engineer or an accountant without a degree; in that sense, education and training certainly do count. Furthermore, in the competition for the jobs that exist, the educated and trained have an edge. That advantage shows up regularly in wage comparisons. But you cannot earn an engineer's or an accountant's typical pay if companies are not hiring engineers and accountants, or are hiring relatively few and can control the wage, chipping away at it.

<snip>

Saying that the country should solve the skills shortage through education and training became part of nearly every politician's stump speech, an innocuous way to address the politics of unemployment without strengthening either the bargaining leverage of workers or the federal government's role in bolstering labor markets.

<snip>

The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics offers a rough estimate of the imbalance in the demand for jobs as opposed to the supply. Each month since December 2000, it has surveyed the number of job vacancies across the country and compared it with the number of unemployed job seekers. On average, there were 2.6 job seekers for every job opening over the first 41 months of the survey. That ratio would have been even higher, according to the bureau, if the calculation had included the millions of people who stopped looking for work because they did not believe that they could get decent jobs.

So the demand for jobs is considerably greater than the supply, and the supply is not what the reigning theory says it is. Most of the unfilled jobs pay low wages and require relatively little skill, often less than the jobholder has. From the spring of 2003 to the spring of 2004, for example, more than 55 percent of the hiring was at wages of $13.25 an hour or less: hotel and restaurant workers, health care employees, temporary replacements and the like.

<snip>

The $13.25 threshold is important. More than 45 percent of the nation's workers, whatever their skills, earned less than $13.25 an hour in 2004, or $27,600 a year for a full-time worker. That is roughly the income that a family of four must have in many parts of the country to maintain a standard of living minimally above the poverty level. Surely lack of skill and education does not hold down the wages of nearly half the work force.

...more...

[MSgt213]

1. Link does not work. Goes to a page missing

[KoKo]

2. Okay...let me fix it...you will NOT WANT TO MISS it.

bear with me......

[KoKo]

5. Here's the "print link" if it doesn't work for you let me know..........

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/business/yourmoney/26lou.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Here is the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/business/yourmoney/26lou.html

[KoKo]

10. At first glance this article would "seem" to be about Airline Folks..BUT!

when you read through it you realize IT'S ABOUT ALL OF US!!!

That's what's incredible about it. It's describing how WE HAVE ALL been SOLD DOWN RIVER since 70's.

Think you are TOO YOUNG? That the "70's THINGY" is YOUR PARENTS AND NOT YOU! READ IT...and WEEP...it begun way back and YOU are a product of this if you have been "outsourced, downsized, laidoff in BUSH AMERICA!!!

IT's NOT YOUR PARENTS DOWNSIZING...ITS THEIRS AND YOURS!!!!

Please find a way to read this article...I know it's long...but it's something that we DU'ers ALL NEED TO KNOW...going FORWARD........!!!!!

[BrklynLiberal]

11. I have been "downsized" from 3 jobs!!!!!!!

[KoKo]

15. I know...can't tell you how "moving around the USA" to be downsized again

sort of speaks to those of us who wonder...WHEN WILL IT END! Are we just FOOD for the BUSHIE and maybe even (ashamed to say) Clinton and OTHERS GLOBILIZATION?

Give me a break! We have to move families, leave families and lose support EVERY TIME THIS HAPPENS.... And for what did we educate ourselves for? To be NOMADS???

[BrklynLiberal]

22. I will not even discuss the emotional and physical havoc it wreaks.

[UpInArms]

23. if you don't want to register, you can always try

www.bugmenot.com

:hi:

[Vincardog]

4. Page Not Found

Page Not Found


The page you've requested does not exist at this address. Please note:

If you typed in the address, used a bookmark or followed a link from another Web site, the page is no longer available. Most articles remain online for seven days after publication.
Articles back to 1851 are available through our New York Times Article Archive: 1851-Present. For more information or to start searching, please visit our Archive page.



If you clicked on a headline or other link on NYTimes.com, you can report the missing page.

E-Mail Update readers: If the article links in your mailing do not work, your e-mail program may not support the HTML version of the mailings. Please switch to the Text Version.

[KoKo]

7. Try THIS...sounds like "Powers that Be" are trying to stop this article

but we "DU'ers" don't give up!

here......with a link:

March 26, 2006
Retraining Laid-Off Workers, but for What?
By LOUIS UCHITELLE

Layoffs have disrupted the lives of millions of Americans over the last 25 years. The cure that these displaced workers are offered — retraining and more education — is heralded as a sure path to new and better-paying careers. But often that policy prescription does not work, as this book excerpt explains. It is adapted from "The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences" by Louis Uchitelle, an economics writer for The New York Times. Knopf will publish the book on Tuesday.

JO GOODRUM, a thin, energetic woman older than her audience of aircraft mechanics — old enough, perhaps, to be their mother — got their attention with a single, unexpected sentence, which she inserted early in her presentation. Her husband, she said, had been laid off six times since the late 1980's. And yet here she was, standing before them, in one piece, cheerful, apparently O.K., giving survival instructions to the mechanics, who would be laid off themselves in 10 days.

They were, in nearly every case, family men in their 30's and 40's who had worked for United Airlines since the mid-1990's. Summoned by their union, they had gathered in the carpeted conference room at the Days Inn next to Indianapolis International Airport, not far from United's giant maintenance center, a building so big that 12 airliners could be overhauled in it simultaneously. That no longer happened. Most of the repair bays were empty. The airline was cutting back operations, and the 60 mechanics at the meeting were in the fourth group to be let go.

Confrontation had brought on the layoffs. Influenced by militants in their union local, Hoosier Air Transport Lodge 2294 of the International Association of Machinists, the 2,000 mechanics at the center had engaged in a work slowdown for many months, and then a refusal to work overtime. But rather than give ground, United responded by outsourcing, sending planes to nonunion contractors elsewhere in the country.

That scared the mechanics. They quieted down and, in effect, authorized the leaders of Lodge 2294 to make peace. Their hope was that if they cooperated, United would ease up on the layoffs and revive operations at, arguably, one of the most efficient, high-tech maintenance centers in the world. In this state of mind, the union was helping to usher the 60 laid-off mechanics quietly away. It had rented the conference room on this cold January evening in 2003 to introduce the men to what amounted to a boot camp for recycling laid-off workers back into new, usually lower-paying lines of work.

SIMILAR federally subsidized boot camps, organized by state and local governments, often in league with unions, have proliferated in the United States since the 1980's, and now many cities have them. Unable to stop layoffs, government has taken on the task of refitting discarded workers for "alternate careers." In deciding as a nation to try to rejuvenate them as workers, we put in place a system, however unrealistic, that implicitly acknowledged layoffs as a legitimate practice.

The presumption — promoted by economists, educators, business executives and nearly all of the nation's political leaders, Democrats and Republicans alike — holds that in America's vibrant and flexible economy there is work, at good pay, for the educated and skilled. The unemployed need only to get themselves educated and skilled and the work will materialize. Education and training create the jobs, according to this way of thinking. Or, put another way, an appropriate job at decent pay materializes for every trained or educated worker.
If the workers were already trained, as the mechanics certainly were

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/business/yourmoney/26lou.html?pagewanted=print

[KoKo]

8. A little more of the article but doesn't do it justice..please try to link

What had started as an escape from a unionized, often militant work force took on a second function. The outsourcing of heavy maintenance became a means for the airlines to cut costs, and nearly every major airline gradually moved that way. In an earlier era, before layoffs and outsourcing were acceptable options, United might have weathered the crisis by taking in work from other airlines, as it had once done with America West. But layoffs and outsourcing were now standard practice, and rather than pursue economies of scale, United sought heavy maintenance at the lowest immediate cost. As work shifted away from Indianapolis, the layoffs multiplied.

The 60 mechanics gathered at the Days Inn that January evening were in the fourth wave to lose their jobs, bringing the total to 1,200. The recycling of former mechanics into new lines of work was now in full swing, and Mr. Nunnally, when he had finished speaking about the importance of filing promptly for unemployment benefits, introduced Tori E. Bucko. She turned out to be the main speaker, the chief of the boot camp that the mechanics were being encouraged to enter.

Given her responsibilities, Ms. Bucko was surprisingly young — only 30. But as the manager of a federally subsidized program for processing laid-off airline workers in Indianapolis, she would soon play a more important role in the lives of many of the mechanics than Mr. Nunnally or the union they were leaving behind.

The program that Ms. Bucko directed was sponsored by the Indianapolis Private Industry Council, a coalition of companies, unions, government agencies and civic groups. Virtually all of the funding comes from Washington, which sends less than $7 billion a year to the states to recycle laid-off workers back into jobs. In Indiana's case, the state distributes its share of the federal money to 16 regional work-force investment boards. The Indianapolis Private Industry Council is one of these boards, and the council in turn paid a private, nonprofit company, Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana, to do the actual work.

Goodwill employed Ms. Bucko as the manager in charge of the recycling program for laid-off airline workers in Marion County, whose boundaries encompass the city of Indianapolis. Goodwill also recycled men and women laid off in other industries in Marion County, recruiting them as they signed up for unemployment benefits at state-run offices. But in the winter of 2003, outcast airline employees, two-thirds of them United's mechanics, were still getting special attention in what was called the AIR Project, the short name for Airline Industry Re-careerment Project, a title that suggests just how awkward and difficult recycling is.

Ms. Bucko's task, in this initial presentation at the Days Inn, was to encourage the 60 mechanics to take the next step. There would be no help for them if they failed to show up at the AIR Project's center, in an industrial park not far from the airport. There, they would be asked to fill out a detailed enrollment application and submit to a series of workshops and evaluations.

What Ms. Bucko did not mention was the pressure on her employer, Goodwill Industries, and on herself, to meet the employment goals specified in the federal grant — to get most of the mechanics re-employed at 90 percent of their previous wage. Meeting this goal was a condition for getting more federal money once the initial grant expired. In the end, Goodwill managed to put together enough money to string out the AIR Project for nearly four years. But the employment goals were not met. They could not be met; they were too optimistic, mythically optimistic.

Ms. Bucko knew that as she struggled to meet the standard. So did Carolyn Brown, vice president of the Indianapolis Private Industry Council, the agency that picked Goodwill Industries to run the project. "When large numbers of people are laid off, there just isn't any occupational cluster that is waiting out there to receive them," Ms. Brown said.

Job training, as a result, became a channeling process, channeling the unemployed into the unfilled jobs that do exist, with a veneer of training along the way. Yet job training is central to employment policy. It has been since 1982, when Congress passed the Job Training Partnership Act at the urging of President Ronald Reagan. President Bill Clinton took job training even further, making it available to higher-income workers — including the aircraft mechanics in Indianapolis.

Saying that the country should solve the skills shortage through education and training became part of nearly every politician's stump speech, an innocuous way to address the politics of unemployment without strengthening either the bargaining leverage of workers or the federal government's role in bolstering labor markets.

But training for what? The reality, as the aircraft mechanics discovered, is painfully different from the reigning wisdom. Rather than having a shortage of skills, millions of American workers have more skills than their jobs require. That is particularly true of college-educated people, who make up 30 percent of the population today, up from 10 percent in the 1960's. They often find themselves working in sales or as office administrators, or taking jobs in hotels and restaurants, or becoming carpenters, flight attendants and word processors.

[Iowa]

26. Great post! A few observations from an older guy whose seen a lot...

I find the references to Goodwill Industries to be especially interesting. I worked for a government agency that hired Goodwill - much in the same manner as the article states. There are many complex issues here that will directly impact DUers in the workforce. Just a few observations:

1) The "retraining" solution is a sham. The tools used to determine what jobs will or will not be available in the future are so crude that they're virtually useless. Likewise, the tools used to determine interests are very crude and of minimal use. And finally, most decent jobs are filled via connections and word-of-mouth. This idea that there are jobs out there waiting for a match is a myth. The truth is, agencies tasked with placing displaced workers don't have any expertise of value that enables them to know much more that anyone else - it's all a crap shoot.

2) Goodwill is not respected by professionals in the field. Although it has been around for decades, over the last 20 years or so it has been politicized - it's a privatized version of services that used to be provided by state agencies. Fred Grandy (AKA: Love Boat's Gopher) was a weasel neocon Congressman from Iowa who later went on to head Goodwill for several years. Goodwill is the corporate answer to human services - provide as little service as they can get away with for as much money as they can possibly squeeze out of the government. It is NOT a charitable organization - they demand to be paid (a lot) before they'll lift a finger. There may be local exceptions, but I never saw one in my area. I NEVER support Goodwill; I donate used goods to other organizations. As one who worked on the inside, I see it as the WalMart of the human services world. My coworkers felt likewise (I recently retired).

3) There's a great deal of pressure on employment agencies to produce results for the pols. But there's really very little they can do to make things happen. They are almost completely powerless. Furthermore, the RW has spent the last 25 years demonizing government agencies which makes it very difficult to get employers on-board. They'll get employers to join councils, but that's mostly "it'll look good to be involved in the community" window dressing. So agencies end up chasing down people who find jobs on their own, and claim "credit", even though their contribution to the outcome was zip. The money poured into these programs would be much better spent if it were simply given directly to job seekers to help tide them over until they find something, IMO. There's a great deal of money involved; much of it (most in some cases) going to private agencies who pay their staff like slaves and their CEOs like kings.

4) Trade schools and community colleges are often hopelessly out of date - churning out way too many into markets that are already flooded, and too few into markets where there are openings. Dismantling programs and gearing up for new ones takes years and can be politically difficult. If you're out of work, don't sign up for training until you study (very carefully) the school's placement statistics. Pay very close attention to the percentage of students who are working in the career for which they were trained - and examine what they're making. Realize that those stats are probably 1-2 years old, and that they're probably inflated, but it's really all you have to go on. NEVER ask instructors/college professors about job opportunities - they will almost always tell you there are many jobs. They are notoriously clueless when it comes to vocational counseling, and their jobs depend on students signing up for their classes.

5) If you find yourself out of work - don't wait for help. You'll likely be sorely disappointed. If there's something you've always wanted to do, check out the placement stats and sign up for classes immediately - also apply for financial aid immediately using the FAFSA - don't wait. You can always bail if you find something better. Medical technology seems to be a hot field - but realize that what's hot today might be cold by the time you're trained. Also, consider starting a small service related business. I worked with a guy who cleaned light fixtures for businesses (he could demonstrate that they could pay him and still come out ahead). Surprisingly, he did quite well. Another guy started a handyman business. He had more work than he could handle. Another started a general office and home cleaning business. The ones who did the best had minimal start-up costs. There are no easy answers.

To those who are comfortably employed (from an old guy who has seen countless people crash and burn): PREPARE FOR THE WORST. If you haven't already, crunch your lifestyle down to the bare minimum and save, save, save if you can possibly do it. Don't rest until you have zero debt (besides mortgage) and at least one year of living expenses socked away. And then keep saving as if you'll lose your job tomorrow. You won't regret it. You cannot trust this economy to provide a living wage. Some will make it, but many won't. Assume the worst and prepare as best you can.

[quiet.american]

36. Excellent insights and advice. Thanks for posting. n/t

[ProudDad]

55. You hit that nail on the head

"To those who are comfortably employed (from an old guy who has seen countless people crash and burn): PREPARE FOR THE WORST. If you haven't already, crunch your lifestyle down to the bare minimum and save, save, save if you can possibly do it. Don't rest until you have zero debt (besides mortgage) and at least one year of living expenses socked away. And then keep saving as if you'll lose your job tomorrow. You won't regret it. You cannot trust this economy to provide a living wage. Some will make it, but many won't. Assume the worst and prepare as best you can."

From another older guy whose job has been "outsourced" out from under 3 times in the last 5 years, learn to live with a simpler, cheaper life style...hell, you'll be happier not trying to keep up with the Jones's anyway!

[tenshi816]

56. Excellent advice.

I particularly agree with your last paragraph. My husband suddenly and without warning lost his job in early 2001, just a few months after I had gone back to full-time university study. He was one of the lucky ones because he was recruited about six months later by a former client starting up a new business that's doing very well, but nowadays we don't take anything for granted. There's no such thing as a job for life anymore, or assuming that just because you have a good job at the moment it will always be there.

Before my husband got his new job - when we didn't know how long he would be unemployed or if I would have to quit my course and find a job (having been out of work myself for a decade at the time) - we did exactly what you suggest, paring down to only what we really needed versus what we just wanted. We're back on track and aren't living quite as frugally now, but we still pay off our one credit card each and every month without fail and owe nothing else besides our mortgage. I'm terrified of running up big debt and not being able to pay it off.

What you said about "keep saving as if you'll lose your job tomorrow" is such a good idea. We never thought we'd find ourselves in the situation we were in five years ago, and even though we're not anymore, we still put money away instead of blowing it on things we don't need.

I've had people tell me that I'm a pessimist, but I disagree. I believe in the saying "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst".

Edit: typo

[Iowa]

57. tenshi816, regarding those who say you're a pessimist...

...my wife and I lived quite frugally for quite a few years, and we started due to fear of job loss. Well, before we knew it, we had no debt and $10,000 in cash; so I decided to learn about investing. The job loss didn't come, and before we knew it, we had enough to pay off the mortgage; so I learned more about retirement plans. The job loss still didn't materialize, and before we knew it, we had enough to cover our living expenses for the rest of our lives. Now I'm retired. My peers are still working - with no end in sight.

The point is, those who thought we were being pessimistic were wrong. What started out as frugality based on fear of job loss, turned into a determination to free ourselves from the need to rely on employment to meet our basic needs. Our employers simply had WAY too much power over us. We weren't really FREE; so our frugality became more about achieving freedom, and less about fear of unemployment.

There's just no way the frugal approach can have a bad ending. If the job loss materializes, we have a safety net. If it doesn't (and with some luck) the end result can be financial freedom. There's just no way to lose, IMO.

[AnneD]

58. Been there, done that....

couldn't afford the shirt at the time. Excellent advice Iowa. I have been in several industries that downsized and have retooled. You give good financial advice too. No one can be too sure these days.
If you are young enough and strong enough, Nursing is a good all you can handle career. I did the ADN program (2 years) in late 80's and have had all the work I could handle. This is a growth area as us boomers are getting older and boomer Nurses are soon to be retiring. It can be hard getting into school but if you start on the prereq's first, it is easier.

[2Design]

46. this is why the h1b visas and other bs really irks me - we are over educat

<snip>
Rather than having a shortage of skills, millions of American workers have more skills than their jobs require. That is particularly true of college-educated people, who make up 30 percent of the population today, up from 10 percent in the 1960's. They often find themselves working in sales or as office administrators, or taking jobs in hotels and restaurants, or becoming carpenters, flight attendants and word processors.

</snip>

we are over educated - we are willing to learn new skills - but the media is a corporation propoganda machine - just like BFEE and the rest

[2Design]

48. more from this article

The $13.25 threshold is important. More than 45 percent of the nation's workers, whatever their skills, earned less than $13.25 an hour in 2004, or $27,600 a year for a full-time worker. That is roughly the income that a family of four must have in many parts of the country to maintain a standard of living minimally above the poverty level. Surely lack of skill and education does not hold down the wages of nearly half the work force.

[gizmo1979]

6. Sad sad state of affairs.

Greed should be our national motto.Greed runs the United states the very rich are never satisfied to be super rich they still want more.Someday the house of cards will be exposed and then you will have some very pissed off poor people and they won't have anywhere to hide.

[ikojo]

14. People will be ticked off but they wont go after

those they should...they will direct their anger not at the greedy capitalists but inward at themselves and outward at their family.

I have a co-worker who was laid off from an insurance company three years ago. Before she was laid off she bought a house. She got another job, at less pay, after the lay off. She tried to make a go of it with less pay but last year decided she had to get rid of her house. She sold it and moved into an apartment with her eight year old daughter.

Isn't the US great!!!!

[gizmo1979]

41. Yes it sucks to be middle class or

below in a Bush economy.They wonder why were not confident in the economy.We don't know if we'll have a job tommorrow.We'll never be comfortable with the economy ever again.

[CrispyQ]

37. When the masses are cold & hungry

there will not be walls high enough or gates strong enough to keep the poor out. They will storm the gated communities & eat the rich.

You are spot on about the greed factor. These people have riches most of us can barely imagine yet it is not enough for them.

[area51]

9. Excellent article.

It mentions the republinazi "magical thinking" that they engage in, when they bald-faced lie that if you get educated, jobs will magically appear. Logic has never been a nazi strong point. Also, where will the money come from for all this retraining, and how can education stop your job from getting offshored or inshored (bringing in workers to take American jobs).

[KoKo]

12. I haven't read any article so good in YEARS...and the reporter deserves

a BIG THANKs for getting this out in any way they could. Must be a Helen Thomas type...a diehard for TRUTH to POWER!!

It's a long article...I wish so much I could post it in full for those who don't do the subscription thing.

That article has so much in it it had me weeping for what this DU'er has SEEN since the "America of the Late 1970's that I want to post it from the ROOFTOPS and Yell and SCREAM about it. But, I understand such hyperbole sort of turns many DU'ers off.

If you can find it please read....if you want the WHOLE ARTICLE...then "PM" me....and I will send it to you....It's TOO IMPORTANT to let go....

PM me...I will send it to you...
:-(

[LisaLynne]

31. You're right about this reporter being a Helen Thomas -type.

I was watching the documentary "Orwell Rolls in his Grave" just yesterday and several of the people interviewed in it brought up the fact that beyond even arguing about the non-existent "liberal-bias" in the media, what you'll never see is a condemnation of our economic system or how the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer all the time. That is something that is off-limits to everyone because the corporations, as we all know, run the media and we can't have people attacking the system that allows them to horde obscene amounts of money.

[Extend a Hand]

13. only one more vote to make the greatest page

This SHOULD be there.

[KoKo]

16. I hope this post will stay around DU because it affects so many of us

and it's a LONG read...but has so many subthreads...I think it's one of the most important articles we've ever posted...but I think I said that before......IT's WORTH THE READ! I guess I can't say it enough...

[Lostnote06]

17. Does Eminent Domained Apply to this topic....if so

....the University of KY eminent domained my gals 14yr old business w/zero compensation......damn they are really "snart"......of course we are last in just about every national statistic

[Blue Diadem]

18. Thanks for posting this KoKo01

As soon as I finish putting more ink in my printer I'll finish printing the article for my hubby to read tonight when he gets home. He's one who has retrained..now making 2/3 of what he did before which is about equal to what he made in the early 80's.

[KoKo]

20. There are SO MANY of us who walk in your shoes...and we've blamed

ourselves...gone back and done the "more degree route" and in the end...it didn't matter. This article came closest to explaining WHY!

PM me if you can't get link to whole thing....

[KoKo]

19. If you don't subscribe to "NYT's"

"PM" me...I'll send you the whole thing....please do it...it's important if you have an interest.

[celestia671]

21. This is all to familiar...

I was laid off from my job at a hotel recently, and they had us come to one of those 'seminars' or whatever. Anyway, we were advised of our 'needs' and 'wants', grieving process for our jobs, and how, if we went back to school and got more training, that new jobs would just magically appear out of nowhere. We all knew this was bs, since we live in a small, economically depressed town.

Edited to add: And we too were talked to as if we were in Kindergarten and didn't know anything.

[UpInArms]

24. related: Book Review: The Disposable American

http://www.thestreet.com/pf/markets/economics/10275768.html

New York Times reporter Louis Uchitelle is a mild and measured man, but he has hit his boiling point.

"Everyone who talks to me about the book wants to make it about finding an enemy or blaming or politics ... they don't get it, and you don't either," he says in an interview. "This is not a book about unemployment. It's simply a book that sticks to what happens to people after they've been laid off."

That is exactly what will make his new book, The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences (Knopf, March 28, $25.95, 304 pages), difficult for many to digest. He simply tells what happens to workers, blue- and white-collar alike, after they are laid off, and the stories taken together paint a picture of Americans unable to fully recover from the toll that two decades of downsizing have had on productivity and dignity.

In doing so, he challenges conventional business reporting, political rhetoric and Wall Street wisdom that says layoffs are the best way to cut costs, that a constantly shifting workforce is the law of the land, and that caring about workers is antithetical to good business.

<snip>

The first is that all these layoffs will eventually result in a revitalized corporate America. But even as profit margins grow, there is no end to the firings of working- or professional-class employees. And, he argues, this level of instability will eventually hurt companies.

"What started as a legitimate response to America's declining hegemony has become an unending, debilitating condition," he adds.

...so much more worth reading...

Thanks for putting this out in GD, Koko!

This is something that is touching every life in this country. I was appalled when WH Economic Advisor Gregory Mankiew said that "outsourcing was good for the US economy".

It was and is such a boldfaced lie that I haven't been able to understand how everyone did not stand up that day and demand *Co's head.

[KoKo]

25. hey....thanks for the book review on this reporter...he deserves some

good feedback. So much there "between the lines" he gave us ....and I'm sure given what we know about NYT's he really put himself out to the wolves to report the "TRUTH" on this one.

And...it's READABLE....he didn't couch it or leave the important parts to the last three paragraphs. Speaking "Truth to Power." A good guy...reporter.

And...as I said ...thanks for the "OP" on this. I hope those here who link to other sites spread this one around. :-)'s

[undergroundpanther]

27. EAT the rich

Before they devour the world!

Fucking "faith based" intiatives... THIS outsourcing bullshit is what it means godwill MY ASS..!
Origins..
Goodwill Industries was founded in Boston's South End by Reverend Edgar J. Helms, a Methodist minister assigned to the mission of Morgan Chapel. Helms put people in need--many of them considered unemployable--to work by hiring them to collect, repair and sell donated goods. Although the name Goodwill Industries would not be coined until 1915, 1902 became known as the year Goodwill Industries was officially born.

The Goodwill Philosophy is thus a "a hand up, not a hand out" or "a chance, not a charity". Helms said it was an "industrial program as well as a social service enterprise ... a provider of employment, training and rehabilitation for people of limited employability, and a source of temporary assistance for individuals whose resources were depleted." So, instead of giving handouts, donated goods are sold for profit and that money is used to pay workers, who otherwise might not have jobs. That is true, even to this day.

With the Methodist church backing expansion, by 1920 there were 15 Goodwill organizations, including Morgan Memorial. In subsequent decades, the relationship with the church would gradually lessen as Goodwill sought leaders from outside the ministry, and as federal funding requirements made it necessary for Goodwill to become a more secular organization.

Today, the organization has grown into a global network of 207 independent, community-based agencies in the United States and abroad. In 2004, the organization reported revenues of $2.39 billion, where 723,485 people benefited from Goodwill career services and 104,110 people were placed in good jobs outside Goodwill. Also in 2004, more than 84% of Goodwill's revenues were spent on its education and career services expenses, as well as other critical community programs.

http://www.answers.com/topic/goodwill-industries

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_n6_v62/ai_20645729

Vern worked for Goodwill. Some of you are old enough to remember when our poor parents drug us off to what my mom called the 'dirty store.' It was that grubby thrift store that moms went to in the attempt to find decent clothes cheap, because even poor kids needed new school clothes in the
fall.

Now the Goodwill that I know of now are big fancy clean places where you buy used clothes for new clothes prices and the floors are clean and the neighboring business' are doctor's office. I am not a big fan of Goodwill. Sure I guess there is nothing evil about them but I have seen the operations
that they run. They get funding and grants from Charities and the Government to provide employment to those who cannot work in the traditional market. Busy work, mostly; separating clothes by color and size and other packaging and recycling programs. I am no expert on Goodwill and their operations. I have no real idea if they are doing good or harm. I do know that the majority of people that lived in the homes that I have worked in dreaded every minute that they had to be at Goodwill Industries and despised the way they were treated and hated the disrespect that was shown to them by the Goodwill staff and management.

I, being a behavioral management and skills training expert, and not an employment implementation specialist, could not tell you the social science behind what was happening there. I do remember seeing these people being harangued, threatened and degraded by over ambitious supervisors in an attempt
to increase production. PRODUCTION? The government pays the wages of the 'target population' and the supervisors. What does production have to do with it. I thought it was a program to help integrate people into the work force. Well I guess abuse and torment will help prepare you to be a wage earner

http://con.ca/issues/10/3/0/

[The Backlash Cometh]

28. I always knew that "re-training" was a joke. What the real scam is

that our education centers have become the big business of the GOP. First thing Jeb Bush did was get rid of regents and replace them with his own people.

You ought to look into who has the contracting assignements when public schools expand. I wouldn't be surprised if you find a correlation between GOP donations and the contractors selected.

[KoKo]

32. Interesting....first time I've ever seen any attention to this was this

article. I also have wondered if the "re-training" wasn't a way to get around age discrimination laws, too. Many executives in their late 40's and early 50's were downsized in the late 90's and sent to these centers. So it's not just the Blue Collar Workers but Managers and other's who were laid off just before the CEO's started to rake in the big bucks in the last ten years. Some folks have thought they cut out the "middle management" so that the Exec's could make more money....but who knows.

Whatever...it stinks. There probably is more to this hiding under the rocks.

[The Backlash Cometh]

34. Government use to be big business's BEST client.

In my dad's time, come October each year, the government's fiscal year came to an end and government had to spend the money, or lose it in the budget the following year. So our big companies, (which are now going belly-up), could count on some huge revenue from sales to the government. The sales people were happy because they made their Christmas bonuses, the stockholders were happy because they were investing in sound American companies, the retailers were happy because everybody had more money to spend.

Then, the Greedy GOP party suddenly decided that they wanted more. They wanted more money and more power. They figured that by cutting social services to the public they can reduce their own taxes AND they figured that if they downsized government, they would eliminate the civil servants in government who tend to vote for Democrats. So, the greedy GOPers complained that Big government was too big and they cut our throats and theirs. By downsizing government, the party of Big Business ACTUALLY KILLED THEIR BEST CLIENT! So, big business, always looking to exploit, never looking to create, went overseas...

Now, you asked about education. Geez. Public education IS STILL A GOOD GOVERNMENT CLIENT FOR BIG BUSINESS! It's the only government department where tax payers DEMAND THAT MORE MONEY IS PUT INTO IT!

Now, I've known it was a target market for cronies years ago, when I realized that our city attorney was also the attorney for the school district in the next county over. Lo and Behold I did a newspaper search for one of the commissioners in our city who had a business that had to do with trailers, and sure enough, our commissioner received a large contract from the school district where our city attorney was also the school attorney. I believe this attorney was later found to meddle far too much in the democratic part of the government process and was reprimanded. He lost his city attorney job, but still retained his school district job.

Anyway, construction is big bidness and there's still lots of money in public schools.

[KoKo]

29. If you want to read whole thing and don't subscribe to NYT's PM me

here for a copy.

[LisaLynne]

30. I was watching Oprah (yeah, yeah, I know) the other day ...

and she was doing a show about the poor with Anderson Cooper. They both were spouting out the "education will fix it all" meme. But, how can that DO anything when there are no JOBS? You should have seen where these people lived -- there were NO BUSINESSES, so how the heck is having some skills or a diploma going to help? Some people were stuck there because of ailing relatives. Others for various other reasons, but some had no water, no electricity, living in towns that were falling apart but yet having an education is going to fix that?

I'm not knocking education at all, and from the other extremely intelligent and thoughtful comments in this thread, I know you all understand that, but it's just that telling people to get educated when there are NO JOBS is blaming the victim. Even the people on the show were blaming themselves, saying how they had made bad choices, when in fact, most of them had been laid-off or had a spouse who ran out on them suddenly or a bunch of other things that were not their fault. And yet, somehow, this corporatist culture of ours gets them to think they only have themselves to blame.

And again, just in case I didn't emphasize it enough -- if there are NO JOBS, how the friggin heck is getting training going to help you???

[KoKo]

33. I know....it's a myth... At one time when there were jobs because our

country was growing...but, not anymore. Where are all those GM workers that are being laid off going to go? Who is going to be hiring in the downsized auto industry? Same thing with these airline workers in the article.

Look at all the furniture and textile workers in the South who were laid off. Where do they go. All those industries are gone. Do they retrain as hospital or restaurant workers? I thought our immigrants were supposed to be here to do those jobs.

It's a mess...and the Media works for the businesses who want to tell us that more education and retraining will work. I know folks with masters degrees from top business schools who can't find jobs. In their late 40's after being downsized from accounting firms and pharmaceutical companies that merged they are told they are too OLD!

America isn't growing. It's only based on Bubbles. First Dot.Com. and now Real Estate. We can't go on like this.

[Armstead]

35. BINGO -- That is why the Centrist Democratic message is so hollow

That in a nuitshell is why the whole premise of Deocrt Centrism is such an empty political posture.

Intead of going at the real problem with ouir current economic values and policies, the Centrists go for the meme that "All we need to do is improve education nd skills training."

That's hogwash, and most Americans realize it. It is merely making excuses for bad economic policies and a lack of social values in our politics. When I say social values, I mean the impact that immoral business practices has on the real lives of real people.

Until the Democrats wake up and smell the coffee in terms o9f the real underlying causes of our current problems, they will not seize the opportunity to both actually start towin elections agin and actually turn the country back in the right direction.

[KoKo]

43. True...all "WE" need is to "Improve!" Stop there...restart and "Reload."

says it all doesn't it. We thought "THEIR CAMPAIGN" started with IRAQ...NO it's been out there for DECADES!!! DECADES...they SOLD US DOWN THE RIVER!!! THEY ...sold us out..on their backs for stock options and CEO Salaries that would make a whore blush...:blush:

[Texaroo]

38. A view from an "efficiency expert"

When people ask my daughter what her dad does for a living, she answers, "He fires people." I am one of the dreaded efficiency consultants, and what I do is look at ways to improve efficiency. Five years ago, that usually meant improving technology. Inevitably, it involves job loss, but usually, there was some other position to go to within the company.

That has changed. American business has adopted a "day trader" mentality, and everyone is after the quick return, regardless of the long-term consequences. I work in about the most conservative of the long-term industries, and I see that trend here - "impress the analysts" is the rule we live by. We have outsourced about 12% of our workforce in the past three years. In many cases, I halted technology improvements because it was CHEAPER TO OUTSOURCE AN INEFFICIENT PROCESS.

That is the old maquiladora mentality: I once met a guy who was doing a cost benefit analysis for a maquiladora's purchase request for a forklift. The alternative he settled upon? Hire another dozen guys and give them stick to maneuver 2-ton rolls of wire through a warehouse.

We are destroying the lives of our children to turn a quick buck. WHen we outsource jobs, we essentially eliminate entry-level positions. We have given proprietary programming information to India, eliminating the need for entry-level programmers here. The same for other process workers.

End result? We are destroying, in less than a generation, all institutional knowledge - those things that result in long-range understanding and sustainable growth. We don't care about college education anymore - degree programs focus on trades, and not upon the ability to think and reason. The Job Training Partnership Act is a joke - designed to award political spoils, when it isn't giving businesses taxpayer money because they don't want to invest in training their own employees. (I know, because I worked with that program for a number of years as a public servant - it's no accident that it is a REPUBLICAN program).

This is pure and unadulterated greed. It is evil. Republicans celebrate this greed - they even have bastardized Christianity to assuage their guilt. They are destroying this country, and the Dems are standing by and letting it happen, when they are not actively participating. We live in a new generation of robber barons, and, if we are not careful, the US isn't going to remain a rail town...

[KoKo]

45. What you say is so interesting ...A "maquiladora mentality:" and it

sounds so true...and thank you for saying this...It needs to be read here...because whether one "agrees" or not...it's going to be an "Issue."

And...I think I'm kind of in there with your observations because listinging to the Mainstream Media address what "IS NOT" "MAINSTREAM NEWS" means I listen to my fellow DU'ers. What THEY SAY...is more important than "Chattering/yakking Heads" on all things we deal with today.

thanks for the "plain speak!"

[Raksha]

39. Thank you for posting this.

I saved the print version of the article. It's important that we all understand that destroying the American workforce is one of the neocons' goals, and has been for some time.

[KoKo]

40. I can still send those who "PM" me here on DU the full article...don't be

shy. This needs to be passed around. And, I can send the copy here through DU so you don't need to give me your e-mail address. I'm a privacy freak too..so I understand...:-)'s

[KoKo]

42. oh...well just "hump" this important Post to the MAX....just keep it going

and, as I said...if you want to read the whole thing just DU "PM" me..I'll send it with "no strings attached."

Please read...............PLEASE!!!!

[patdem]

44. Americans either WON'T work (immigration) or are too DUMB to work HB2

visas. We Americans..the GREATEST county on EARTH...has either too many lazy people or too many dumb people..HOW CAN WE STILL BE THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH?

[KoKo]

47. I know....the "Mainstream Media" repeats. "too dumb or won't work" so

that we ALL BELIEVE IT! I don't mind harvesting veggies if I get paid a good salary....and have a place to lay my head with my family that has decent sanitation and some educational resources that can assure me my kids can go to not only Harvard but the State University. I would work under the sun in heat...but I don't want my wife and kids to die in this...I'm WORKING FOR FUTURE!!!.

Just like EVEYONE who came to AMERICA who passed by the "Statue of Liberty" thought...years ago.

BUT..in this CASE with the Mexican/Latino's ...we feel that THEIR COUNTRIES ..so close on our border should have FOUGHT WITH BUSHIES to make their DEMANDS AND PRESENCE KNOWN...

Why wasn't this all worked out when Bush was Texas Governor..that it suddenly shows up now?

But...do I feel that the Real Estate/Contstruciton "McMansion Boom" shouldn't be held accountable for all those "illegals" they brought in promising them "amnesty and citizenship" ....well YOU BET I DO!

All these illegals knew that they were needed and the Bushie Chamber of Commerce and GROWTH STATEs would WELCOME THEM...

But...like with all immigrants...when We Americans have used you...we THROW YOU OUT ON YOUR ASS.

That's what SUCKS!!! They do it and keep doing it. And, it's coming home to roost. :-(

[2Design]

49. terrific article

<snikp>
Something quite different seems to be true: the oversupply of skilled workers is driving people into jobs beneath their skills and driving down the pay of jobs equal to their skills. Both happened to the aircraft mechanics laid off by United.
,/snip>

[KoKo]

53. I think it would be interesting to do survey of how many work "beneath'

their skills today. It might surprise the Bushies...and it might surprise most of America. What's been going on with "downsizing, outsourcing" and the general "globilization" might wake some folks up if they really saw what was going on.

I suppose it's a matter of "expectation." In that after WWII many of us were told to get the best education we could and we would be safe forever. We raised kids based on this too. Then it all crashed down.

"THEY" want to tell us it was all Computers that led to Productivity growth while we downsized ourselves...but it goes deeper. Will take years and misery before anyone bothers to look "beneath the surface" as to why our Government and Educational Institutions didn't see it coming and alerted us to what would be coming for us. We based our lives on a promise that fell flat. But, our tax dollars paid folks to see this. Someone needs to be held accountable for what we are going through. We couldn't have seen it on our own but so many profited out of what we didn't see it does cause "questions." :-(

[2Design]

50. congress critters should have to face this - instead all of our

taxes will go to their salaries and benefits for life and all the military retires and other government retires and even bozo and his minions - they are draining this country - they want the social programs stopped so their social programs are funded

[KoKo]

52. I have trouble understanding what goes on in DC these days...but

given what we've seen you might be right. Many Congress Critters seem to be only interested in what they can rip us all off for while they pretend to follow that HACK Grover Norquist in saying that Government should be drowned in a "bath tub." Grover seems to RAKE IT IN by the Bath Tub Full while pretending to be the opposite. TYPICAL Lying Repug...if you ask me. They say: "Ask not what I do, or say...just follow what I Preach." :puke:

[2Design]

54. only government they are drowning are social programs

Once I finally realized that when conservatives and government say they want smaller government - what they are really saying is get rid of social programs - BUT
they will spend as much money and more on themselves - and they will give all their friends government jobs and pensions - all of the military has first dips on any government job when they apply -

this is all about them - not us - has always been - they just make it seem like it is immigrants or lack of education or whatever they can distract everyone with - and then they give themselves 4000/year raise while cutting benefits to the miltary or to elders or anyone who needs help

[KoKo]

51. Please "PM" me for this article...it comes through on DU Format...but

is still "readable." If you can't read it then I can send you the copy otherwise. I don't like to do "personal e-mails" but if you need the straight NYT's copy ...then give me an e-mail address to send it to.

I'm a privacy freak...so if you have an address that's anonymous..I'll send it from my anonymous...

I just hope this gets around..everywhere. :-(

[KoKo]

59. Once More: I can still send you the whole "Print copy" of the article....

just PM me....

Thanks to those of you who have asked for it..It's important to pass it around... :-)'s

[KoKo]

60. A kick because this deserves a look....and a little more time?

Well...this DU'er thinks it's worth a look and I'm happy to send you the full post from NYT's if you don't have a subscription to them. This post isn't behind the Wall but lots of DU'ers don't like to sign up to get their "basic stuff" from WaPo or NYT's.

[Joanne98]

61. Chaos capitalism! Just keep it moving! We make money off every PIP!

[Joanne98]

62. That's PIP not pimp. My son's a FOREX trader..............

[KoKo]

63. Chaos Capitalism/Chaos Terrorism Alerts/Chaos Government/Chaos

EVERYWHERE! If only we felt sure the Bushies "Group Speak/Theories from the Think Tanks" had had some training in "Chaos Management!" :D What happens when economic crap theories go "outta control" and when the "chaos" becomes to big to control anymore.

That's when the "S**t hit's the fan." :-(

[seafan]

64. Link here to the entire story. Great piece!

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.computer.consultants/msg/3358c1d19a79e68b?&q=Retraining+Laid-Off+Workers%2C+but+for+What

[area51]

65. kick. (n/t)