Here's how difficult it is to get a job right now....

[cboy4]

I have a couple of friends who never shop at Wal Mart and who said they would never work at Wal Mart, now working at Wal Mart.

There are no jobs.

And this tax rebate is only going to be a band aid.

I never realized how bad the job market is. It's horrendous.

Some of my liberal friends, who hate Wal Mart, had to swallow their pride and are now working at Wal Mart because it's a paycheck and they were getting desperate. x(

I'm sure this is a common story throughout the country.

[mdmc]

1. Just the other day I found myself fantasizing about employment at Walmart

:shrug:

[Fresh_Start]

2. it is terrible out there

there are many issues in the country but jobs+income is a key to the future

[Fresh_Start]

3. increase in long term unemployment is in excess of 100%

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issuebriefs_ib198

[KatyaR]

6. Part of the problem is the that the public doesn't understand that.

I was talking with a 20-something rightwinger at work the other day, trying to explain to him how many people are out of work. He couldn't understand that because the unemployment numbers are so low. When I explained to him that the long-term unemployed aren't included in those numbers, he looked like his head was gonna explode. Of course, then he just shook his head and walked away, totally ignoring what I had said.

People won't "get it" until it's staring them right in the face.

[Fresh_Start]

9. this administration has made it difficult to find the truth

used to be simple to find
discouraged workers
work force participation rate
long term unemployed
people working part time who want full time employment

now you have to dig to find those numbers
All of those improved during Clinton administration, all of them have deteriorated during Bush administration

[Bozita]

14. Thanks for posting that link. Really interesting numbers!

[Fresh_Start]

15. news blackout on anything of importance

that might make the Bush look bad

[cutlassmama]

39. from 2004. Would like more recent numbers

[lurky]

19. Holy cow!

:wow:

2003 (last available data) had the worst long-term unemployment since the Reagan recession in 1983! I wonder how bad it is now, since the economy has gone in the crapper?

[Fresh_Start]

21. exactly, I used to look at this regularly for work

its not getting bad, its been bad

[cboy4]

24. Very disturbing. Thanks for posting that. n/t

[Fresh_Start]

27. here's another eye opener

http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/ArticleReader?itemid=00000486&print=1

[devilgrrl]

7. Anyone know if the issue is even being covered by the MSM?

nt

[Fresh_Start]

13. no, they only speak about what the administration wants them to

after all, wasn't the economy still just ducky until 2-3 months ago?

[devilgrrl]

16. That is something that just kills, especially in regard to the campaign coverage...

hillary obama hillary obama
rudy9/11 mitt huckabee
hillary obama hillary obama
rudy9/11 mitt huckabee
hillary obama hillary obama
rudy9/11 mitt huckabee
hillary obama hillary obama
rudy9/11 mitt huckabee
hillary obama hillary obama
rudy9/11 mitt huckabee
blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa

Some real hard hitting shit they're telling us.:sarcasm:

[Fresh_Start]

17. wouldn't you like them to discuss the policy positions

instead of the personalities?

But they think that politics should be like Brittany all the time

[devilgrrl]

18. They want an uninformed, compliant public and it's sickening!

:puke:

And yes, I'd like to hear what the candidates have to say about pertinent issues but how can they discuss them when assholes like Tim Russert keep asking them questions about UFOs and favorite quotes from the bible?

[bigbrother05]

4. or join the military

that is what they want, no options, control the masses

[pitohui]

5. i think the military would screaming if i try to join at my age

walmart seems to give jobs to older people, which many employers won't do, so that's probably part of the story

[izquierdista]

10. Older, meaning over 30?

It seems that if you want more than entry level wages, employers aren't as anxious to hire. Wal-Mart has solved that problem, since they give equal opportunity to entry level wages to both younger AND older workers.

[flashl]

25. Thats been my personal position.

And, strongly suspect that when the military recruitment numbers go up, there will be some improvements in employment prospects.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. Tucson population is about 700,000-800,000

The paper today had a total of 25 help wanted ads. This country is in real trouble.

[MANative]

22. To be fair, many employers today do not use want ads

My business provides consulting services for Staffing firms and corporate HR depts, and easily more than 80% have stopped using newspaper want ads over the last few years in favor of online job boards such as Monster and Careerbuilder. There are actually more than 30K active job boards on the internet. No denying that there are hiring slow-downs in many sectors, but many of my clients are busier than every filling jobs. The part that is more worrisome is the increasing percentage of temp, contract and temp-to-perm vs direct hire jobs.

[Nay]

37. True. I work at a large corp and we haven't used want ads in years.

We use Monster and the occasional display ad in targeted, specialty publications. That's it.

[MANative]

43. It would be interesting to see if job postings on

the really big boards have dropped. Anecdotally, I'm not hearing that from my clients. What I have seen is some migration to smaller specialty boards, especially in Medical and tech areas. Sadly, though, our research and experience has shown that the best candidates are not usually the ones that are searching the online boards. Big catch-22, if you ask me!!

[Zorra]

41. Undocumented workers create intense competition for jobs throughout

southern Arizona. Southern Arizona has very few jobs available, and wages are pathetically low there.

[JackBeck]

11. Last night, I had a dream that I applied for a second job at Starbucks.

Our mortgage company keeps fucking with us by upping our escrow contributions because of some weird tax stuff pulled by City Hall. I've been on the phone with Countrywide 5 times over the last month and each time they said they would fix the problem. And they always end the call with the refi pitch. If we can get at least 1% lower rate, with no points or closing costs, we might do it. But as first time home-buyers, a little over a year into our mortgage, the last month has been a living hell.

[Rosemary2205]

23. Ugh - Countrywide and escrow -- in the same sentence - ugh

escrow is enough of a rip off by itself, but Countrywide gives a whole new meaning to rip off.

I feel for you.

[JackBeck]

40. And we originally didn't have Countrywide.

My sister, who is a compliance lawyer for another mortgage company, swears that Countrywide is run by the mafia.

The only other time I've had a showdown with a large company was with Verizon. And that did not end pretty.

What a headache this has all become.

[Warpy]

12. Here in central NM around college graduation times

of January and June, it's hard to go into any retail store that doesn't have recent grads filling out employment forms.

The last time I saw it this bad was in the early 90s, and guess whose daddy was in office?

When is this country going to learn? That party is just plain bad for business, as are conservatives within our own party.

[HughBeaumont]

20. Seriously. Just like 41.

1991-1994 financially SUCKED for me and most college grads. Many with college degrees who were lucky to FIND jobs found them in warehouses or low-paying clerical positions via temporary services. Wasn't Manpower the leading employer during the early 1990s? I remmeber one particular month of cold-calling, pavement-pounding frustration; most of the places I ventured up to had either a sign on the door stating "WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING ANY APPLICATIONS OR RESUMES AT THIS TIME" or had rows and rows of empty cubes as if the place was being fumigated.

So I had to keep the minimum-wage job I had for about half of the 90s and couldn't move out of my parent's house because I just didn't make enough to even rent an apartment.

The fallout from the 80s pirate/junk bonding/S&L scam-dals was harsh for the people who got left with the bill: the college graduates, seniors and workers. The wealthy, of course, got off scot-free as usual.

[AwakeAtLast]

44. I worked for Manpower in the early 90's

:hi:

I know exactly what you are talking about. On top of that I was also dealing with a divorce.

So what that means is that it has taken me this long to make any headway, and now it's going to be sucked dry because of BushCo. You can't win for losing!

:banghead:

[Rosemary2205]

26. Excuse me, but we have PLENTY of jobs and it ISN'T hard to find one at all.

America is so wonderful that people often have 2, 3 or even 4 jobs!!

JOBS are a dime a dozen. Now, those jobs that existed back in the dark ages that paid enough for one wage earner to support a family, including keeping the kids in basic medical care and decent education, well -- good luck with that.

ALL of the politicians are running their faces about "jobs". BS - we don't need more JOBS - we need WAGES.

[unapatriciated]

28. Edwards does address the need for a living wage and.....

an increase of minimum to little over nine dollars an hour.

[cboy4]

29. I read your post a couple of times, and I'm hoping I

missed some sarcasm.

Are you being sarcastic about how there are "PLENTY" of jobs and it "ISN'T hard" to find one at all?

[TalkingDog]

32. The point is: Yes, there are jobs. Some people even have 2 or 3

jobs.

What good does having 2 or 3 jobs do you if you can't earn a living wage?

It's not about Jobs. It's about Wages.

Wages are substandard. Inflation (even though they are denying it) has robbed the money we DO make of any real spending power.

So if every person in America has a Job, but they only make $1.00 per hour at that job, the plenitude or lack of jobs is totally meaningless and unimportant.

Wages....that's the ticket.

My Favorite Master Artist: Karen Parker GhostWoman Studios

[truedelphi]

36. Very good point. Wages have gone elsewhere.

While CEo windfalls explode to one thousand time the average worker's salary or more.

[live love laugh]

30. I also have a friend who works at Walmart. She hates it but could not

get a job elsewhere.

[cboy4]

31. Yea, I know. These people who say it's easy to find

jobs must know something that nobody else knows.

Poor holiday sales are forcing retail stores to make drastic cuts.

It is not easy.

[mnhtnbb]

33. My 21 yo son has been laid off from tech jobs twice in 3 years.

After 3+ weeks unemployed, he got an offer on Friday. He's calling another place back on Monday where he did well on interviews (and was told they'd make a decision Friday or Monday) and asking for the job: it's with a local city government in the Triangle area. Better pay, better benefits, more stability. I have been holding good thoughts for him all weekend hoping they make him an offer.

He found out that after the software company where he previously worked laid off 75% of the tech support department, they hired contract workers to replace everybody.

[cboy4]

34. Well I hope everything works out for him....government

employment seems the way to go.

The retirement benefits are out of this world.

Here in California, if you're a state worker, you basically have to murder someone before you lose your job.

[cutlassmama]

38. That's how it is here in Texas too.

[truedelphi]

35. Contract workers here, contract workers there, contract workers everywhere.

If a large firm hasn't outsourced then they use contract workers.

No benefits, no job security.

You are on probation and it can take a long time to get through to being a full time hire.

[dysfunctional press]

42. my wife is a graphic designer who got laid off just before thanksgiving...

from a job that she had held for a little over 3 years. we moved last year, and her commute changed to almost 90 minutes each way, so it was actually a good thing.

she temped her way through the first half of december, until the work kind of dried up for the holidays. BUT- after the first of the year, the phone was ringing constantly, she had several interviews, and two job offers by the second week of january.

one offer was with a large corporation(sears), the other with a small design firm, and both jobs about 12 miles away but in different directions.

she chose the smaller company, because the job is much more interesting- the large corporation was just going to be having her photoshopping things all day, whereas at the smaller firm, she'll be doing web and print design- being able to be much more creative.

she would have started the new job sooner, too- but she had committed herself to a 3-week temp stint at united airlines.

she only missed enough work to collect one unemployment check, mostly due to the holidays.