Job Seekers Find Bias Against The Unemployed

[The Straight Story]

Job Seekers Find Bias Against The Unemployed

Unemployed workers face big hurdles as they try to get new jobs in today's economy. First, there's the numbers game: Close to 25 million workers unemployed or under-employed looking for jobs. In fact, there are five unemployed workers for every single job opening in the economy.

Increasingly, though, jobless workers are facing the ultimate barrier. Some employers are saying if you're out of work, we don't want to hire you.

Until he got laid off more than two years ago, Michael Hall was a road warrior. "I would leave my home here in California about 3 a.m. to catch a flight and get home Friday around midnight," he says.

In between, he'd often make eight more airline connections as he flew around the country.

http://m.npr.org/story/131367533?url=/2010/11/16/131367533/some-will-only-hire-if-you-already-have-a-job