Brother, can you spare a job...
After the tech bubble burst, Eric, like a zillion other techies, particularly those over a certain age, had a tough time finding steady work, so we empathize with the informants in this NYTimes piece:
Across the nation, the labor market has been deteriorating. Many companies, long reluctant to add workers, are hunkered down and waiting for improved prospects, engaged in what Ed McKelvey, a senior economist at Goldman Sachs, calls "a hiring strike." Americans with jobs are taking cuts to their work hours; those without jobs are staying out of work longer, or accepting positions that pay far less than they earned previously.Teenagers are struggling to land minimum-wage jobs at fast-food restaurants, because those positions are increasingly being filled by adults. And those with poor credit are finding that this can disqualify them from getting a job.
IN many communities, dreams of upward mobility are yielding to despair and the grim realization that the economy -- not strong for less-educated workers even when it was growing -- may now be shrinking, making it tougher than ever to find a job.
Indeed, the increasingly anemic job market comes on the heels of six years of economic expansion that delivered robust corporate profits but scant job growth. The last recession, in 2001, was followed by a so-called jobless recovery. As the economy resumed growing, payrolls continued to shrink.
Thing is, many people knew that it's been bad, and getting worse, for years, but the media continued to tout the Bush Administration's "the economy is great!" talking points. I think the only ones in for a rude awakening are DC pols and their media bootlickers.
Update: I forgot to include what I consider the most outrageous part of the article:
For more than a decade, Dorothy Thomas, 49, an African-American and a mother of two, worked as an administrative assistant at various health care centers in Northern California. In her last job, she earned $16 an hour, as well as benefits, she said.It was never enough to pay all the bills, she said, so she made choices, paying this one, not paying that one, all the while focused on one mission: getting her two daughters through school. She lived in apartments in better neighborhoods, paying more rent than she could afford to ensure that her girls attended better schools.
"I truly bought into the idea that education is the way out of poverty," Ms. Thomas says. One daughter received a master's degree in education and is a teacher in Hawaii, she says, and the other is still in college.
But the bills for Ms. Thomas are still coming due. She lost her car in November 2005 after she fell behind on the payments. Unable to drive to work, she lost her job. Since then, she has been unable to find a job.
Several times, she has landed interviews that seemed likely to bring offers, but the jobs required a credit check -- a test she cannot pass.
"My credit is just so in shambles," she told a classroom full of people gathered for a credit counseling session at the Private Industry Council. "More and more jobs are checking your credit. They're saying that credit is a reflection of your character."
Credit scores are determined by three private companies, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. While there are a few feeble laws in regards to credit reporting, there is truly no serious federal oversight of these agencies. The fact that they have the means to control the work options of so many people is truly frightening. Last year, Eric had an offer in hand from one of the top two router companies; the only catch - agree to a consumer credit check. While we have a few dings on our credit in the past, the last couple of years have been blemish-free, so he wasn't particularly worried about not "passing" muster. However, after my ranting over how any company asking for a consumer credit check was tantamount to racial and gender profiling (women of color are most vulnerable to credit problems, for many reasons outside of their own control) he refused, on principle, to agree to the check. He made his case to the hiring manager, who, it appeared, truly understood Eric's position. However, the higher ups wouldn't budge, so Eric turned down the job. Fortunately, his new employer, a European entity, would never consider ceding such power to an unregulated third-party.