Depression: Unemployed;destitute man leaning against vacant store:photo by Dorothea Lange, circa 1935

The Trauma of Unemployment

Forrest ChristianCareers 2 Comments

So, you lost your job. Maybe it really is a “killer job market”. Yet here you are, sending out more resumes, hitting “Apply” in the job website, making the rounds. And nothing seems to be working. You keep at it, but it’s getting tiring. Your spouse, originally so supportive, is asking how long this is going to take. “Mary lost …

Employees at Mid-Continent Refinery [ca. 1943 Tulsa, OK (LOC). By John Vachon]

How Unemployment Endangers Everything You Love

Forrest ChristianCareers 1 Comment

Happy people are generally happy, no matter what. Unhappy people are generally unhappy no matter what. Whether genetics or childhood environment, it seems to be pretty set by the time you hit your mid-20s. It’s like we have a thermostat that gets set to a particular number. You might have something that changes the temperature suddenly, but the system will …

Run on East Side Bank, N.Y. 1912 February 16. Bain News Service via Library of Congress.

Today’s Job Market: The Unemployed Stay Unemployed

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People make the mistake of assuming that the job market for them is the same as it is for everyone else. In today’s financial crisis influenced hiring, that’s simply not true. Steve Eddington has some interesting comments on today’s job market (“The Hiring Decision – In the Current Job Market, Who’s on First?”): As the headhunter, we have the distinct …

CR on the Duration of Unemployment

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Calculated Risk has posted a couple of interesting graphs showing the variance in the lengths of unemployment over the last 40 years (U.S. only). It’s what I’ve been saying: you don’t want to go unemployed these days because those without jobs aren’t going to get new ones. CR’s points are worth noting: … if the level of normal turnover was …

Them that’s got and them that’s not: Today’s employment

Forrest ChristianOverachievers 1 Comment

Them that’s got shall get Them that’s not shall lose So the Bible said and it still is news “Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%” The New York Times reports today on the situation of unemployment in the United States. The numbers, which I have been mentioning, differ from the standard ones issued by the government because they …

US Jobless Rates Still Increasing

Forrest ChristianCareers, Financial crisis Leave a Comment

For my American readers, you may be interested in a recent post on CalculatedRisk where CR graphs the recent BLS data on unemployment. The interesting things for you are the positive states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Virginia. And possibly Vermont. Oklahoma looks pretty good to me too, having just talked to my old friends in Michigan. Another interesting …

ASSOCHAM: Indian Firms May Fire 25%

Forrest ChristianCareers, Reviews - Articles Leave a Comment

ASSOCHAM threatens that Indian firms may lay off 25% of their workers in the next 10 days, according to Expressindia. This seems a bit excessive even by my apparently ghoulish attitude to the current recession/collapse. I’m not sure what this means or if it is simply posturing by Industry. A quarter of your workforce is a large number, especially if …

Time for success!

How Hope Breeds Success

Forrest ChristianMotivation Leave a Comment

People who have always been fully employed often pooh-pooh the idea that simply being unemployed can have detrimental effects on people, especially men. Even though they have never struggled to find work, usually moving seamlessly from one position to another, they have strong opinions on the laziness of the long-term unemployed. Studies in unemployment show how a long-drawn-out idleness affects …