We're Not All Spoiled Brats, Really

Ah, gotta love the mainstream media and what they choose to report.  I was actually intrigued when I saw this article in the NY Times talking about the struggles younger people are having finding work.  In the first few paragraphs, my heart went out to Scott, the young 24 year old searching for work.  Until that is, I read this part...

After several interviews, the Hanover Insurance Group in nearby Worcester offered to hire him as an associate claims adjuster, at $40,000 a year. But even before the formal offer, Mr. Nicholson had decided not to take the job.

Rather than waste early years in dead-end work, he reasoned, he would hold out for a corporate position that would draw on his college training and put him, as he sees it, on the bottom rungs of a career ladder.

Okay, I'm not saying that's a LOT to live on in the Boston area (or any metro) but it's a respectable starting salary for someone who actually JUST graduated college and has no real work experience.   Hell, I know people personally who HAVE work experience and are out of college several years who are making that and this was BEFORE the recession.

The article (and please, you can read it for yourself above) goes on to state that his parents make a combined $175K a year and between them and his grandparents he has NO student loans (as they put him through college) and have been fully supporting him since he graduated in 2008.  Yes, you heard me, 2008.    But instead of actually trying to find a job (or accept one as he HAD an offer), he didn't want to do it because his brother makes $75K doing more senior work in the field.

Unemployment Insurance Myth vs. Reality

A lot of myths are out there about unemployment insurance and these have, sadly been spreading to me both my personal facebook page and twitter.   Out of sheer frustration, it's time to clear some of this stuff up.  

Myth: You actually don't pay into unemployment, your employer does 

Reality: In most states both you AND your employer pay for unemployment

If you live in New Jersey, like I do, and are lucky enough to have a job, check your paystub.  There's something taken out called SUI/SDI - these random letters mean State Unemployment Insurance and State Disability Insurance.  This is money that you pay into the unemployment (and disability) insurance while working so you can get paid if you're too ill to work or laid off.   Yes, companies DO pay a portion of unemployment but only for 26 weeks (which I believe is the case in EVERY state.).    For the record, I've paid into unemployment in two states since I was 16 years old.  I have never been on unemployment until the downturn.  

The Unemployed are the New Immigrants

There's been growing public scrutiny of the unemployed in the past few months. This actually started in Congress back in March when Jim Bunning, famously yelled "tough $***" when he tried to block unemployment benefits extension. This has been sweeping through Congress for months now, with Orrin Hatch stating that people on unemployment should have mandatory drug tests and various other (republican) senators referring to the unemployed as hobos, lazy, entitled, etc.

I guess it's no surprise then that this attitude has spread to the business world with companies deciding they don't want to hire the unemployed.

The rising accusations state the unemployed only have themselves to blame, regardless that we're in the worst economy since the great depression and job growth can't keep up with the number of job seekers. Somehow though, this is the fault of the unemployed if you listen to the pundits.

I'm sure part of this spreading attitude is due to greed by those who are actually really profiting from the recession. However, it would probably go no further than a few joke politicians (Sarah Palin for example) that most people don't take seriously. For this to penetrate deep into society enough that companies are actually including this in job postings speaks to something much deeper. No Unemployed Need Apply makes me think of another (also illegal) method of job posting back from the 1800s and early 1900s when cities posted "No Irish Need Apply" signs in major cities to discourage the new immigrants from applying.

Back then it was thought that the Irish immigrants were thought somehow to be inferior to the current citizens. They were thought lazy or drunk. They were a minority group that was easy to relegate to a lesser class of citizens. Many ethnic minorities faced these same problems over the years that passed followed by gays, and other minority groups.

As the years went by, and various laws were passed making it illegal to discriminate against these groups. You can not post an ad for employment in this country stating "No Blacks Need Apply" or "No gays need apply" and if you were stupid enough to do so, not only would you face massive public outrage but lawsuits as well.

Technically, "no unemployed need apply" isn't technically illegal. Highly unethical, yes. Legally though, it's a very gray area.

But why these attacks on the unemployed?

Well, for starters, we're easy targets. Without jobs, we don't have powerful lobbies and attorneys. Hell, most unemployed are so stressed that they don't have time to notice the attacks so they're simply not paying attention. After all, would you be worried about what some senator or job ad said if you were living out of your car?

However, further than that. This recession has lasted a really long time. Economic recessions typically last a year at most, we're three years in and this recession is still going strong. Now, it could be argued that this downturn is in fact, a depression, and no one will admit it to avoid panicking the public. Which is possible. Even a few generations removed from the Great Depression of the 30s, most people are still frightened by the thought of that happening.

And that's what this all boils down to. Fear.

Fear that with continued outsourcing that even the employed might have to rely on unemployment or lose their homes. Fear that the prosperity this country has known in decades past may never return. Fear that what have happened to others in this recession might happen to them. Everyone's afraid and they go about comforting themselves by convincing themselves that it can't happen to them, that the unemployed are somehow different than they are. Bob and Jane next door did something to cause this and you're not so you have nothing to worry about.

I could go on a philosophical rant here and state about how this is just another manifestation of Hegel's theory of the other but I want to keep this clear without going into advanced philosophy so I'll try to boil this down to the simple parts. People are desperate to separate themselves from the recession and those being affected by it and are taking some really disgusting means in some cases to do so.

Welcome to 2010, no matter your qualifications and education, the republican senators hate you because you're unemployed.