Reply #58: You are not alone

[eilen]

My brother and brother in law are subcontractors (carpenters) and don't qualify for unemployment. They are barely getting by month to month in Tennessee. My brother in law is in worse shape as they have higher overhead and less savings. My brother says something is coming up but it is very hard to compete with undocumented labor teams.

My husband has been working out of state for the last four months (IBEW)--( we saw him at Christmas last). He is staying in a hotel room by himself but it is a job. He is frustrated that it is straight forty (no OT). I've applied for three nursing jobs and haven't heard a thing (I call every week) which is very unusual. Every time I call I hear that the jobs are still open. I don't understand why-- the first one I applied for was in November, they are lagging the hiring and won't admit it.

You have a valuable skill. Try to keep yourself busy, see if your parents need any work on their house, they will be so grateful. The neighbors will see you and may ask you for some small jobs. Even if it puts gas in your car so you can get out for a few hours, it will make you feel better, less rusty (I'm feeling rusty now).

I'm in Syracuse, there is a mall project going on (Destiny USA) and they finally seem to have some of it closed in. I expect that the weather as well as the economy has slowed some things down but they do have to complete the first phase. Our local carpenter's union (it kind of sucks, you have to find your own jobs there but I think they have a referral service) might have some information. Just to warn, they were hard hit by the Madoff Ponzi scheme -- their pension funds were lost. Here's the website http://www.local747.com/ez/">Local 747 This area is not expensive/high rent.