Layoff fears part of 'new normal'

[rodeodance]

Source: chicago trib



Layoff fears part of 'new normal'
Affluence, college education no protection from job market that cycles quickly through workers

By Barbara Rose, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Darnell Little contributed to this report
Published July 1, 2007

Good skills and a good attitude no longer ensure steady employment, even when the economy is humming. This is the first in an occasional series about job loss and the changing nature of employment.
............

But below the surface of a strong economy is an unsettling trend that may be contributing to worrying changes in the school lunch program and elsewhere. Residents seem to be losing jobs at a faster clip. They land back on their feet but not necessarily at the kind of salaries to which they had become accustomed.

"There's more recycling going on, faster cycling," said retired consultant Philip Roussel, who sits on the board of the Barrington Career Center, which helps job seekers in the northwest suburbs. Despite low unemployment, attendance at a weekly networking meeting is up 37 percent.

People find jobs faster in a good economy "but more people are losing jobs than you might think," Roussel says.

.............

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun_barringtonjul01,0,2295198.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed

[Robson]

1. The trend is screw workers and reward CEOs

I find the 20 year trend where the corporatist elite get all the marbles and the US workers get all the grief as quite disgusting. This is truly what needs changed. We need populist politicians and hopefully a Democratic Party that stands up first for those many Americans that have been getting screwed. Unfortunately I don't see those who support free trade and free immigration and illegal immigration amnesty such as the DLC as being on the right side.

[AndyTiedye]

2. It WAS Changing in Silicon Valley

That was the thing about the Silcon Valley boom that disturbed the Repiggies the most —
everyone was getting stock options, a lot of people were making a lot of money —
and practically everyone stayed Democratic. According to the Repiggie playbook you're
supposed to become a Repig then, and when that didn't happen, the Repiggies sic'ed
Enron on us.

[Robson]

8. Besides Kucinich and possibly Edwards, what Dem candidate will work to change it?

I don't see any of the other candidates working to restore confidence in our middle class system. The high rollers on Wall Street, and the CEO class, and the mil-industrial complex are sucking the lifeblood out of our economy because of their greed.

[femrap]

3. UNION!

Maybe the white collars need to organize.

[Skittles]

4. working hard means nothing anymore

they'll still pimp off your job to the lowest bidders, to people so incredibly inept you have to see it for yourself to believe it

[katty]

24. agree, working hard, now, is a worthless endeavor - on July

4th bush&co will celebrate the bananaReTHUGlicazation of a-mur-icka, it's over folks

[malakai2]

5. Reminds me of The Jungle

You can be born into a class above such worries, catch an extraordinarily lucky break and join that class, or you can hope to keep pace with the "speeding up" so that you don't lose your dwelling, or anything else. Kinda funny that the story is published in a Chicago newspaper shortly after the turn of the century.

[NYC]

28. The Jungle was 1906.

101 years.

Progress?

I forgot to say: Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Screwfly]

6. "Good skills and a good attitude" Ha-ha

The only management skill that counts now a days is being a lousy slave driver who really knows how to cheat workers out their benefits, over time pay, etc.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

7. They're about ten years behind the news.

the middle class has been destroyed. Education and experience are harmful, not helpful, to finding a job.

[ramapo]

9. More like 15 years

But who's complaining. People are might complacent given the daily beatings that occur.

[slackmaster]

19. I'd say more like 25+ years

In this world, you're on your own.

[lastliberalintexas]

26. Or more like 39 years

Nitpicking, I know, but I'd trace the beginnings back to the first Nixon administration. Especially after reading about Nixon's hidden Kaiser moment from Sicko.

[nick303]

13. From personal experience and every study done on the subject

I believe that there is a strong (positive) correlation between education and finding a job.

[raccoon]

14. When you're over 40, definitely over 50, it means nothing.

All they see is you're old and they want to hire somebody young.

[Javaman]

10. I'm lucky in the respect, I have a job that no one else wants to do where I work...

at some point in the future, when oil is decline in earnest and funky things are happening with climate change, I will then be let go, but until then it's totally up to me to screw it up. LOL

[candice]

27. How are we supposed to buy all the crop from China if we don't have jobs?

[Kat45]

11. Since 1999, I've been laid off twice.

In between the two layoffs, I had to cobble together part-time jobs. The second layoff came when I'd finally found a decent full-time job. Since that layoff (Feb 2006), I've been spending all of my time unsuccessfully looking for a job. BTW, I have 2 degrees and I'm an excellent worker. I'm also 52. Still looking, and unemployment ran out last year so I guess I'm no longer statistically considered an unemployed person. :shrug:

[ikojo]

21. I've worked for health insurance companies and since

1990 I've been laid off several times...

April 1990: laid off: brought back as a part time employee: eventually hired on full time.

May 1993: laid off from again.

June 1996: company closed the claim's department and moved it to a lower wage area of the US. While I did not lose my job, many of my co-workers did.

July 2001: laid off when a company was bought by another larger company: was able to find another job but not making the same amount of money, that's for sure.

Corporate greed: it does a CEO good!

[Orsino]

12. "...even when the economy is humming."

Even when we're told the economy is humming.

[InkAddict]

15. Intelligence Report -- You Stink Says Elaine Chao

By Lyric Wallwork Winik
Published: July 1, 2007
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_07-01-2007/Intelligence_Report


How Safe Is Your Job?
You could lose your job to a foreign worker—not because he’s cheaper but because he has better workplace skills and discipline. That’s the message Labor Secretary Elaine Chao hears from U.S. executives who are worried about America’s competitive future. While losses are low thus far—one study estimates that only 280,000 jobs in the service industry out of 115 million are outsourced each year—that could change. Beyond the cheaper cost of labor, U.S. employers say that many workers abroad simply have a better attitude toward work.“American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene,” says Chao. “They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something.”

As for our job future, Chao notes that most of the fastest-growing jobs today are in industries requiring advanced knowledge and skills and are “very high or high wage.” But critics say we’re not doing enough for those without a higher education. “Today, only 30% of the workforce has four years of college,” says Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute. “Instead of factory slots, there are slots for security guards and food-prep workers.”

:wtf:- What a bully! Elaine - GO CHENEY YOURSELF!

[HughBeaumont]

17. Chao is a typical BewshCo appointee -

Married to Republigeezer Senator Mitch McConnell, pro-offshorer, victim blaming, Heritage Fellow.

Isn't she supposed to be caring for the needs of . . . Oh, I dunno . . . THE LABOR of this country?

[jaybeat]

25. Let's translate, shall we?

many workers abroad simply have a better attitude toward work

Translation: The hungrier you are, the fewer your options, the longer you'll work, for less pay and fewer benefits, and the less you'll complain about unsafe or unhealthy working conditions, unethical business practices, or the butt-for-a-brain you have for a boss.

American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene

Translation: Doing your job well, being skilled, experienced, talented or dedicated DON'T COUNT FOR SQUAT. What matters is appearance; being pleasing to others who have control over your fate--to those you SERVE. What matters is the style--not the substance. Oh, and you'd better not let your "life" interfere with your work--there is no "life" beyond the value you bring to your employer--Arbeit Macht Frei!

They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction.

Translation: Shut up and do what you're told. Got a problem with an incompetent or unethical co-worker? Keep it to yourself. Better not get angry at anyone or anything, no matter how stupid or just plain wrong--go with the flow, don't make waves, don't speak unless spoken to. Don't question directions, even if they don't make sense, or are self-contradictory, wrong, dangerous, or illegal. You're not paid to think for yourself.

Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something.

Translation: Too many people think that their education and experience means that they have been hired to use their knowledge and expertise to provide value to their customers. Obey, obey, obey. Never question authority. Never substitute your judgment for those of your superiors.

There is always someone more willing than you to follow orders, keep quiet, and sacrifice themselves for the Company.

Your only value is the value an employer says you have. They don't have to be right, or smart, or effective. They have power, you don't. That's the only reality that matters.

Now shut up and get back to work!

[NashVegas]

16. Welcome to the Ownership Society

If you aren't in the club, you have a very short window of time to get in it.

[slackmaster]

18. My first layoff happened in 1981, and I have NEVER felt completely secure in a job

This is old news. I'm almost 50, and not once in my life have I experienced the "job security" that was characteristic of professional careers in my parents' generation.

Old-fashioned perks like the defined-benefit pension plan have been dead for most people (government employees notwithstanding) for a full generation.

Old news IMO.

[ikojo]

20. Only when it begins to affect professional college educated

people are layoffs a problem. As long as it was merely union folk, NO PROBLEM. Go back to school and learn a new skill and improve your skill set is what people are told.

Pay for school...how?

Learn what skill that cannot be taught to someone in Mumbai, who will do the job for thousands less than an American.

[bleedingheart]

23. that is always the way it is...hell when the unions fought for and got

better working conditions for them...those good things percolated to the top..but do you ever hear the white collar folks say..."thanks for walking that picket line so I could also reap the 40 hour work week and benefits?"

Now with a lot of blue collar jobs shipped overseas and union membership at an all time low...people are wondering why their bennies and good hours are going away...

[SharonAnn]

29. I have. I figured it out in 1977. New union contract meant that I got a new

benefit. I found out that when the union got the benefit, the company also provided it to everyone else. I was very pleased with the benefit so I asked one of the union guys how come I benefited when I didn't contribute to the union. He explained "That's how it is. We pay the dues, do the negotiation, fight for every penny and every benefit, and then they give everybody the benefit. If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have these benefits." I realized I was getting a "free ride".

I wasn't allowed to join the union, since I was not in one of appropriate job categories, so I thanked him (and them). I also told that I wished someone had explained this to me before because I hadn't really realized how much all workers benefit from unions, even when they're not a member of one.

[bleedingheart]

22. my company just shut down my office...as of September I have no office but I have a job?

now tell me that isn't a weird situation.. I can work from home...and that is okay but with no central office except in another state that puts me in a precarious situation.

no one knows where my office will be and no one wants me to quit...because my specific division was unaffected and still is profitable....

so I am getting my resume ready and will start looking at summer's end.