How many people do you know that say this?

[MessiahRp]

"I was never unemployed when Clinton was in office. Now I can't find a job for the life of me."

Up until last week I had been laid off since the end of January and unable to find work. Since Bush took office I have not had steady work and most of it is through the one craze that has taken off in the Bush era - temp services.

When Bill was in office I was under steady employment the entire time.

I bet I am not alone.

Rp

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Everybody in the unemployment office that I meet says that.

:evilgrin:

[Erika]

2. The big thing is the decimation of middle class wages

People can find jobs but they are service sector jobs at low wages. W has knocked out all the rungs of the career ladder.

[LittleClarkie]

3. I know a guy who hasn't had a job for almost the entire time

Bush has been in office. Granted he's an older guy, but still. Luckily he has a bit of an inheritance now and he does band gigs on occasion.

[waiting for hope]

4. Sooo true....

The first time I was laid off was in 2001 - and I was 5 months pregnant to boot - can you just see the reaction on the faces of those I interviewed with after that? I especially loved the last one I got when I was seven months along....it was a male and from my initial phone interview, I thought he was slobbering over my resume - I thought he's jaw was going to hit the floor when I was shown into his office. I know I probably could have sued over not getting the job but at that point, I had too many other things to think about..

[darkmaestro019]

5. I've said it hundreds of times. And it's true.

I temped for three years or so--got hired in once, ha, cute. You worked two days a week for about nine bucks an hour--brutal, standing up, fast paced, and hand and fingertip and fingernail wrecking, and about a hundred degrees even in winter (plastics plant) The nine an hour was "attendance bonus" without it you made about six. Fine--we could work during the week in various ways. So we were happy to get hired in--and two weeks later they doubled the hours for about twenty more dollars a week, by dropping the attendance bonus. And then they fired my partner for not providing ENOUGH piss for his FIFTH DRUG TEST IN A YEAR. Sorry, no retake--your first one was the one and only day you EVER missed due to a busted car. Didn't bother to mention it to him.

We went to greener fields, sort of--new temping, except now we never did manage to find a place we could BOTH work and they ALL wanted rotating twelve hour shifts--so you worked about sixty hours a week, and I mean work--try to imagine moderate to heavy gym exercise except for twelve hours without a single change in pace. And somehow the shifts always wrapped around a weekend so that they never quite owed you OT for most of it.

I gave it up when I realized my elbow was so fked up I had to use two hands to pour tea. The place that caused that said you had to temp for TWO YEARS--without insurance, without profit sharing--to have a chance at getting hired in. I tried telling my temp agency--and they said, "If you can't do the work we'll find someone who can."

Fine. Now I'm in adult entertainment. I like it, lol, but it's hardly steady, respectable, and it sure doesn't supply insurance or anything like retirement. No idea what I'll do when I'm no longer young and presentable.

Thanks, Bush--for adding to the "morals" or whatever. From the nosediving rates for adult entertainment I'm guessing I'm not the only person who's gone into it to make rent. To add insult to injury the 2257 bullshit was passed right about when I started this, so there went about a third of the markets. Cute. I suppose I'm supposed to starve?

EDIT: for a little added bitching/clarity

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. Well from my own experience, my husband made considerably more money

when Clinton was in office. His line of work, auto sales, has declined, in spite of the creative financing by the automotive industry, in the past five years! Thanks a bunch you *value voters*! :argh:

[Peter Frank]

7. I hear it all the time...

It's time to secure the unemployment of Repub power brokers.

[Lengsel]

8. not really

A little dramatic. I can't honestly say I know someone who has been legitimately looking for work say they haven't been working in over a year or some outrageously high number.

[kweerwolf]

9. Been unemployed since July ...

after 18 years working for the same agency. Granted, at the age of 48 I'm no longer a "young go-getter," but I do know my field.

I've sent out resumes/applications to 43 different jobs and have only had four interviews. It used to be that in this area and in my field, you'd be competing about 80 to 100 other applicants for the same job. Now I'm hearing that many of the jobs I've applied for are getting 200 applicants (and some almost 300!) so it's definitely a reflection of the economy.

It's been so bad around here that I've started applying for retail jobs only to be told I'm way overqualified and won't get hired because stores figure I'll leave as soon as something better comes along.

Unfortunately, I'm stuck here in the Midwest and can't relocate to an area with more jobs since I'm helping care for my elderly parents.

It's truly frustrating. Of the seven of us who lost our jobs when our department was cut, only three have found work (and one of them is only working freelance with no benefits).

So what was that old tag line that Clinton used when he ran? ... "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

I'd have to answer a resounding "HELL NO!" to that.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. 2 and half years and counting...

My field has been decimated...many jobs I applied for are no longer available because of no funding. I am a member of list-serv that targets my area, for a month and a half, I didn't get a SINGLE listing. Now, I get emails ever so often, but most are entry-level or in a geographically undesirable place. It ain't good!

[Sapphocrat]

11. Moi.

I'll hit my five-year "anniversary" on December 27th.

Stopped sending out resumes (upwards of 500) a couple of years ago. One bite this year; no payoff.

Then (1992-2000): Annual income rose from $47,000 to $110,000. Fabulous benefits. Stock options. Constant calls from headhunters.

Now: Too old (44), no current work experience, will probably never work in I.T. again. No health insurance, no prospects, savings gone, IRAs gone, and I've already tapped into the annuity that was supposed to pay off in my retirement.

Um, yeah, I say it all the time. All the time.

And the 'pukes say it's a choice to be poor. Bastards.

P.S. mhr, are you reading this? How you doin'?

[sandnsea]

12. 80's redux

Just don't ever forget. This is what always happens when Republicans are in control.