Unemployment rant...

[ddeclue]

<rant>

I have been unemployed way too much in the last year and this last time has been going on 5 weeks now.

I really can't afford this. I was already living pay check to paycheck as it was.

The only jobs that seem to be available these days even for someone with an engineering degree either pay nothing or require a security clearance or require me to move to somewhere in the sticks a thousand miles away in northern doo-dah somewhere.

I used to be able to find a job in a week when Clinton was President and I used to be able to find a job in the same town without having to uproot my whole life and have to leave all friends behind and move hundreds or thousands of miles away to some god forsaken hole in the wall just because some cheapskate employer has located his office in some third rate teeny tiny town to cut his labor costs and land costs.

It used to be that every time I got a new job my salary went up. It's been stuck at the same rate ever since 2002 and lower than it was at its peak in 2001. Yet so much has gone up since then.

This country will never recover economically as long as people like me feel they have no economic future. I've almost totally stopped spending on everything outside of rent and car paymt because I'm broke.

</rant>

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Imagevision]

1. I feel your pain, sad to say it's getting much worse with each passing week - 2 million+ more

foreclosures predicted before the end of 09.

[lostnotforgotten]

2. Best Advice Right Now - If You Can't Eat It Don't Buy It

eom

[leveymg]

5. Feel lucky you have money for groceries.

[lostnotforgotten]

11. I Was Unemployed In Bush's America From 2000 - 2005

I learned "brother can you spare a dime?" very quickly.

[bbinacan]

3. Wow

How often have you changed jobs in the past? Sounds like a lot. Why?

[ddeclue]

4. Just the nature of being a contract engineer.

Most engineering jobs tend to go as long as the project.

[bbinacan]

8. I take it

that you are self employed?

[panader0]

6. I've been out of work too. I'm in construction and have my own

small general contracting business. As an owner, I can't collect unemployment, so I'm SOL. My only saving grace is that I own myland and home and have only utilities and food (for three teens)to pay for. There are little things here and there, but it's been quite bleak. Good luck.

[sellitman]

7. I resemble that remark

I am now doing contract work with no promice of a real job down the road. My Cobra insurance for my family is $1200 a month. I can't drop it because my sons medication is close to $800 a week. My savings and my retirement are now in limbo. I am 52 years old with 2 children in College watching my lifes saving run down the drain.

Rant on.

[NightWatcher]

9. I'm hoping to get back into the govt intel business myself

I got out six months after 9/11 for reasons that I cannot list

[The Brethren]

10. I hope things change for you very quickly job wise!

One suggestion if you haven't already tried it is to look into telework, at-home computer work, or whatever you want to call it. You have a computer and are online, that's part of the battle right there. Online work can run the gamut from basic skills to degrees. But if you find an opening that you like and quality for, it will not only give you an income, it will also save on transportation costs, auto wear and tear, time wasted in traffic, etc.

If you do try this option, some tips -- avoid scams that offer you a listing for a fee of potential employers. Most companies will recruit directly online, including through job search sites, as well as sites/forums specific to their field of employment.

Such as, if you're interested in medical/legal/financial transcription, or transcription in general, look for forums just for transcriptionists that will include job offerings --- as well as honest comments from those in the field about which companies/employers are reliable and which ones will refuse to pay you for weeks on end - and while they're at it, which employers will deliberately change their online company names to fool employs after shafting them on their paychecks, and so on. If you take telework, most likely it will be as an independent contract, unless you find a company hiring perm. staff online. Which means you will need to file your taxes as an indie.

Likewise, whoever you work for online, try to find a company that pays direct deposit instead of by mail. It makes things a lot faster for you to be paid and less likelly your check grows little feet and walks away. However, if you do use via mail payment and your employer is a con...there a lot of cons hiring people on the net who are exploiting workers, which is why I'm saying this, then threaten them, if you have to, with charges of theft of services.

Deposit the cons and liars posing as valid employers online, there are a lot of solid jobs on the net. You just have to research for them and then check their company a bit to make sure they're legit. Hope this helps you.

[leftofthedial]

12. Jobs had better be job 1

and job 2

and job 3.

then they can think about giving away our money to the bankers and rich people again.

[SheilaT]

13. I keep on reading that

engineers are in high demand.

Shall I advise my son to leave engineering school?

[Versailles]

14. I share your pain...

I'm a college graduate working on my second master's program and I've been out of work since June. I had my first day of work at PetCo today. I want a job that actually uses my brain and what I've learned in all my classes.