People desperate for work post on Craigslist

[Liberal_in_LA]

Jobless resort to online posts to find work

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"Hungry" is the headline on a Craigslist post from Phoenix. In Boise: "I NEED WORK!!!" In Chicago: "Laid off vet needs to pay rent." In Little Rock: "Please help us!!!" In Richmond, Va.: "Need a miracle." In Oklahoma City: "Broke girl needs help fast."

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Craigslist, a network of online communities that offers free classified advertisements, is a portal into the misery of people who are struggling to find jobs. Posts from people who are desperate for work read like Haiku poems that detail hard times and fear.

Some people post sad tales that might or might not be true, and ask for cash donations or loans. Most, though, offer to do almost anything legal for pay. Need Ikea furniture assembled? The going rate is $20-$40. Need your garage organized? That will set you back as little as $10 an hour. Jobless people offer rides across town or to the airport. They'll tend to aging parents, repair cars or replace kitchen faucets.

Alley Foster was thinking about his 7-month-old daughter when he sat at his computer to write a post on Craigslist.

"New father (looking for any work)," he wrote. "Call me anytime for a job."

Foster, 29, who lives in Missoula, Mont., was homeless until two years ago. The only full-time job he had ever had was at a Wendy's restaurant. Now that he has quit drinking, he's determined to build a life for his little girl, Araya, and marry her mother. He really needs a job."People like me, we're prepared for the worst," he says, recalling his homeless days. "I can live off $3 a day, but I'm concerned for my daughter. I don't want her to have to go through stuff like that."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2011-10-03/jobs-craigslist-unemployed-economy-classified-ads/50647040/1?csp=24&kjnd=qw3szqOMXmpXXA2yXQdzzxKBEwzM1fqNC/R/8Qz%2BiOc/g7fYHsbUZeByHFFXG8jH-fc561c2c-53cc-4af9-91ad-513f2760bc50_FhO8Rk4ysAiOxXGF00%2BTF6ytv1ZaS3C3uN1/yU6JPA1f9Cv8onQlQhygYw2how4i

[ceile]

1. Sad read.

But of course in the comments section it's all Obama's fault...

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. yup.

[Cats Against Frist]

2. There are at least two people in that story that had a kid when they were jobless.

I feel very sorry for people who can't find work, and this is a sad story. But why can't people get it together to not bring children into their poverty? Is that a good choice to make when you are jobless and/or homeless?

[DCKit]

3. When you can't afford cable (and who can?), sex is the only diversion.

And it's not as if they can afford birth control.

[onethatcares]

5. and if you read the jobs being offered

you'll find out that serfdom will be alive and well as long as folks will do almost anything to get a job. I've seen skilled trade ads where a carpenter with tools and transportation would be paid a whopping $10.00/hr. or an electrician 12.00. Then they'll find they can't locate the person that hired them to collect.

It's getting worse too. Who the hell can actually live on $8.50 an hour? anywhere in this good old United States of America?

[MountainLaurel]

6. Not to mention

People selling anything and everything to try to make ends meet. I should know -- posted 4 such ads the other night.