This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at OurFuture.org. I am a Fellow with CAF.
Tell us your own story in the comments, please!
Here is a fact: There. Are. No. Jobs. I'm in Silicon Valley where the official unemployment rate dipped in May to 11.2%. This dip was, of course, because of so many people just giving up trying to get a job, certainly not because of some wave of hiring. The underemployed figure, known as "U-6," is 21.7% in California, 16.7% nationally.
You have to know someone to get a humiliating job standing on a corner waving a sign. And if you are over 40, things are even worse than that. Don't give me any conservative Rush Limbaugh-Ayn Rand dehumanizing nonsense about parasitic lazy people who won't look--there are no jobs.
I know so many people here who are over 40, were laid off in the 2000-era dot com crash, still haven't found a regular job and aren't going to. They have had occasional "contract" positions--which means no benefits, no security, a 15% "self-employment" tax and no unemployment check when the job ends. And now, 10 years later they're a lot over 40 and are not going to find a job because so many employers here won't hire people over 40.
And now there are so many more who lost their jobs in the mass layoffs of 2008-2009 and can't find a job. So many of them are also over 40. In fact, many were laid off in obvious purges of over-40 workers, offered a small severance that they could only receive if they promised to take no age-discrimination action against the employer. (I don't say "company" because some of these worked at nonprofits.)
Most of these people will not find another job, but are too young for Medicare and Social Security.
One Person's Story
I ran into a friend this weekend who I hadn't seen for a couple of years. He had been a computer engineer who had been making 6 figures in the dot-com years. Laid off in the 2000 crash, he moved in with his parents back in the Midwest and worked in a bakery. He came back out here when things picked up a bit and worked in one "contract" job after another. (Contracting is just a scam to get around employment laws--but the government doesn't enforce the rules.) But now he just can't find anything. He managed to get unemployment but now that is running out. He has no health insurance. He can't afford a place to live; he "house sits" for people or visits friends, and doesn't know what he is going to do even two days from now.
What is he going to do? Can you tell me? He has gotten a few interviews, and when they are computer-related is always told he is way overqualified, doesn't seem energetic, probably won't be willing to work 20 hours a day, doesn't look like he is up to date on things that are happening with computers, etc. (How many ways can you say "too old?") He's about 45. If things pick up he will get another job. But people just a few years older will not.
Blatant Age Discrimination
Age discrimination is a thing with me because it is so blatant here. It's the culture here, some even say that for programmers it is "35 and out." At various times looking for work I've been told I "seemed tired" and things like that. I was even told once that I wouldn't be able to market some software because I "wouldn't be able to get my mind around" how it worked--when I had designed and written part of it in a previous life. One company here is said to have only 200 over-40 employees out of 20,000.
But it certainly is not a problem that only exists in Silicon Valley. Tell your own story in the comments, please, get this discussion going!
What are people supposed to do? You can't get Medicare until you are 65, and Social Security until 67. But it's near-impossible to get a job or health insurance if you are over 50. I wonder what the effect would be if the government started again enforcing its own rules on age discrimination and contracting.
Among other things Congress needs to get things going by passing the George Miller "Local Jobs for America Act."
Sign up here for the CAF daily summary.
Follow Dave Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dcjohnson
Where to go ?
LOVE &HUG :-)
LOVE & HUG ;-) BB
They need to take a look at the "birth tourism phenomenon' also----allowing birth mothers to get into the US and have an "American citizen"---later eligible for benefits and family sponsoring abilities. Travel offices in countries as diverse as S. Korea and Turkey are selling trips to the US---just for this purpose, Of course, they can claim that they are going "shopping." Sure,,,shopping for future US benefits.
Stop these entitlement giveaways now! Some are overly generous giveaways begun under "Family Reunification" policies from Ted Kennedy. They may not come out of the SS Trust, but the US taxpayers still have to pay for them.
My information is not cut and paste pages from google...I know some these people you are pointing your finger at, brilliant in their profession and were given positions with an option for green card, and they did. Now, they find out, they will be so much better off moving back to their own Countries and so they did.
On your other argument you can not pick and choose as you go along, just to suit yourself...A Naturalized Citizen have the same "entitlement" as the 5th or 10th generation of American. If they want to bring their ailing parents back here they have every right to do so, as opposed to kicking them to the curb....
If your car says "we want our America back ", open your eyes we live in the twentyfirst century...
That`s all...
Uhh....this privilege belongs to Lawful Permanent Residents, too---not only US citizens. But I suppose you knew that.
And who said anything about "kicking them to curb" by ending a policy that allows seniors, who have never even worked in the US, to come here and be supported by the US taxpayers? Not allowing emigration to the US is a PASSIVE policy, not an active one. Why do we need persons like Obama's Auntie Zeituni, when her native Kenya is a much more fair and just country? Something wrong with the system in their own countries? The US is supposedly a chauvinistic, arrogant civilization telling other cultures that they are not good enough. Well then I guess those seniors would be better off in India, Russia, Mexico, etc. Why torment them by bringing them here to an unethical, unjust country like the US?
Catch some white striped BASS for me and send me the filets, then love you forever...
HUG, going out to a restaurant tonight to have some Walleye, no one prepares them so good...
LOL, Shall not name names....all of them (7 in my site), all of a sudden have profiles, including SM...please do check, I appreciate HuffPo community mod for that.
{{ HUG }}...until we meet again...
My comment got bumped apparently. I was going on about the problems we are ALL experiencing- maybe it was my exasperated suggestion that we all go do something else. lol, also asked why HP doesn't tell us users what exactly is going on. Dead, (Closed account) friends back on the list, No click-thrus for even our own comments, friends comments, Error messages, etc, etc, etc
Home is the familiarity of your surroundings- It's good to be back!
Haahaha
LOL...if you scroll up and down will see lot of HP madness...
:-)
I hope your hiking-fishing trip went well.
What are you saying ? Answering from your comment below...
Wake up ALEX, there is no bubu2 , that is someones`s typo .
I am BULBUL2, ONE AND ONLY, DON`T HAVE MULTIPLE AVATARS. being one is more than plenty..
Before I was BULBUL, folded that account.
Adress me as BB (started by our dear X, and now most of my friends adress me as such), that should avoid confusions.
{HUG} :)
this is what i receive if i try to reply to anyone
So if you write to me on a super busy thread, know that I can`t find you to answer, not that I am ignoring you , we all love you way too much for that.
..Glad to see your lovely self again :)
you are the best
♥♥♥♥
If Grousless54 or Msbadger show up, we will quickly get back on-topic as their stories are so very important to all of us.
But technical issues are a big thing on this site as we try to participate, help each other, and communicate and commiserate with friends.
I don't know what or where else to go to do/ discuss these things. Perhaps Huffington Post has gotten way too big for this kind of close nit community, i dunno. Sad, if true, as many of us have invested a lot of time being involved.
I want this to be the best site on the web for what we do here- bloggers, commentors, editors, and reporters, etc. but there is a technical deterioration of how things function as a big, overloaded electric utility might experience creating glitches and brown-outs.
I have made the case for a Forum numerous times and will spare you that, but it might even alleviate some of the issues that this strictly comment-type format is experiencing. I think it needs to be fixed so that we can continue the IMPORTANT dialogue you, and others, start.
Thanks for your help,
GAB
I guess we're back up - lots of news to report from here and it's not good. Food Bank attendees up 300% over the last 6 months. We have three of the openings, with elderly, already filled from our own valley. I was talking to the lady who runs the Food Bank and she says that their news letters are extremely gloomy. If you've got a few nickels burning a hole in your pocket, she says the quickest way to help is to get food into your local Food Bank. Food Bank supplies USED to be supplemental, but she's saying that more and more of her people are subsisting on what the food banks are supplying.
A survey of one of our neighborhoods shows about 1/3 of the houses/trailers are empty. The people have just moved on and out and no one knows where they've gone. One very weird picture - an abandoned "stick" home with this big motor boat out front. The neighbors are watching to make sure nothing happens, but they haven't seen the owner in 5 months.
I'm trying to find a church that's not too weird so as to start up our Recession Resource center, which is the quickest way for me to get things going without having to start my own non-profit.
My husband just went in the hospital so I'm going to be distracted for a couple of days. Glad this link came back up, though. Talk to you soon.
It doesn't sound like your valley is a good place to relocate too at this time-
Whatever jobs are left need to go to locals, not newcomers, as desperate as they may be.
Real Grapes of Wrath stuff, eh?
I've been commenting on the deflationary cycle our economy is in, regardless of prices rising for certain things.
As your Food Bank friend said, those of us still working need to help out locally as much as possible.
I think we are in this for a long haul.
Good luck and please keep us informed how it goes. This thread will be a good place to start, but dang! there are a lot of un-employment threads going.
GAB
I could easily fall into this catagory, only difference is my husband works. I quit my job five years ago, when I started recording with a fine producer. Now i donate most of my proceeds for the cause of ped. cancer research. Never did try to find a job later..
It is so important to come together in the community, the gentleman next to us lost his job, now wife works, put their house in the market at a price so much lower than they paid for, still no activity. You need to have a job to buy a house, then need to sell yours to buy another..and so on...
On a positive note, another one 58, lost her part time job in a small finance company, but her husband was working. She was one of a few lucky ones, recently found another, simply by networking, keeping in touch with all the people she knew over the years. One person she knew, started a small buisness and let the previous employee go for being tardy and hired this person. But is is very rare...
I like to help in anyway I can, within my small capacity ?
see stats i posted a few mins ago....
BB (huig)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/economy/the-battle-over-unemployment/2132/#comments
(not to mention, .........
who would have thought, after 20years , etc........your job would be eradicated from the face of the USA?!
this is a very trying time , for many people.
i am a 2 yr law student, age 20.
i finding myself dealing with the real world and i feel that people who are older put me to shame.
i lack the judgment and interpersonal skills that come with the experience of age.
indeed, common sense and wisdom are thing that does not come from books.
corporations are missing something critical in failing to realize this and it is this type of thinking that has resulted in the mess we are in today.
we have greedy corporations and the wealthy elite to thank for this.
no matter what party is in office , the puppeteer still pulls the strings.
You're far too modest. You clearly have a lot of knowledge and wisdom. I agree with what you're saying about life experience making some folks wiser, but I've also met older people who become close minded and self centred as they age. And I've also met young people who are far wiser than their years would indicate.
I sure feel sorry for these people who have such a struggle finding a job. I'm lucky to be in the health care field, and my job is very secure, especially as our population continues to age. My husband's job is also secure, with 30 year's seniority at a secure business. We understand we're very fortunate and my heart truly goes out to those who are less so.
Wow - you have your whole life ahead of you. I hope it's amazing and exciting. You're putting in the very hard work now to ensure you don't have financial problems in the future.
I am learning from you all the time...hey, in my so called "old" age I am making stu pid decisions all the time, ( constant typo`s for one) but then again it`s only a number, I love the state I am in..
On another note, I saw your comment up there....anyone found "super-mitt" , I am not touching the fan button, never exchanged any ideas with him/her ?
Anyone out there knows what is the "share" note on the right hand corner of personal page ?
X.., any thought ?
{hug}
Write an email, instantly slaps me back with a generic one. The latest, last few days, can`t scroll down beyond one page. The friend`s posts are not coming on, how are we supposed to connect in social page if that page is empty...
Any kind of answer would be highly appreciated...
BB
I have reported it to tech support and would suggest you doing the same repeatly if necessary, even though it might feel futile at the moment. Many people are having a wide variety of problems with their comment pages, etc. You are not alone. Let's hope that a remedy comes soon. I have 111 people in my ignored section where there were just a few before the glitches. It is not my HP style to treat posters that way, so I am uncomfortable, too. Best wishes. Let me know how it turns out, ok?
The above post I posted in two other different threads only Dave took it in, thanks Dave for that. Chose not to write an e mail for obvious reasons, I don`t post as much as I want to, and have a close group of friends that makes it a lot easier, so I understand what you had to go through...
Certainly I shall keep you posted..
don`t get it Sbabe..when I click onto A fan, there was no page up there, how that happens ? You have to fan them to see what they are upto ?
I was stalked by one in a small, tertiary thread, on Dalai Lama. After I took off from there, another one from nowhere , found me and left unfortunate remarks. After complining, only one remark was taken off..could be one and the same , so many comes with different avatars , some mischivious hackery they are upto..
thanks for writing about it, and to Shutterbabe also,
i thought i had been a bad girl, and was being punished.
It is difficult to see things as they really are without being scared, isn't it?
Of the big talkers, only Krugman is warning us of what may be in store for us, and it rings true because we are living it.
Let's build our networks and communities and shun the idea that seeking help from one another is contrary to a mythic American virtue of individualism. The past, our history, had the benefit of unlimited possibilities and resources. Unfortunately we have burned thru those resources on a 50 year orgy of consumption and our future has few of the indicators for a "better life" for our kids that we had when we were young.
Enough doomerism- i return fan you for your clear-eyed perception. :)
see my rambling comment to bb2 above.
i can't find the special page!!!
i tried to respond to your excellent suggestions, but i doubt you received.
i hope all is well with you.
keep precious!!!!
♥
http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/
http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/content/about-us
http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/forum
http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/content/how-get-involved-local-coffee-party-groups
Virtual hugs,
SS
I just discovered this online, I have been hearing about it on the Progressive station where I live. This could be a starting point - if you can find a group in your area - or form one - with the people you know nearby:
http://coffee-party.meetup.com/
Keep the thread going!