The Improved Job Market & the Long-Term Unemployed
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-02-09/improved-job-market-long-term-unemployed
![In this Aug. 31, 2011 file photo, some of an estimated 4,000 people wait to enter a job fair called the "For The People Jobs Initiative," where job seekers met employers, job counselors, skills trainers and others, at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles.
- (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)](http://thedianerehmshow.org/sites/thedianerehmshow.org/files/imagecache/620xH/images/headline/020812_longtermunemployed_0.jpg "In this Aug. 31, 2011 file photo, some of an estimated 4,000 people wait to enter a job fair called the "For The People Jobs Initiative," where job seekers met employers, job counselors, skills trainers and others, at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles.
- (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)")
In this Aug. 31, 2011 file photo, some of an estimated 4,000 people wait to enter a job fair called the "For The People Jobs Initiative," where job seekers met employers, job counselors, skills trainers and others, at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
The U.S. economy got some good news last week when the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in almost three years. But the job growth hasn’t reached over five million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months. Federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke this week said record levels of the long-term unemployed will alter this country’s job market for the worse for the foreseeable future. Just who are those left behind as the economy improves and what are their options to get past their seemingly hopeless situation? Diane and her panel look at the challenges for the long-term unemployed.
Guests
William Rodgers III
professor of public policy and chief economist at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University
Stephen Rose
research professor at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Ingrid Schroeder
director of the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative
Derek Thompson
senior editor at the Atlantic
Comments
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My question or comment of the day recognition goes to Jean Whiting.
"If we add labor-saving devices and strategies to manufacture our goods and provide services why are we surprised by higher unemployment?" (edited)
Theoretically Jean we could attain a situation where very few full time employment opportunities would remain after we harnessed all human ingenuity into automated goods and services production. Assuming that more freedom of choice about how our finite lives are spent is a good thing how do we support the majority of citizens in their cooperative and harmless free will?
In the same way food stamps are provided now basic human needs would be met by allotment. All would have shelter, diet of choice, free education and free recreational activities. (People who think they can force others to work for food are dangerous sadists deserving treatment.) Gradually the law-abiding public would become relatively equal in property. People would lose our current acquisitive fixation and concentrate on preferred social interactions. Remaining jobs (responsibilities) would be divided among a team so that few hours would be required for each worker. Those who were interested could participate in planning for improvements and eventualities.
But two things stand between us and that goal. First we need to gain the ability to manage natural resources and energy. Second we need to alleviate duplicated and unproductive competition characteristic of hierarchical capitalist economy.
Now pose some questions about those two barriers, Jean.
Sometimes an ugly problem hides a wonderful future.
(I usually am not this cheery and optimistic, but I walked without help or a cane today for the first time in months.)
Age discrimination against job applicants over 45 is real. Over qualified is the code work that you are too old.
Businesses don't like the increased costs of their health insurance, along with the perception that they are set in their ways and are not trainable.
In a few cases that may be true, but they can be hired on a six month trial basis. The primeval drive hidden in most human genetics is to adapt in order to survive. If Human Resources of a Corporation does not understand this human fact they are the ones that need to be replaced.
Michael W.
An associate of mine did a workforce study of a large insurance corporation, focusing on the claims representatives. The average age had been quickly skewed downward over 10 years (2000-2010) She came to the conclusion that a socially hostile work environment had been created for older workers, and that they were expected to carry a much heavier workload. The motive was to force them out.
Any openings were filled by recent college graduates. Strangely, those with student loan debt were preferred. Early career promotions went to debtors who returned to school for an MBA or other business degrees. Middle managers cited studies that suggest education debt disciplines young people to strive harder.
One specific office in Charlotte was analyzed on site. There the average claims rep. age had dropped from 42 to 27 in ten years. Of 174 employees only 5 were over 45, and 3 of these were projected to take early retirement within six months. Turnover had doubled (2001 compared to 2009) and the social atmosphere had been greatly altered. My informant found that married employees, especially those with children, felt out of the loop because they didn't have time to go out partying and drinking with single peers who seemed to be favored by supervisors. There were frequent company sponsored social events.
Part of this investigation was done for the insurance company and seemed to confirm that plans were on track for benefits economizing and increased productivity. Part of this work was done to support a doctoral thesis in labor economics. It demonstrates corporate thinking and what we can expect.
Older people need to know that it is fruitless trying to negotiate with an authoritarian and totalitarian entity. Better to seek a position at a small firm or try self-employment.
Yes, I think it was Tennessee Ernie Ford who did the marvelous song, I owe my soul to the Company Store" That song should rise to number one if it is featured on Colbert, or at some Church. They 'has their ways' the hunting class, but its nothing new. I think law degrees at southern universities should be put on birth control, as their only job is to service the Billy Goats Gruffs of the landed estates. Sic Semper Tyrannus, Commonwealth of Virginia.
My personal experience demonstrates the validity of this show. I have a Doctorate's degree and an MBA in Finance. I also have three children, two of whom are in college. My ex husband has gotten away without paying any child support or alimony for over 10 years. I supported my children and myself during this time with a lot of hardships. I have been out of a job for the past year and a half and my savings are dwindling. I have no unemployment wages and am going through a very deep depression.
I wonder why our taxpayer money was used to bolster the big financial companies and others, and the government is not doing more to force these same companies to relocate their factories to the US and create new jobs. I think globalization and free markets is eroding our economy in this period. So many US companies, (because of capitalism), use profit margin and shareholders' wealth as their only goals. They have no sense of patriotism or empathy for the citizens who help (through their tax dollars) to keep these "too big to fail" companies alive.
I don't see a very bright future for my daughters, and I am very scared for my own future.
The mining industry experiences what the American economy is now going through every five to ten years. I have worked in this industry since 1981. In that time, there have been two significant "recessions" in which nearly everyone working in mining was laid off. Companies learned a lesson during these downturns ... why have employees and pay benefits when you can hire contractors, pay no benefits, and dump them when it's convenient to do so? A "permanent" job in mining is almost unheard of.
Right now things are going well with the precious metals industry because of the high price of gold but we're all just a wee bit nervous. The companies working in Nevada have gone from legacy domestic American firms to mega-conglomerates and "juniors" which are largely Canadian-owned. These companies have hired a lot of contract geologists and support personnel, helping to keep the unemployment rate in Nevada lower than it would be otherwise. As soon as gold is no longer economic to mine, all these people will be out on the street and many of them will not have the skills to go elsewhere. Outside of the professional geologists with college degrees, most folks working in our industry do not have the education to do much more than drive trucks. This is a disaster just waiting to happen, when the ranks of the long-term unemployed swell with laid-off mine workers.
This state is dotted with ghost towns and I'm afraid that it could be that way again. Oh, did I forget to mention, I too am a contractor.
Maybe we should consider that there may NEVER be enough jobs for everyone in this country. I think we should look to some alternatives such as people creating their own ways of maintaining a livelihood.
We also don't provide enough entrepreneurial training for our young people. Every high school should have a business course in entrepreneurship.
***I am so very grateful to be in the I.T. industry, even at the level I am at. I know too many people who have been in their different industries for 20 or more years only to have their jobs taken from them.
I don't see this issue in I.T., in fact. I recently read where unemployment for I.T. professionals is roughly 3% compared to the 9% of the US in total.
***White men are NOT more employable, especially with Affirmative Action, an institution that needs to be abolished. We have a Black/White President, the highest position in our country, so Affirmative Action needs to be cut away***
Mr. Howard:
I agree with your comments and in my work experience I saw many of the issues you bring up so I think you are accurate.
I am a 70 year old retired Commercial Bank Loan Officer. While my employer did not attempt to run us older loan officers off I saw their hiring practices change. My local Houston Bank was purchased by Wells Fargo 10 years before I retired at 65 and I have to say they honored every commitment they made to older staff members like myself. I fared better than many of my peers that worked for other Name Brand financial institutions.
And the socializing you mentioned became an issue that I ignored. The younger loan officers would purposefully exclude older staff member from their offsite socializing that occurred at lunch and after hours.
It never bothered me, but I can say their (a few of the younger ones) values were considerably different than mine. Some were overly entitled oriented with very high opinions of themselves.
Thanks for your comment
***I've never been on food stamps as an adult but grew up with this stigma. I vowed to never go back on them HOWEVER, my taxes go towards the system and if I have to be on them for a short time until I get back on my feet then that's ok. While I understand what politicians are saying about food stamps however, until they have to struggle they need to shut their damn mouth.***
Yep. Right on the mark.
U missed the outsourcing of a lot of that IT back in the 90s then.
We feel that the bleak prospects now faced by the long-term unemployed in America are largely attributed to major failures in public policy that could have been much more targeted, beginning at the end of 2008, to mitigate rising and sustained high unemployment. Long-term unemployment and associated problems have gotten so serious that there will be no way that leaders in both the public and private sectors of the economy can successfully ignore them.
The discussion on this show supports our belief that it's a very good thing that the unemployed now have much-needed advocates to help look out for their interests given that the unemployed are subject to stereotyping, bias, and hiring discrimination.