People on food stamps

[Bob Maxey]

Have you also noticed that unemployment is at an all time high? My husband was laid off in March 2009. He still hasn't found another FT job. He has made do with temp positions and odd jobs. He even cleans houses to make money. He's not lazy and he did not enjoy having to file for unemployment benefits, but he had little choice. Blame the big fat corporations who are refusing to hire and outsourcing a lot of jobs overseas. Some of these jerks are even discriminating against the unemployed and will ignore applications from anyone who isn't already employed! That's a fact-do a Google search.

The unemployment numbers have not escaped me. And I know that some companies are not hiring people that are not already working. This can be for any number of reasons. Not that they are being jerks by any means.

I would question anyone that has been unemployed for a year or so, too.

I make my living writing technical documentation. One thing I have noticed is some manufacturers are hiring people only if they have what it takes. That is, less OTJ training; they want people to arrive ready to work.

For example, those that are hired to solder on the production line must be able to demonstrate their skills. In the past, if they showed talent, they would be hired and trained to work on FP components.

In many cases, people that can solder larger components like resistors and caps cannot solder fine-pitch I.C.s. So the company looks for people with prior experience.

In some cases I personally know about, manufacturers have a hard time finding people that can solder, read schematics, BOMs, and operate equipment required to troubleshoot. Five years ago, we would hire people we thought we could train and they were taught how to do the jobs.

Today, manufacturers want people that are far more qualified and with real world experience.

I have also noticed that some manufacturers are finding ways to eliminate jobs by cross-training their workers to do multiple jobs. One local manufacturer recently hired a surface mount machine operator that could also run an In-Circuit Tester. Not too long ago, they were separate jobs.

Manufacturers are also holding on to cash to see what happens with the economy. It is not that they are cash poor; they are hesitant to invest in equipment and increase production because they do not know what will happen down the road.

I know several manufacturers that try to fill positions and they have a hard time finding qualified people. They are more selective these days. When I did First Day Training, back in the day when the economy was great, it was difficult to find qualified workers, so we had dozens of classes to train people to do the jobs we required them to do. We settled for those we could find and train them.

Today, if we required a surface mount technician, they would absolutely require a few years experience because it is a hard job and it requires considerable training.

It is tough, but not impossible to find a job. I am offered one or two every few weeks, and they pay long green. Filling these jobs is very hard because those hiring want people with demonstrable experience and skills.

 

[zuben el genub]

In some cases you are wrong. My husband can solder, read schematics and do all that. In some jobs, he used to have to fix what the techs did wrong.
We went through unemployment in the last bout in the 90s. He is also a very good handyman, so he did quite well with that until a job opened up.
He has a degree in Electrical Engineering. He'd be as overqualified if he was looking for a job today as he was then.

 

[Frisco]

It is tough, but not impossible to find a job.

I agree, as long as by "find a job" we mean any job.

Being removed from your chosen profession and finding that market saturated with applicants should have a person either lowering or adjusting their sights in the direction of areas that are hurting for help.

As many here say, we've seen 120 k per year techs take sales jobs in shoe stores, etc just to keep paychecks coming in. A friend of mind was layed off his position he'd held for 22 years, and refused to apply for unemployment because, as he said, "jobs are out there." He's now asst manager at the Sears store here in town and rakes in about 40% of what he previously made. But, again as he says, "I never missed a beat on the paychecks coming in."

 

[Sue7M3]

I would question anyone that has been unemployed for a year or so, too.

Yeah well it is easy to judge and look down on others when you haven't been there yourself. My husband is not picky. As long as it pays at least $10 an hour he'll apply. He actually enjoys hard manual labor and has good computer skills. He was at his company for 20 years when he was laid off in 2009 at the age of 41. He is routinely told he's way overqualified when he applies for jobs.

You simply do not understand the economy or job climate right now and have no right to question the work ethics or anything else about an unemployed person.

 

[Sue7M3]

I agree, as long as by "find a job" we mean any job.

Being removed from your chosen profession and finding that market saturated with applicants should have a person either lowering or adjusting their sights in the direction of areas that are hurting for help.

As many here say, we've seen 120 k per year techs take sales jobs in shoe stores, etc just to keep paychecks coming in. A friend of mind was layed off his position he'd held for 22 years, and refused to apply for unemployment because, as he said, "jobs are out there." He's now asst manager at the Sears store here in town and rakes in about 40% of what he previously made. But, again as he says, "I never missed a beat on the paychecks coming in."

My husband was making $27hr plus OT when he was laid off. He has no problem taking jobs that pay much less. He cleans houses for $40 each, and is currently working a temp position helping an art gallery move for $10hr. At least in NYC, the permanent, good paying jobs are NOT out there for the taking. It's nice your friend was able to get by without applying for unemployment but that doesn't mean everyone is or should be able to.

 

[zuben el genub]

You can be up the creek without a paddle. We are retired, but the last job my husband had was Sr. Project Manager. Sounds good, but if your company depends on defense contracts you can be out entirely if the company loses a contract.

We used to have a lot of NASA, Defense, etc. here, but about 90% left. Now you can go where jobs are, but if you can't sell your house to move, you are still stuck.
What we are now getting is call center type jobs. A lot of those jobs will probably be filled by military wives and some seniors.

Being unconventional - we bought the house, but never gave a damn about style or doing whatever the neighbors did. Fads come and fads go - we mostly bought stuff second hand anyway. Anything educational was usually first class, but otherwise-- most of that discretionary income went into savings. We just never fell for marketing.

I could never take a sales job. I simply can't deal with idiots. And I've seen my share.
I can teach, don't mind cleaning and don't mind going the extra mile.

 

[zuben el genub]

Just watching the news about the unemployment. What is probably a given is the loss of benefits. You might get a good paying job, but with no benefits, any extra medical costs could destroy the pay.

 

[Frisco]

Just watching the news about the unemployment. What is probably a given is the loss of benefits. You might get a good paying job, but with no benefits, any extra medical costs could destroy the pay.

The whole thing about benefits is huge to the unemployed and under employed. Once a medical issue hits, we've seen viable families gradually finding themselves amongst the ranks of the homeless, one of the most sad and telling aspects of what's going on with the economy and a new corporate ruthlessness. That ruthlessness explained by many of those companies as an effort to survive.

 

[nlsme]

The whole thing about benefits is huge to the unemployed and under employed. Once a medical issue hits, we've seen viable families gradually finding themselves amongst the ranks of the homeless, one of the most sad and telling aspects of what's going on with the economy and a new corporate ruthlessness. That ruthlessness explained by many of those companies as an effort to survive.

To survive while breaking profit records year after year....

 

[Frisco]

I was thinking more of the medium to smaller outfits when I posted that about benefits. But great point about the corporations (often with the wealthy CEOs).

 

[Bob Maxey]

Yeah well it is easy to judge and look down on others when you haven't been there yourself. My husband is not picky. As long as it pays at least $10 an hour he'll apply. He actually enjoys hard manual labor and has good computer skills. He was at his company for 20 years when he was laid off in 2009 at the age of 41. He is routinely told he's way overqualified when he applies for jobs.

You simply do not understand the economy or job climate right now and have no right to question the work ethics or anything else about an unemployed person.

I am not judging, just pointing out what I have seen, experienced, and understand to be a fairly accurate representation of how things work in this economy. You are correct, I have never been there. I make my own job when I am not employed full time and I am not about to look for FT work because I decided I no longer want to answer to a boss. Actually, I still have bosses I must deal with, but they change monthly.

Sorry you are having problems, I hope it works out for you. But do not think I am judging your hubby as that would be silly because I do not know him. What I DO KNOW, however, is times are tight and employers are looking for more qualified people. At least that is what I see happening.

Your husband might have good computer skills, but that matters very little if your hubby does not have the specific computer skills the employer requires.

 

[OutofDate1980]

I finally figured why our observations of events differ, "... this team has been working on something a bit more ambitious: hiding an actual event in time. ..."

Physicists Create a Hole In Time to Hide Events - Forbes

Never mind, "... Now, this “hole in time” was only created for the briefest of instants – about 110 nanoseconds. And the research indicates that the maximum amount of time an event could be hidden is also small – perhaps no longer than 120 microseconds. ..."

 

[Frisco]

So what does this mean? No food stamps for over a hundred nanoseconds or so?

J/k..

 

[OutofDate1980]

Naw, with American ingenuity will reach their goal of 120 MICROSECONDS.

 

[Frisco]

Naw, with Korean ingenuity will reach their goal of 120 MICROSECONDS.

fify

 

[zuben el genub]

Another kick - a Denverite is bringing a suit against Monster.com. Most of the ads say that the unemployed need not apply. There have been other complaints about that topic of employed only applying.

 

[Sue7M3]

Another kick - a Denverite is bringing a suit against Monster.com. Most of the ads say that the unemployed need not apply. There have been other complaints about that topic of employed only applying.

The discrimination is despicable but I am not sure it's Monster's fault. They could refuse to accept discriminatory ads but how much business would they lose? It's a tough situation to be in. There needs to be a law or regulation passed making it forbidden to discriminate against the unemployed.

 

[Sue7M3]

Bob, the U.S. did not create ONE SINGLE job in August. Still think jobs are just out there for the taking? The new jobs report was downright scary.

 

[zuben el genub]

Watching PBS last night. They had a segment on jobs. There were employers ready to hire, but can't find the people. As one employer put it - we want someone who can turn his hand to anything - we use robotics, and you have to be able to repair, program, work with all the robots we use. The only people they will find like that are already working. Even a college grad with a degree in robotics would have a problem since he has the knowledge, but no experience. A lot are figuring that it's an employers market and they can demand to exact specifications.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Watching PBS last night. They had a segment on jobs. There were employers ready to hire, but can't find the people. As one employer put it - we want someone who can turn his hand to anything - we use robotics, and you have to be able to repair, program, work with all the robots we use. The only people they will find like that are already working. Even a college grad with a degree in robotics would have a problem since he has the knowledge, but no experience. A lot are figuring that it's an employers market and they can demand to exact specifications.

I see that happening quite a bit. Some companies cannot afford (or so they think) to keep trainers on staff and so they require people to arrive ready to work with a minimum of training.

They are also cross-training their people. This is a good thing.

I will make a prediction: this down economy might be a good thing for some manufacturers. They learn that they do not need as many employees and they learn how to streamline. Then they apply what they have learned going forward as the economy improves.

Apparently, our president will announce his master plan in a week or three. Apparently, he will not discuss the entire plan, which I find odd.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Bob, the U.S. did not create ONE SINGLE job in August. Still think jobs are just out there for the taking? The new jobs report was downright scary.

Actually, here in Utah, I know of a number of jobs created in August. I do not think they are out there for the taking. I do think they are out there for qualified people, however.

Granted, I am not familiar with every company and how many people every company in the country hired or fired, but I cannot believe that absolutely nobody landed a job for the entire month.

 

[Bob Maxey]

The discrimination is despicable but I am not sure it's Monster's fault. They could refuse to accept discriminatory ads but how much business would they lose? It's a tough situation to be in. There needs to be a law or regulation passed making it forbidden to discriminate against the unemployed.

There will always be a reason to "discriminate."

A large gap in employment history has always been a concern for some employers. They start asking why and then they start thinking the potential employee is lazy.

 

[nlsme]

Actually, here in Utah, I know of a number of jobs created in August. I do not think they are out there for the taking. I do think they are out there for qualified people, however.

Granted, I am not familiar with every company and how many people every company in the country hired or fired, but I cannot believe that absolutely nobody landed a job for the entire month.

Where do your facts come from?

She is saying that there wasn't a net gain in jobs. For every job you know of someone landing, someone else lost theirs. The thing you are not getting, is there are 14million+ people out of work right now. There are not 14million+ jobs to be had. There isn't even a million. Sad thing is, to you, the 13+ million people with no hope of finding a job are free leaders, taking advantage of a system, because they WANT to.

 

[Sue7M3]

Actually, here in Utah, I know of a number of jobs created in August. I do not think they are out there for the taking. I do think they are out there for qualified people, however.

Granted, I am not familiar with every company and how many people every company in the country hired or fired, but I cannot believe that absolutely nobody landed a job for the entire month.

Where do your facts come from?

The new jobs report has been all over them. I am not making things up.

No New Jobs Created in August, Unemployment Rate Stuck at 9.1% - Catherine Hollander - Business - The Atlantic

 

[Sue7M3]

There will always be a reason to "discriminate."

A large gap in employment history has always been a concern for some employers. They start asking why and then they start thinking the potential employee is lazy.

Of course, because the rotten economy and pitiful job creation numbers couldn't possibly be responsible. All unemployed people are that way because they want to be, right?