Somehow, the Unemployed Became Invisible

by Guest Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:47 pm

Fourteen million, in round numbers — that is how many Americans are now officially out of work.

Word came Friday from the Labor Department that, despite all the optimistic talk of an economic recovery, unemployment is going up, not down. The jobless rate rose to 9.2 percent in June.

What gives? And where, if anywhere, is the outrage?

The United States is in the grips of its gravest jobs crisis since Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House. Lose your job, and it will take roughly nine months to find a new one. That is off the charts. Many Americans have simply given up.

No wonder policy makers don’t fear unemployed Americans. The jobless are, politically speaking, more or less invisible.

It wasn’t always so. During the Great Depression, riots erupted on the bread lines. Even in the 1980s and 1990s, angry workers descended on Washington by the busload.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/business/the-unemployed-somehow-became-invisible.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=catherinerampell

by USA Citizen Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:03 am

“There used to be a sense that unemployment was rich soil for radicalization and revolt,” says Nelson Lichtenstein, a professor of labor history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “That was a motif in American history for a long time, but we don’t seem to have that anymore.”

But why? It’s partly because of the greater dispersion of the unemployed, and partly because of the weakening of the institutions that previously mobilized them.

Even so, numerous studies have shown that unemployment leads to feelings of shame and a loss of self-worth. And that is not particularly conducive to political organizing.

No wonder policy makers don’t fear unemployed Americans. The jobless are, politically speaking, more or less invisible.

In 2010, some 46 percent of working Americans who were eligible to vote did so, compared with 35 percent of the unemployed, according to Michael McDonald, a political scientist at George Mason University. There was a similar turnout gap in the 2008 election.

Unemployment doesn’t necessarily beget apathy, Mr. McDonald says. Rather, demographic groups that are more likely to be unemployed also happen to be the same groups that are less likely to vote to begin with, such as the poor and the low-skilled.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/business/the-unemployed-somehow-became-invisible.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=catherinerampell[/quote]

What we can conclude from this article is that the unemployed are low-skilled, unlikely to vote (only 35% of the unemployed will vote), and too disbursed across the country to get together to march or have mass meetings. The internet sites available to the unemployed mainly offer places to vent with some resources and advice for creating good resumes and finding emergency services. The political lobbying efforts have been ineffective. The working people in America think that the unemployed are good-for-nothing loafers and think we shouldn't get unemployment benefits, food stamps, shelter, or mention in the obituaries. Our families have ignored or disowned us and our communities are going to fine us for loitering and throw us in jail as soon as we are evicted from our apartments or thrown out of our homes. Our President Obama thinks of us as road kill, just bumps in the road. The Republicans have declared war on the poor, sick, and elderly and the Tea Party wants us run out of town and into the ground. We are invisible or soon will be when we are six feet under.
The unemployed are shovel ready.

by **Jobless_in_Ma** Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:22 am

That was a very disheartening read. What is it going to take for Americans to be outraged.

by Guest Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:17 am

Good for the New York Times for running this piece on their highest day of circulation and on the front cover.

by jmainframe Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:17 pm

The government knows the unemployed exist, but at the same time they know they have the least political clout, are for the most part disorganized, and are not considered a threat to them. It's always the ones with the least political clout that gets cut first and the most.

It amazes, and at the same time infuriates me how the long-term unemployed went from being self-motived, responsible, educated, hard-working people who through no fault of their own find themselves in their current situation, to lazy alcoholics and/or drug addicts who are looking for a handout instead of a job. Nothing changed except the passage of time and a job climate that continues to make it virtually impossible to find a job, especially if you're out of work a long time THROUGH NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN, and over 40.

by TR11005 Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:49 pm

LeannaAndPerry,

I would not be so arrogant. Since 2004, I have had over 20 contract assignments and 2 permanent jobs that did not last. I would not be that fast, I wish you job lasts. If you asked many of the people who returned here, your job could be gone in a second.

The length of your Unemployment does not reflect on how good or smart a person you are. It all depends on being at the right place at the right time with a good part of the skills to do the job. Don't have too much confidence, things go bad quickly these days.

Many are here not to whine, but to vent. So come back when your ready.

by stillnutty Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:29 pm

Became invisible?? The day the bill was signed last year extending emergency benefits through this year so tax cuts to the top 2 percent would be left as is was the death knoll for the unemployed. As the article states, even if one assumes 20 percent are un or under employed, 80 percent still have their lives. Do you think they are really paying attention to the debt ceiling or anything else going on in Washington? It has never been clearer that we have been kicked to the curb. To those that advocate each and every day, I appreciate your efforts but after all this time is is clear that the Gov t does not respect us, and worse does not fear us. JMO

by Guest Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:39 pm

I've got my own traits just like everyone, but whinning is not one of them. Hope it all works out for you.

by stillnutty Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:43 pm

Have WAY too much respect for the admins here to carry this any farther, was just stating an opinion good night Very Happy

by gettheminNOVEMBER Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:14 pm

LeannaAndPerry wrote:The unemployed are far from invisible. If anything the mere thought of the Unemployed has been up everyone for more than three years. So up that it's on my last nerves. I have been able to find work THREE times in one of the hardest hits states. Everyone else seems to complain that there isn't work. But I am a highschool drop-out. College drop-out. And no skills to account for outside of a factory. I have landed a 15.10 hr job. And I am not the only one. People need to stop complaining. Get up and go FIND a job. It's not hard. It wasn't for me. And it isn't for anyone else. You just have to be prepared to do what you wouldn't have done in the past. Case closed! I don't like being so negative, this is what you will call it. I am just being Frank with everyone. I am tired of seeing all this pity party non-sense going around. I am almost 43 years old. I got a job. With benefits and so can you.

Each decade will come with joblessness, homelessness, lay-offs and lack of hiring. People, it's nothing new. When 100 die off, 200 more are entering that undesirable life. It's a pattern that no one will ever be able to change. If it's not you, it will be me that it happens to. If I give up. I refuse. And I will not make excuses for why I am homeless, jobless, etc. I will keep my chin up and make changes for myself.

Take that advice. Good Luck everyone, I cannot come here anymore, you all make me feel bad, and I don't like feeling bad. You all always blame something or someone else for your mishaps. And you are always expecting to fight for more money, when you need to just give it up. It was enough. More than enough for the 99ers. And yet, not near enough for those newly let go or going to be let go.

I say give it a rest, and start doing a self-check. Sorry, it's the way I feel.

I am done here. If you all wanna make each other feel like dirt, go ahead. But not me anymore.

Ok BYE BYE you are GONZO!! By the way your profile says 49 and you say 43 which is it? Know what I don't care.

by lendmeflight2 Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:17 am

gettheminNOVEMBER wrote:
LeannaAndPerry wrote:The unemployed are far from invisible. If anything the mere thought of the Unemployed has been up everyone for more than three years. So up that it's on my last nerves. I have been able to find work THREE times in one of the hardest hits states. Everyone else seems to complain that there isn't work. But I am a highschool drop-out. College drop-out. And no skills to account for outside of a factory. I have landed a 15.10 hr job. And I am not the only one. People need to stop complaining. Get up and go FIND a job. It's not hard. It wasn't for me. And it isn't for anyone else. You just have to be prepared to do what you wouldn't have done in the past. Case closed! I don't like being so negative, this is what you will call it. I am just being Frank with everyone. I am tired of seeing all this pity party non-sense going around. I am almost 43 years old. I got a job. With benefits and so can you.

Each decade will come with joblessness, homelessness, lay-offs and lack of hiring. People, it's nothing new. When 100 die off, 200 more are entering that undesirable life. It's a pattern that no one will ever be able to change. If it's not you, it will be me that it happens to. If I give up. I refuse. And I will not make excuses for why I am homeless, jobless, etc. I will keep my chin up and make changes for myself.

Take that advice. Good Luck everyone, I cannot come here anymore, you all make me feel bad, and I don't like feeling bad. You all always blame something or someone else for your mishaps. And you are always expecting to fight for more money, when you need to just give it up. It was enough. More than enough for the 99ers. And yet, not near enough for those newly let go or going to be let go.

I say give it a rest, and start doing a self-check. Sorry, it's the way I feel.

I am done here. If you all wanna make each other feel like dirt, go ahead. But not me anymore.

Ok BYE BYE you are GONZO!! By the way your profile says 49 and you say 43 which is it? Know what I don't care.

How dare someone say this? We definitely do not need someone coming here telling us how much we suck for not finding a job. We all get that enough everywhere else we go. This is a safe place for us to vent, to ask questions, to survive. This is why this place exists to begin. On the original UFF or on UFF 2 I have never told anyone that they shouldn't or that I didn't want them here but, leannaAndPerry, you can stick it and I hope you keep your word and disappear.

Maybe it's easy for YOU to find a job because you ARE a high school drop out? Ever think of that? Do you think it might be possible that someone like me, with a college education, won't get looked at twice when I apply to starbucks to make $8 an hour? Why is that? What is the difference? When they look at your application they think you won't or can't leave so they hire you. They KNOW I will leave as soon as someone offers me a decent salary and they are right.
Somebody needs to you knock off your damn high horse and quick.

by nfpexec Tue Jul 12, 2011 2:42 am

Bravo lendmeflight2 you are right on point!!!! If you have "too much education," "too much experience," you can easily be passed over for a job and no one has the right to tell anyone else that they are trying hard enough or are being lazy or any other nasty judgmental comments to people who have been looking for work and trying to keep their lives together when they have to face daily stress and frustration. This forum is no place for you or your negative energy. Get outta here!

by Guest Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:51 am

We are all in this together. We are all still here for one another, those who do not wish to be here shouldn't. Sorry everyone had to read that. Our seemingly endless fight continues and we will do it together, as a family, no unemployed member or 99er left behind.

I have an idea, please check in the 99ers letter thread, let's see if we can get it to work. Somehow, the Unemployed Became Invisible 34243