Sunday, May 22, 2005
All Who Want To Work, Will. Huh?
I received an email from C.J. who wrote:
"I keep reading that the labor market is getting better but I still can't find a job. What's wrong with me? I actually feel worse now than last year when there seemed to be no hope of finding work at all."
You're not alone, C.J. When the job market is really bad, such as last year, the early 1990s, or the Great Depression, there is little expectation of finding work and the world is sympathetic to your plight because the causes are obviously social and economic, not personal.
However, when times are better and there are jobs out there, your inability to find work starts to reflect on you personally. That somehow you are not good enough, not skilled enough, not looking hard enough, or, worst, don't really want to work. Even in the greatest economic boom, there are still several million Americans unemployed. To suggest that all of them don't want to work is absurd. It may be geographic challenges, industry structural changes, or skill sets.
What is most destructive about the present climate is that jobs are being created in fewer numbers than needed for those entering the labor market, never mind about those who have been out of work for a period of time. Politicians' statements that "All who want to work will find work" is just that, a political statement. Don't internalize it as the truth or you will erode your self-esteem and endanger whatever self-confidence you have left. Stick with the job search and be the source of your own support and empathy.
"I keep reading that the labor market is getting better but I still can't find a job. What's wrong with me? I actually feel worse now than last year when there seemed to be no hope of finding work at all."
You're not alone, C.J. When the job market is really bad, such as last year, the early 1990s, or the Great Depression, there is little expectation of finding work and the world is sympathetic to your plight because the causes are obviously social and economic, not personal.
However, when times are better and there are jobs out there, your inability to find work starts to reflect on you personally. That somehow you are not good enough, not skilled enough, not looking hard enough, or, worst, don't really want to work. Even in the greatest economic boom, there are still several million Americans unemployed. To suggest that all of them don't want to work is absurd. It may be geographic challenges, industry structural changes, or skill sets.
What is most destructive about the present climate is that jobs are being created in fewer numbers than needed for those entering the labor market, never mind about those who have been out of work for a period of time. Politicians' statements that "All who want to work will find work" is just that, a political statement. Don't internalize it as the truth or you will erode your self-esteem and endanger whatever self-confidence you have left. Stick with the job search and be the source of your own support and empathy.
Comments:
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You are perfectly right -- the government doesn't create jobs, the economy does. My concern is not that the administration is at fault for the economy (although there could be a case made for that) but that its attitude is destructive to hard-working, motivated workers who are having difficulty finding a suitable position.
Psychologically, unemployment can be devastating. It sounds as if you have experienced that first hand -- past tense, I hope.
When someone is "down and out" and already questioning their own worth and value, it is a cruel joke for the politicians who have made their money on the backs of those hard workers or, even worse, inherited it, to suggest in their rhetoric that such individuals are somehow lacking -- in motivation, in character, in the willingness to work.
To equate a high income and the good life with effort is not intrinsically bad -- we are a nation of hard workers and doubtless many millionaires had to work long and hard to reach their present position. That does not, however, give them the right to assume that the people who didn't make it, the working class, the disabled, the homeless, and the poor, are not hard working or motivated. Social status, education, intelligence, and skills all have an effect on the ability to reach success.
J. Paul Getty noted that he had started with only a mere $100,000 and created an empire. He had no concept of what it means to not only have no start-up nest egg but to have no money, no credit, no resources, and no connections. There will probably always be the working poor among us. We need our politicians to recognize that the "have-nots" are not necessarily lazy or unmotivated but are caught in circumstances that conspire to keep them in their place. It is in changing those circumstances -- increasing educational opportunities, funding employment training programs, providing low cost childcare and medical attention -- that the government can be most useful.
Yes, we make our own opportunities but we need a "climate of the possible" to make it work.
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Psychologically, unemployment can be devastating. It sounds as if you have experienced that first hand -- past tense, I hope.
When someone is "down and out" and already questioning their own worth and value, it is a cruel joke for the politicians who have made their money on the backs of those hard workers or, even worse, inherited it, to suggest in their rhetoric that such individuals are somehow lacking -- in motivation, in character, in the willingness to work.
To equate a high income and the good life with effort is not intrinsically bad -- we are a nation of hard workers and doubtless many millionaires had to work long and hard to reach their present position. That does not, however, give them the right to assume that the people who didn't make it, the working class, the disabled, the homeless, and the poor, are not hard working or motivated. Social status, education, intelligence, and skills all have an effect on the ability to reach success.
J. Paul Getty noted that he had started with only a mere $100,000 and created an empire. He had no concept of what it means to not only have no start-up nest egg but to have no money, no credit, no resources, and no connections. There will probably always be the working poor among us. We need our politicians to recognize that the "have-nots" are not necessarily lazy or unmotivated but are caught in circumstances that conspire to keep them in their place. It is in changing those circumstances -- increasing educational opportunities, funding employment training programs, providing low cost childcare and medical attention -- that the government can be most useful.
Yes, we make our own opportunities but we need a "climate of the possible" to make it work.
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