patrick.net

Is this post a joke? I was laid off in 2008, nearly half the people I know have either been laid off at least once, suffered lower hours, or like me has had furloughs (in my new job).

Thousands of people out there have also had to deal with moving from full-time to contract work. And those on contracts are no longer getting the automatic extensions companies used to offer.

Most people I know are OK, but in much more precarious positions now versus a few years ago.

I was laid off in 2009. Let me tell you- that was bad. Took me perhaps 200 resumes to land a new job. I'm doing fine now but many others I know are still laid off- some for over a year now.

thunderlips11 says

Think about all the people you’ve known who have been divorced in the past few years.
The ratio of bankruptcy is similar.
People generally don’t advertise bankruptcy or hardship.

The only person I know who got divorced was my cousin. He's a lawyer who was promoted. He's now marrying another lawyer, so his bottom line actually improved. His former wife who didn't work, now has to use her degree(M.S. in psychology). She's not happy about having to work.

All my immediate friends and family(who don't work the same field as I) and my colleagues are all working and doing fine financially.

Has your salary increased significantly in the past 10 years?

burritos says

All my immediate friends and family(who don’t work the same field as I) and my colleagues are all working and doing fine financially.

Are you in government or something like that?

Yes, mandatory unpaid time off has affected my household income and those of people I know. One close friend was laid off, but he found another job within a month.

rob8024 says

Has your salary increased significantly in the past 10 years?

Yes, but make that 5 years and my answer would be no.

burritos says

IOW, do you have any friends, family, or colleagues who have lost their job? I personally do not have any friends, family, or colleagues who have lost their jobs.

If you really are this insulated, you need to get out more. It's ugly out there.

Tude says

Is this post a joke? I was laid off in 2008, nearly half the people I know have either been laid off at least once, suffered lower hours, or like me has had furloughs (in my new job).

Ditto. Thank goodness I'm still working, but that does not mean I feel secure. Hubby is disabled, so his SSI is secure, but it won't support us. Almost everyone I am closely related to and several friends have had hours cut, layoffs and spent at least 1 yr, up to 2 yrs job hunting. Most are now working again. I don't know if that's a sign of improvement. And it's not just young people. 45-60s are being hit and it's really tough to get a job in those age brackets. When/if they get another job, it is for far less money. People's financial plans for retirement will need to be adjusted.

Tenouncetrout says

Don’t seem as friendly toward me, and my bandmates guys I’ve played music with for years, have quit coming around.

Are you sure that this is not related to frothing at the mouth nonsensical neo-con rants? Or have you always done that?

Tenouncetrout says

Young people are the most effected, my Step Daughter and almost every one in her life has been looking for work for the last 3 years.

Yeah, people I know in the 20s seem to be the ones struggling the most.

rob8024 says

Has your salary increased significantly in the past 10 years?

Cook County resident says

Are you in government or something like that?

Not much. Only 33% over 10 years. Not as good as my wife who's pay has increased 90% in the same time period.

Not government, private. We're in the medical field.

I've been offered by the VA for more money/benefits. We could also probably increase our pay 50-100% more if we chose to work in flyover country. However, we like where we live(miles away from civilization according to ChrisLA) and the quality of life we have. I also like my schedule too much to leave it. Money isn't everything if you make an adequate amount.

I remember during the tech bubble where every other techie was making more than we were. Same with realtors/mortgage brokers/financial people who sold mortgage backed securities and other junk during the RE bubble. Back during those times, it felt like we wasted 7 years of training to achieve similar similar pay grades compared to the bubble related jobs. I'm satisfied now to realize it wasn't a waste.

A couple of them in my family are out of work and can't get another and I am not talking about any geeky jobs, just simple one like CS. It is is still brutal out there. Stay away from any purchase of property for some time.

Payoff2011 says

If you really are this insulated, you need to get out more. It’s ugly out there.

My wife volunteers to tutor homeless kids. I on the other hand am a lazy SOB after work. Can't I just watch the news and write checks to various needy charities, including 90k to the government every year? As a graduate of U.C. that's a great return for the state.

Everyone I know in construction or construction-related jobs except for one has struggled and/or gone bankrupt. So far so good with my own situation in IT. I've had an inordinate number of people ask for referrals but they were all move-up or I-hate-this-place-can't-stand-it-anymore types.

One of the saddest cases I know. My 53 yr old cousin lost his job about 2 years ago. The company closed. That’s a tough age to get another job. He did not have much financial reserves (2 divorces, 3 kids, college). He paid for Cobra as long as he could; then let insurance lapse. Has now been diagnosed with aggressive cancer. He can’t afford the kind of care that insured people would get, so this will probably kill him. He uses the county hospital, Stroger, in Chicago. It’s a pit. Dirty, disorganized, overcrowded, depressing. His parents lost their other son about 17 years ago to a car-pedestrian hit and run. My aunt has never gotten over it. Now she will probably bury a second son. Nobody should die because they can’t afford health insurance.

I used to work for Wells Fargo, and yes, my immediate work group was decimated. The few that are left only stay because of the nice severance packages offered, and all of them are kind of old to be looking for work.

Having said that, at least two of us got better jobs. Most did worse though. A few are still unemployed. Several of those who got jobs have gotten a series of temporary jobs.

Payoff2011 says

Nobody should die because they can’t afford health insurance.

God bless your cousin and his family.

Well, some of my folks got affected today. We got the order from the govt to reduce the $ value of our task order by 1/3rd. Had to lay off 10 people today.

Not good. :-(

kapone says

Well, some of my folks got affected today. We got the order from the govt to reduce the $ value of our task order by 1/3rd. Had to lay off 10 people today.
Not good.

Instead of firing 1/3 why can't wages and benefits be reduced by 1/3?

We offered to do that, the govt rejected it. 10 people laid off and the rest 25 have to take a 2 week furlough.

I was laid off twice in the last 3 years - once due to offshoring of my job and the next time when the startup I was working for shut down. It is surprising to see someone that has not been laid off atleast once in my circle of friends - i work in the tech sector.
Payoff2011, I wish your cousin the best and hope things improve for him.

From what I see, in Silicon Valley there is a mini-boom going on (may be not so mini). Engineers with good skills have no problem landing on good paying jobs.

Then again, I understand that we are in a 'tech bubble area'

PasadenaNative says

underemployed

Tude says

suffered lower hours, or like me has had furloughs (in my new job).

People often forget to include these sorts of things when including effects of the Great Recession. Even at top-shelf companies like HP or Yahoo, there have been mandatory furloughs. Budget cuts generally sometimes lead to underemployment.

Also, it's noticeable among people I know who are looking for entry level jobs (e.g. family members just out of school).

These responses surprise me, as this forum seems to have an uncanny number of very high income commenters.

I prefer to call it a depression since the economy has been plagued by high unemployment and low productivity since 2001. I say the so-called "good times" of the housing bubble were simply a facade of fake growth that masked a the real sluggishness of the economy.

I have one friend who's been out of work for six months and another who's been out of work for years. Both worked in IT. The one that has been out of work for years has little chance of getting back to work because of age-discrimination coupled by the discrimination against those who are unemployed. Companies only want to hire people who already have jobs.

I've been fortunate in that so far I've been able to market my skills in all bad IT markets. It helps to be young enough to quickly pick up the latest "hot skills" before too many people have them.

My billable hours have been cut back to 32 hours a week. Afterhours on-call is considered a freebe.

shrekgrinch says

Yeah, both my wife and I were jobless thanks to Obama’s

My wife is still jobless as Obama couldn’t even save union-controlled NUMMI.

I'm not trying to make this about ideology. Why do you think a politician could have saved either of your jobs? Moreover, why would you should be dependent on a politician to do so?

If your wife worked at NUMMI, which I just mentioned in another thread, you should be aware of the general struggles of the auto industry in the last several years.

(if I were trying to make this about ideology, I'd ask if you think a Republican president would have saved a union job :p)

In any case, congrats on your new job!

It's hard to tell.

I know many people who are unemployed, but most of them lost their jobs for various reasons, maybe not related to the recession.

My wife now teaches only fall and spring (and less hours than she used to) and is unemployed in winter and summer, but that's because California is bankrupt not because of the recession.

I have a termination notice for 7/12, but that's because my company wasted a lot of money on stupid projects, not because of the recession and tries to save by replacing us with Indians, not because of the recession. (They will extend my employment by 6 month because there are several must projects Indians can't handle.)

I know some people who are unemployed more than 2 years and have no chance of finding a job but that's because they are too depressed after such a long unempoyment not because of the recession. So, yes I agree with Dan8267 it's a depression rather than a recession.

there was big hoopla on how Tesla (electric car company) is going to take over the NUMMI plant. ANy thing happend there?

shrekgrinch says

Yeah, both my wife and I were jobless thanks to Obama’s Wonderful “If we pass our stimulus package then unemployment will not go over 8%!” Economy.
My wife is still jobless as Obama couldn’t even save union-controlled NUMMI. She has been undergoing career retraining.
I just got a new job recently.

Just got a pay freeze notice from the top. For now we should be good as 2-3 people from the dept. already left. I concur with the opinion that if you have a job you have a better chance of landing another one compared to the unemployed one.

permanent_marker says

Engineers with good skills have no problem landing on good paying jobs.

Then again, I understand that we are in a ‘tech bubble area’

Engineering has never been a bubble job. If someone is good at math and science, they will be fine.

uffthefluff says

These responses surprise me, as this forum seems to have an uncanny number of very high income commenters.

Doesn't surprise me. The kind of people who avoided the housing bubble and have been following sites like this are smart, financially responsible, and disciplined enough not to give into instantaneous gratification. You would expect people like that to earn more than average and save/invest prudently. We're not exactly a simple random sample of the American population.

permanent_marker says

Engineers with good skills have no problem landing on good paying jobs.

Unfortunately, that is not true. I know of a few very good engineers who can't get jobs because they can't sell themselves. This is especially true about older software developers because the employers think that no one over 50 can program. Outsourcing has also undermined software engineering. $5/hr programmers sounds appealing to dumb execs who don't understand the concept of quality and protecting intellectual property.

Many, but they quickly landed on their feet again, probably most of my friends are mid-career with established experience and asset.

One friend lost his job as a Wall Street banker, but still managed to keep his multi-million dollar home without problem. Another friend was laid off from BOA, but quickly landed another more lucrative job. Most friends in tech are doing better than ever, because their companies (Linkedin, Zynga and Facebook) have just gone IPO or are about to go IPO, so one actually traded up his home to Palo Alto from San Jose recently. I don't see too much difference in their spending patterns or career path, I know some of them are laid off, but they didn't seem to have trouble finding another similar position.

The ones that are the hardest hit are recent grads, kids of friends who just left college.

We had our first layoff ever (that is, in ~20 years) this month, 20% let go.
Didn't affect me (and, frankly, some folks sent packing deserved that richly), but may well next time. Fortunately, no debt (house/ cars/student loans all paid off) and wife with stable job (medical).
Otherwise, only suffered investment losses like everyone else and
substantial cuts in employer pension accrual.

Dan8267 says

permanent_marker says

Engineers with good skills have no problem landing on good paying jobs.

Unfortunately, that is not true. I know of a few very good engineers who can’t get jobs because they can’t sell themselves. This is especially true about older software developers because the employers think that no one over 50 can program. Outsourcing has also undermined software engineering. $5/hr programmers sounds appealing to dumb execs who don’t understand the concept of quality and protecting intellectual property.

Some of us grey hairs can still get gigs doing COBOL coding.

jvolstad says

COBOL

or Fortran. :)

looks like medical field is the only stable field out there. doesn't help with insane medical costs in this nation of course.

Dan8267 says

permanent_marker says

Engineers with good skills have no problem landing on good paying jobs.

Unfortunately, that is not true. I know of a few very good engineers who can’t get jobs because they can’t sell themselves. This is especially true about older software developers because the employers think that no one over 50 can program. Outsourcing has also undermined software engineering. $5/hr programmers sounds appealing to dumb execs who don’t understand the concept of quality and protecting intellectual property.

I use modern things but still code in Fortran, BASIC, Ladder Logic, etc. Trust me, there are many companies still using this stuff in operations because it works and isn't worth the expense of modernizing it. You can't outsource this work; have to be here for constant updating and testing.

Plenty of jobs for engineers out there, they just might involve moving and/or a field you don't like, but they're there.

yea, the same thing happened to me. i guess i am in an insulated bubble. i know a couple of people who had smaller bonuses, but that is it.

the recession was great for me because i kept my job and i was able to buy a lot of stock at fire sale prices.

Since you live in Newbury Park, Burritos, you must remember Amgen (100s of layoffs),
Countrywide in Calabasas, Hollywood writers strike, --the ripple effect was huge. If you are in the medical field, be ready for in huge influx of competition, as displaced professionals pile into your domain and create overflow and wage reductions.

I would take this economic recession very seriously. Your post sounds flip and selfish. Or just uninformed. And I am quite certain the Conejo Valley is Heloc'd to the hilt. I know the plastic surgeons out there are working deals---that should tell you something.

shrekgrinch says

corntrollio says

Why do you think a politician could have saved either of your jobs? Moreover, why would you should be dependent on a politician to do so?

Because that one PROMISED unemployment would peak at 8% and go down if we just supported his policies, that’s why.

Unless he called you personally, you are sadly mistaken:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jul/13/george-will/will-obama-said-stimulus-would-cap-unemployment-8-/

I had a 25% pay cut in 2010. Several of my coworkers hours were cut below the amount that made them eligible for benefits but the company promised (in writing) to allow them to keep their benefits... then retroactively charged full price for the cost of their health insurance as well as deduct any vacation time they took from their checks. One of my coworkers suffered a heart attack the day that they received a paycheck that was less than $5.00.

That corporation is now sold, having lost several lawsuits in the millions for providing substandard care. I'm proud to say that I don't work there any more - by choice.