Soundtrack of the Week

With the 2012 presidential election just around the corner, the economy is on everyone’s mind. In fact, it’s the #1 issue every politician is addressing. Since the economic collapse in 2008, unemployment has become a problem. The unemployment rate drastically shot up in 2009, reaching a high of 10.0% in October of 2009. Many claim that the recession is over since unemployment is down. Well, that’s complete BS.

Unemployment is down since 2009, but we’re still sitting at 8.2%. To put that into perspective, the unemployment rate was hovering around 4.5% just before the collapse in 2008, and ebbed and flowed at around 5% from 2002 until then. Since I have always had a full-time job since I was 19, I have pretty much ignored these stats. The recession didn’t affect me since I have always been broke. Broke, but not poor. As of July 20, 2012, at the age of 29, I will join the ranks of the unemployed after being laid off from my job of eight years. I am here to chronicle the journey of the unemployed.

Since the journey has just begun, I’ll spend this first entry briefing you about my education and work history, as well as throwing out more numbers showing you where the nation is at a whole. After dropping out of my first semester of college right out of high school I have always maintained a full-time job…two, to be exact. First was a 2½-year stint as a bank teller, followed by eight years at the job I was just released from. During that time, I went back to school and acquired a bachelor’s degree in journalism last May. It took seven years to get that degree since working full-time and going to school full-time is no easy chore. However, I did it knowing a) I hated my current job and b) that degree would give me a career. So far, I am wrong about the latter.

At my peak, I was making $13/hr. That is complete shit for someone in his late 20s, but it paid the bills (barely) while furthering my education to fix that problem. Although broke, money was never a legitimate problem since I was employed. My peers were surpassing me at an exponential rate, but I knew that I was on pace to catch up and even go beyond. When the recession hit, I was able to keep my job while many others lost theirs. I never once took that for granted. I was going to continue to work at my crappy job while looking for a career to utilize my college education.

I knew as far back as late April that I would be terminated from my job in July. Since then, I have submitted my résumé to about 50 employers. The only people to reply were the insurance and “financial advisor” scammers. Keep in mind; these were positions that I was overqualified for. This does not include the over 100 résumés I have sent to radio stations, newspapers, etc. After a few months of actively seeking a job, July 20^th has passed…and now I’m in freak-out mode!

Currently, there are 3.5 job seekers per job opening. That does not mean 3.5 people on average are applying to each opening. It refers to the number of job seekers versus the number of job openings. Realistically, 30, 40, 100s, maybe even 1000s of people are applying for the same job you are applying for. The average length of unemployment is 10 months. My severance pay (which I realize I am insanely fortunate to have) is for three months. In the coming weeks, I will document my adventures as an unemployed job seeker. After all, I will have PLENTY of time to write this.