An Unemployment Hodgepodge: Random Views and News

My musings about unemployment have been coming at me in disconnected bits and pieces this week.  I hope you don’t mind if I share them with you.

Unemployment Benefits

I wish I weren’t so dependent on unemployment benefits; but for now, I am.  Receiving checks from the government makes me feel like a ward of the state.  I have trouble distinguishing between an unemployment check and a welfare check.  I don’t like to need government handouts.  It makes me feel like I’m not capable of “making it” on my own (although of course I know I am).

Yes, I know, I’ve paid into the unemployment benefits system for many years, so it’s not as though I’m getting something for nothing.  I know that, but it still doesn’t feel good.  It makes me feel indebted.  I’d so much rather have a decent job and be able to fully pay my own way.

Hurry Up and Wait

Weren’t hiring decisions made pretty quickly “in the old days” or is it just my fading memory?  These days, the interviewers and human resources people always say it’ll be “a couple of weeks” before you can expect a decision.  Or is “a couple of weeks” simply code for “You won’t be hearing from us”?  I think this makes me sound paranoid, but I’m still waiting for the day when I’m proven wrong about this.

Office Attire

I had an interview yesterday and my feet were killing me after wearing heels for several hours.  I remember when I wore heels all day, every day, five days a week, for years.  It never bothered me then; now, I don’t know how women do it. 

On the other hand, my impression after a number of recent interviews is that “business casual” has become widespread.  There have been plenty of flat, comfortable shoes and pantyhose-free legs (among the women) in the workplaces I've seen.

This gives me hope that you only have to “dress up” for the job interview.  Once you actually get the job, you can "dress down."  Maybe heels in the office are a thing of the past?  I hope so.

Historically Bad Jobless Statistics

On a more serious note, I came across an article at CBS MoneyWatch.com (New Jobless Claims in Perspective: Historically Ugly - CBS MoneyWatch.com, July 21, 2011) that compares our current levels of new weekly jobless claims to those in the recession years after the dot com bust in the early 2000s.  A chart accompanying the article shows that current numbers of weekly unemployment claims are much higher, and these higher numbers are persisting much longer, than during that recession.

Less than two years after their peak (under 500,000), weekly unemployment claims after the dot com bust fell well below 400,000 and remained there.  In contrast, ours hit their peak at 650,000 in January 2009 and, two and a half years later, are still averaging above 400,000 weekly claims.

To give some context to these numbers, the chart also shows that, during the good economic years of 2006 and 2007, new weekly unemployment claims averaged around 300,000.  This is an additional piece of bad news for us now because our stagnant economy isn’t likely to shave a full 25 percent off the current level of weekly claims anytime soon.

Sorry to end on such a down note!  I want to believe that my extended unemployment "experience" will soon be at an end.  Still, I have to look at the facts.  I'll never give up hope, but I think I need to live in reality too.