The Not So Rosy Search for a Job
The Not So Rosy Search for a Job
At today’s “Ask the White House,” Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Al Hubbard showed his compassionate conservative side:
Bobbie, from Dallas, TX writes:
Everybody keeps talking about how the economy is growing and so good yet I have been out of work for 6 12 months now. I am a legal assistant with 15 years of experience. Law Firms seem to be looking for people with 2 to 5 years of experience so they can pay them less. I need a job now, what help is there for me?Al Hubbard
As I mentioned in my opening statement, the job situation has improved dramatically over the past 2 years. Just last month the economy created over 200,000 new jobs. My suggestion to you is to remain persistent in your job hunt and I am sure you will find the right job for you.
There’s a reason why Hubbard had to sidestep Bobbie’s question: the heavily-touted economic recovery isn’t as rosy as the administration is making it out to be. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, “Employment and wage and salary growth are especially slow in the current period, underperforming not only the historical average but, in the case of employment growth, every comparable period since the end of World War II.”
But don’t worry Bobbie, you just keep being persistent. Looking for a job is hard work.
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There are more job opportunities in Russia… and Iraq.
August 10th, 2005 at 3:35 pmI am sure Wendy’s or the local temp service subcontracted by major corporations so they don’t have to pay full employee wages and benefits are looking for a legal assistant with 15 years of experience. Who needs poverty with jobs like those?
August 10th, 2005 at 3:36 pmTranslation: Tough Crap!
Try Saipan! I can hook you up with a killer job! All the hours you want!
August 10th, 2005 at 3:49 pmSo if law firms can pay people less money to get the same result they shouldn’t do that? Of course they should — they have a responsibility to their shareholders to do that.
I suggest Bobbie try and figure out why the added 12-13 years of experience hasn’t translated to higher value for potential employers. Of course, that would require that someone other than the government is to blame for her unemployed status.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:11 pmNice red herring CC. the point being that the jobs created are not paying as well as many people would like. this translates to less income,and harder times for many. Couple with many placing more on credit cards because they cannot afford some things. I know that credit card debt is often the responsibilty of the card holder not the government, but when people are spending that kind of money on basics it means that were are in alot of trouble. I know that you don’t really care about the poor, but continuing lies about the state of our economy will eventually effect all of us. especially when our debts come due.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:16 pmIf factories can pay $0.50 an hour for the same result, they shouldn’t do that? Of course they should, they have a responsibility to the shareholders to do that.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:23 pmI don’t know why the public is so gullible. Just because the international corporations making up the majority of companies on the DOW and NASDAQ (who are exploiting the desperate labor markets in Asia and elsewhere) are making a profit does not mean the US market is doing well.
On the contrary, it only means their profitability is up due to Bushcos tax cuts, cheap labor, weak overseas environmental laws, globalization, and destruction of the middle class here in America. Look at our staggering debt level. We export little and import nearly everything, while what few jobs the international corporations create here at home are piss-poor jobs at poverty-level wages.
I challege each of you to look a little closer at the doctored up statistics the gov puts out that favors big business. Yeah, we are on the “fast track” all right: to becoming a third world nation.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:24 pmI care very much about the poor, Krazny, and I hear you on jobs at the low end of the job ladder not paying very well. For better or worse, the economoc system we have is a meritocracy. So what we need to focus on is providing opportunities and incentives that help people move people up the ladder.
If they need assistance with the basics (food) then I’m all for that. But a new SUV doesn’t qualify as a basic…
August 10th, 2005 at 4:25 pmMaybe we should let everyone decide what their pay should be — that seems the most fair method to me.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:29 pmI was talking about basics food, clothing, shelter, not cadillac suvs. However you talk of meritocracy, ie getting ahead by skill etc, however as this post illustrates someone with alot of experience is being passed over for cheaper labor.
oddly enough you have argued both sides of this issue.
as long as labor continue to struggle it will be ugly. the labor movement is losing ground to the greedy in my opinion.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:30 pmThe idea that we live in a meritocracy is laughable. Look who’s holding the highest office in the land.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:35 pmValid point Gary,
Bush without family connections would be the swing shift assistant manager at a taco bell.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:37 pmConcerned Conservative (#9) must be a CEO or highly placed company exec who is used to doing his masters bidding. Sorry, Mr. Kneepads, that method does not extend to blue collar workers.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:42 pmKrazny, that is key here in America. We are fast becoming haves and have nots. Hospitals are quickly getting rid of the older workers and transplanting them with the young and, might I add, inexperienced. It is the allmighty dollar that counts. My father has been a nurse for many years and just recently his hospital called everyone over 50 in and told them, “we are going in another direction.” Which, obviously, means they want young CNAs and LPNs to replace experienced RNs. This is as transparent as can be and the results…I really don’t even have to elaborate.
And for the RNs like my father, they give them back to back 16 hour shifts for 3 days and then give them enough “down time” so they pull no overtime. Same paycheck, much harder work.
If conservatives don’t think this will hurt their own, they are blind. This is the trickle down theory that repubs love so much. It is not so slowly coming back to bite them on the rich ass.
SUV my ass, I take the bus.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:42 pmMaybe Al should have told Bobbie this:
“I just went by a (job) center today. I sat next to a TWA pilot, highly skilled, college-educated man who got laid off as a pilot. His dream is to go back to a local community college, become reeducated to become a computer programmer. In other words, the idea is to mate those with skills with jobs that actually exist.” - President Bush, December 2001 Town Hall Meeting, Orlando Florida.
That’s right, his dream was to ditch the Pilot’s job and go to community college to become a computer programmer. Then what, move to India? I think Al said about all he could say without sound like a complete moron.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:44 pmAll I know is that you can get a job, but it really tough to get a better one. I have been actively trying for well over a year, in an area that is doing well, with no luck, and I know many others in the same boat.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:49 pmBy the way, nursing homes are doing the same thing. No more RNs, only CNAs who make $7/hour are now watching your grandmother or grandfather. But who cares, you would never come see them anyway, especially when they don’t even recognize you because of Alzheimer’s. Oh, but then you will take their money out of their account, sell all of their possessions and put them on Medicaid for the poor to pay for and you to bitch about.
IRONY at its most basic level. I know of which I speak, I was a CNA long ago and it has gotten much worse since. I couldn’t do it for any more than a year. It was just too painful watching these beautiful elderly and learned folks get shit on by the state over and over again. We, the poor, would buy them adult diapers because the state would only allow them 4 per shift. Don’t piss to much Mrs. Jones. And pain meds - none for you.
GREED is a deadly sin, is it not, neocon, eldery hating, I got mine so you must be doing something wrong, SUV driving, faux freakin christian fascist pieces of crap, liers.
There, someone had to say it.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:51 pm“GREED is a deadly sin”
That one must not be in the Christian Conservative version of the bible.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:54 pmThe problem with Conservatives is that they refuse to look at how the stats break down. When 190,000 of those 200,000 jobs created are in minimum wage sectors such as Walmart and/or retail, then they help nobody and they certainly don’t make the economy rosy.
Basically the conservatives are trying to combine two completely seperate “generalities” in hoeps nobody looks too closely. They combine the massive profits of traded companies whose profits are coming from tax breaks, massive emlpoyee lay-offs, outsourcing, etc…and new job creation numbers, which are mostly minimum wage, part-time jobs…and using those to say the economy is rosy.
Sorry CC and other Bush supporters, but those are the facts.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:58 pmA teacher I work with tried to get a job in a different district. They were all set to hire her until the superintendent nixed it saying that “he” could not afford her. She has been a teacher for 8 years, and that district would rather hire an inexperienced first-year teacher than one who has experience. Remember conservatives, no child left behind.
August 10th, 2005 at 5:03 pmThey aren’t “left” behind, they are “pushed” behind - right behind that broom that they will be getting used to.
August 10th, 2005 at 5:12 pmPoint of clarification;
August 10th, 2005 at 5:16 pmBush without family connections would be a burnt out derilict, w/ a shot liver, an ugly hole where his coked out nose used to be, and a cardboard box for an address.
These scrooges don’t give a rat’s behind about children. They only care about embryos. I think the most ridiculous scenario in this nation is the fact that pro lifers are pro death penalty. What the hell? That really says it all about repubs - pro life = pro death penalty. Again, what the hell?
August 10th, 2005 at 5:17 pmBush without his family connections, wouldn’t be able to afford cocaine. Meth would be more likely.
Back on topic, here’s my Bush impersonation:
The American people understand that it’s hard work looking for a job. But the American people don’t want to give up, the American people want to see the job search to its conclusion. Our enemies never stop thinking about ways to harm the economy, and neither do I.
August 10th, 2005 at 5:34 pmConcerned Conservative vomited this shiny piece of excrement -
August 10th, 2005 at 6:13 pm“So if law firms can pay people less money to get the same result they shouldn’t do that? Of course they should  they have a responsibility to their shareholders to do that.�
***
So if a corporation can hire women to work 18 hour days and whore at night to pay off their debts they should do that? I mean, they have a responsibility to their shareholders, right?
Name a law firm with shareholders please. Just name one. *sigh* Moron!
Read this Mutton Heads. http://www.commonplacebook.com/ journal/ 2005/ 07/ gap_clothes_and.shtm
Deficit projections continue to fall. Unemployment is at 5%, we’ve had consistenly high GDP growth and a record number of people own homes. Energy prices are high because demand is high. Demand is high because people are traveling.
THIS IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT with you people. Your hatred for a Republican Administration clouds not only your political judgement, but your ability to comprehend facts. The economy is STRONG and getting stronger. You can HOPE for the worst all you want (you do it all the time with Iraq), but your rants will fall on deaf hears come next year. WHY - because you have NOW lost credibility. It’s either sad or just plain pathetic.
August 10th, 2005 at 6:55 pmI was out of work for over a year in the high tech industry and have been underemployed for more than two years. Including salary and benefits, I now make at least 25% less than I did when Bush took office. The gasoline at the Chevron near my house is $2.81 for regular.
I should be grateful, though. I saw a news piece on another high tech worker who is underemployed too! He never found a job in his field. He is hanging cabinets - when he can get that work - for a living now.
This administration doesn’t have a clue what it is talking about and creating jobs at Burger King is no consolation to a displaced software engineer.
August 10th, 2005 at 7:48 pmDeficit projections continue to fall. Unemployment is at 5%, we’ve had consistenly high GDP growth and a record number of people own homes. Energy prices are high because demand is high. Demand is high because people are traveling.
THIS IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT with you people. Your hatred for a Republican Administration clouds not only your political judgement, but your ability to comprehend facts. The economy is STRONG and getting stronger. You can HOPE for the worst all you want (you do it all the time with Iraq), but your rants will fall on deaf hears come next year. WHY - because you have NOW lost credibility. It’s either sad or just plain pathetic.
Comment by The Northeast Dilemma  August 10, 2005 @ 6:55 pm
We hate Republicans. This is news? The entire world hates these idiots. STFU, you asshole. We hate you too.
August 10th, 2005 at 8:06 pmThe Northeast Dilemma -
Ok. Here we go. Facts.
Let’s look at unemployment over the last 10 years. Mk?
http://data.bls.gov/ PDQ/ servlet/ SurveyOutputServlet?series_id=LNS14000000&data_tool=%22EaG%22
What that thing that looks like Kilimanjaro in Bushes first term? Weird huh?
GDP… Hrm… If you say so. It looks to me like an economic Rorschach test. You can see whatever you want to see. Here is the Bureau of Economic Analysis Summary. Factor in all the inflation. Let me know when you’ve got it figured it out.
http://www.bea.doc.gov/ bea/ newsrelarchive/ 2005/ gdp205a_fax.pdf
US house market boom set for bust?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4480897.stm
Remember the dot com bubble?
http://www.wsws.org/ articles/ 2005/ aug2005/ hous-a06.shtml
A Housing Boom Built on Folly http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ provider/ providerarticle.asp?Feed=BWK&Date=20050727&ID=4993208
“Energy prices are high because demand is high. Demand is high because people are traveling? “
You think oil cost $65 a barrel because people are driving more? That is an obscene amount of ignorance, even for you. It’s an insult to my intelligence to even try and refute it. Go educate yourself, Nitwit.
August 10th, 2005 at 8:08 pmWhat is routinely overlooked is the debt load Americans are taking on both personally and as a country. It’s the highest its ever been. While the prez spouts that the new pork infested Hi-Way bill will spur the economy, it’s being done on borrowed dollars. Any of us can borrow for a new car, vacation, or house and pretend we are doing well. When it comes time to pay off all the debt for this false “growth,” Americans will realize what not having federal and state support systems in place has cost them dearly.
August 10th, 2005 at 9:52 pmDeficit projections continue to fall, in comparison to inflated projections against which even ass-clenching real deficits appear benign by comparison. Unemployment is at 5%, if you discount the barely employed, the sporadically self-employed and the altogether hopeless who have given up and opted out of the system entirely. We’ve had consistently high GDP growth, which these days is a merely a measure of monolithic corporate revenue as opposed to a meaningful metric of individual income, security and quality-of-life. Energy prices are high because demand is high, people are traveling, Middle Eastern oil reserves have been criminally overstated for five decades, there ain’t no new oil and all the hybrid/hydrogen/fuel cell/ethanol/biomass bullshit, pie-in-the-sky “alternatives” are petro-intensive net-energy losers. Oh, and just try making plastic and fertilizer out of enriched uranium, I dare you.
In other words, all is well. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Move along.
Northest Dilemma can jump up my ass with his halfwit, GOP, sleight-o’-hand statistics. What a dumbass.
August 10th, 2005 at 10:06 pm“Oh, and just try making plastic and fertilizer out of enriched uranium, I dare you.” -
LOL! I love it.
Well put, but I disagree with the Peak Oil baloney. It is Malthusian hogwash, dreamed up by the Oil companies in order to drive up prices through artificial scarcity. I’d be happy to debate you on that subject if you wish.
August 10th, 2005 at 10:28 pmMisterB,
I’m curious — how do the oil companies create “artificial scarcity”?
August 10th, 2005 at 10:54 pmAlright! Someone who thinks oil won’t run out. YOu guys are the best. I look forward to taunting your sorry pedestrian ass.
August 10th, 2005 at 10:55 pmAnd why would they want to at $65 per barrel?
August 10th, 2005 at 10:55 pmTaunt away hipster!
August 10th, 2005 at 10:56 pmNo problem debating Peak Oil. Actually, I’m anxious to find out when the scarcity part became “artificial.” I know there are billions of barrels of low-grade sludge out there that will become profitable to recover at certain price levels, but all that means is that prices will have to remain high even if demand falls off. And if there are any sort of scale economies involved, reduced demand will actually drive prices even higher.
In any event, my understanding is that the ME reserves have been dramatically overstated in order to raise permissible country quotas for production and sale. The main Saudi field is very tired and degraded from overproduction. The revised Caspian estimates pretty disappointing, too.
However, I admit I don’t know all the ins and outs. Which part of Malthus is inapplicable here? And where IS all that cheap, plentiful light/sweet crude?
August 10th, 2005 at 10:57 pmActually, I’m for the development of energy alternatives. Up here in Mass. they have been trying to get a windmill farm put off Cape Cod, but all the rich Dems. don’t want to scew up their view so they keep voting it down… go figure
August 10th, 2005 at 10:59 pmRotwang, you know way more about the oil situation than I do — I was just curious how in a competitive economy someone could create artificial scarcity. Seems like somebody else would break the chain pretty quick if there was money to be made.
August 10th, 2005 at 11:02 pmI’m going to bed soon but i’ll leave you with a link to a debate far more eloquent and detailed than I could write.
There are a whole series of newsletters by this guy.
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr52.html
And here is the guy he’s debating.
August 10th, 2005 at 11:37 pmhttp://www.fromthewilderness.com/index.html
AC,
Rich Dems in Cape Cod. That was a laugh riot.
Why would oil companies create a false shortage of oil? Hmmm. Not very tough to figure this one out. TO MAKE MONEY.
The oil companies all work together to screw the common man. Why? As has been clearly stated by many NeoCons here. The most important thing, in business, is making shareholders money, which ExxonMobile did an excellent job at this year. They posted record profits, while jacking up the price of oil. All while saying “There is an oil shortage.” ExxonMobile is was just approved to purchase Unocal. That will create the world’s largest oil company. It needs to be noted that they were already fucking huge.
Do you see the connection? It is not that hard to see when you ask the hard questions, rather than just believing everything Bushco, Haliburton and Fox News tells you.
You are the weakest link, goodbye.
August 10th, 2005 at 11:48 pmOkily dokily, Neddy Weddy, time for the daily debunk of your rightwing fantasy:
> “Deficit projections continue to fall.”
Because they were overstated in the first place. All administrations do this. Set the bar low, then when the numbers come in, say how great we’re doing. This is garden variety government propaganda that only bozos still take seriously.
> “Unemployment is at 5%.”
Total workforce has flatlined at 147mil for the last 5 years. Which means we have significantly more unemployed people than are being counted in the official stats.
And you know when everyone cheered the 207,000 new jobs last month… well, in the Clinton years, the economy was creating 265,000 new jobs in an AVERAGE month. Seems we judge Bush by pathetically low standards.
Job creation under Bush, by any measure, has been cr*p, and the disproportionately impacted working class American knows that.
> “we’ve had consistenly high GDP growth”
Nothing exceptional by the standards of post-recession recoveries.
> “and a record number of people own homes.”
Bullsh*t. A record number of homes are owned, because with low interest rates, already well-off people have found it very easy to buy 2nd, 3rd and 4th homes. In terms of new home-owners, really nothing much to speak of.
> “Energy prices are high because demand is high. Demand is high because people are traveling.”
Global demand for energy is high (blame China especially), but the idea that it is because people are travelling is more bullsh*t - you see that now Delta is about to file for Chapter 11… Precisely.
Given you really believe all the adiminstration bullsh*t, the person with the credibility problem is your sweet brainwashed self.
August 11th, 2005 at 7:14 amMisterB,
I checked out that newsletter — kind of interesting if you can wade through the defensiveness nad namecalling. Thanks for the link.
August 11th, 2005 at 7:51 amLike I said, you can continue to harp on the negative and hope things get worse, but you just make yourself MORE irrelevant. It’s like talking to a brick wall of insanity in this blog.
August 11th, 2005 at 9:43 amAC, yeah there was a little bit of heat between those two. hehe.
NED - “It’s like talking to a brick wall of insanity in this blog.” -
Now you know how we feel.
Just stop comming here NED. I Dont run to Brick-Brain Conservative sites to call people names, run them down for what they believe, and generally stink up the place with my “Liberal Ideas”.
What the hell is wrong with you, man?
August 11th, 2005 at 10:55 amEntrepreneur’s are taking back America. Prior to the depression everybody owned their own business. Fear prompted Americans to grab hold of the corporate security that was offered afterwards.
Corporate security no longer exists so take back America and start your own business. Do what you love doing. Stop begging for bathroom breaks.
My advice to “Bobbie”, to start, look into multiple streams of income. There are many books on the subject. This is how I have survived BushCo.
I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had and I can go pee whenever I want.
As a consumer support small business and we’ll be back on track in no time.
August 11th, 2005 at 11:21 amUnless you on top, looking down, it’s definitely not a rosy picture. I don’t like saying it, but many of us are never going to work in the same career fields again. Yes, it’s unfair, it stinks, but the reality of life, at this point in time, is, you’re not that valuable as you were, say 6-7 years ago. Oh, I value you, your friends, co-workers, most average americans value you. This administration, corporate american, and the religious right don’t. This administration sees you as a taxpayer, why I don’t know, since without a job, how are you going to pay taxes? Maybe you’ll have to give them your first born then…oops oh yeh, forgot you already do, it’s called Iraq.
August 12th, 2005 at 3:25 amCoporate american see you as the someone who pays taxes, so they don’t. Mighty nice of you, isn’t it.
My favorite, the religious right, or is it the religious left, right, up, down or sideways now?
And what do they want you for?…a convert, a willing convert, an no-questioning convert, something like RoboCop without a conscience. Last but not least, they want donations! What do they do with those donations, fund the poor, the sick, the dying, no… they fund Washington.
Anyway you look at it, all they want is your money. So guess what, maybe having no money is the best thing going.
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January 1st, 2006 at 12:51 pm