What is your employment situation?

[ecstatic]

[TahitiNut]

1. How about "Involuntarily (semi)retired"?

[Mairead]

13. That's me, too: doing some pro-bono project work, SS OAP my sole income

[mhr]

2. I Just Found A New Job After Being Unemployed For Five Years

eom

[Conservativesux]

3. Congratutlations !!!! nt

[shrike]

8. That's wonderful!!

I was just wondering about you, mhr. Hadn't seen your posts for awhile, and wondered if you left DU -- or worse. My goodness, what a relief. You must be thrilled.

[ecstatic]

9. congrats and good luck! nt

[mhr]

12. Thanks One And All - It Is A Relief

eom

[Lilith Velkor]

25. good on ya!

:party: :bounce: :woohoo:

[cliss]

23. MHR! Congrats.

I'm really happy for you. Do you like it?

[mhr]

30. Hi Cliss

So far so good!

The main thing is to be contributing again.

[faithnotgreed]

31. yea for you~ thats great news

[flamin lib]

4. Self employed as a result of having my job outsourced to

China. Was in electronic component sales to major telecom manufacturers. Motorola, Nokia, and others. In a 90 day period they moved manufacturing to China. China in turn sourced all the design work I did to local sources.

Globalization sucks.

[Shoeempress]

5. Self employed for more than 10 years. Couldn't even imagine

working for someone else

[shrike]

10. Me, too

Although business has sucked in the last four years. Ever since Bushco got in. Lucky I'm solvent enough to wait out this crap.

When Clinton was in office, I had more work than I could shake a stick at. No matter what stupid thing that guy does I'll always be grateful to him for giving me a leg up in life. And yes, I do credit Clinton. I struggled under Reagan and Bush I. Under Clinton, I finally felt like I was getting somewhere.

[H2O Man]

6. Retired.

And whenever I talk with old friends from work, I'm really happy to be retired.

[ecstatic]

7. gosh i forgot all about that option

Seems retirement won't fit much into the younger generations' lives. :-(

[demosincebirth]

19. Same here.

I love retirement!

[Suziq]

11. 32 Years . . . .

with the same company. I see retirement on the horizon. 2.2 years and definitely counting!

:bounce:

[NewWaveChick1981]

14. Employed full-time but looking elsewhere

I've been in the same profession for 20 years but in my current job for seven. There is a high burnout rate in my profession, and I think I've reached that point.

I've got more than a few years until retirement, so I'll just have to dream about it... :(

[kweerwolf]

15. Unemployed as of last month ...

... after 18 years of working, my department was eliminated in a "re-organization."

[Blue Belle]

35. Are you in Marketing??

They always seem to axe the marketing department first during corporate re-organizing - at least that's been my experience. :eyes:

[kweerwolf]

45. I'm more in the public relations end ...

... but in the absence of a marketing department, they start looking to cut public relations.

[tedoll78]

16. I put "Other."

I get my Diagnostic Medical Imaging degree (Radiography) in just two days, and I begin gainful employment at one of the hospitals here in Austin later this month. I've never made more than $18000 a year until this new job, so how I handle this new financial reality is going to be.. umm.. interesting..

:D

[PunkPop]

20. Good luck with your new prosperity!!

If you ever feel burdened feel free to shoot me a few bucks. B-)

[tedoll78]

21. Well..

my first goal is to kill my three credit cards. These things are EVIL!!!

[PunkPop]

22. I can relate.

I know the evil of which you speak.

[deadparrot]

17. College student working part-time. nt

[bluedonkey]

18. Lost my job

about a month ago.I used to do Home Care for elderly,might have to do that again.Want to go back to school,but I have trouble getting my papers together.Have to make another long distance phone call!Wish me luck and pray I run into a cooperative bureaucrat!

[meganmonkey]

24. Full time job for a nonprofit

I love my job, I've been working here a couple of years now, volunteering for a couple of years before that.

It took me awhile to get this job but I really wanted it. I think I'll stay for quite awhile. I'll probably never make more than $40,000 (and I don't even make near that now), but we get decent benefits and I love love love it. Sometimes I fear burnout but I'm pretty young yet (30) and I have a lot of energy. I may go back to school for a masters degree some day, but not soon.

[Blue Belle]

37. I'm interviewing with a non-profit.

I'm on the third and final interview stage (had 2 phone interviews and have taken 2 tests, now they're flying me in for a face to face interview next week), and haven't been as excited about a job opportunity for a long time. I'm trying to reign myself in and not get too excited about the position in case I don't get it, but I can't help it.

[meganmonkey]

43. Hey - good luck!

I hope it works out for you. :hi:

[Blue Belle]

44. Thanks!

I just booked my plane ticket today! I interview next Thursday. I don't know how I'm going to make it through next week! :-)

[MostlyLurks]

26. Over-employed.

Working full time for the past 6 years for the same company, business is down, profits down, wages stagnating...this week I joined Bush's hordes of "uniquely American" workers with a second, part-time supplemental job. So to sum up: computer professional by day, broom pusher by night, lower middle class and struggling at all times.

Mostly.

[CrispyQ]

32. This is so sad.

What does your CEO make? Just curious. Last company I worked for all officers & VPs got 5% raises AND bonuses (even though they didn't make their profit margins -- BOD not paying attention!) AND stock options. Meanwhile, the stellar worker bees were given 3% & the rest were given 2% or less.

So the CEO, who was making $300k, got a $15K raise PLUS his cash bonus AND stock options, while the janitor making $30k got a $600 a year raise, no bonus, no options. Both had to pay approx $50 per month more for family health benefits. Geez, there goes the worker bee raise. Lucky for the CEO, he still has over $14k left of his raise.

There's that joke where the woman says, "President Bush is right about there being more jobs -- I've got three of them!"

I'm sorry you've joined these ranks! Good luck with your middle class struggle. You have lots of company, I'm sorry to say.

[MostlyLurks]

33. In this case, it's not management's fault.

It's a small company - there are four workers: me and the three owners. I have no doubt that their paychecks haven't been anything to jump up about either. In this case, it's not bad management or sweet executive deals. It's just a case of a small company getting caught up in the generally crappy economy.

Mostly

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. Ecstatically retired.

Having been employed as everything from dishwasher to construction to marine to professional counselor, I've come to the unalterable conclusion that work is highly overrated as being anything other than a means to pay the mortgage and eat for the vast majority of those who do it.

[ecstatic]

28. 15% unemployment rate? but i know the numbers are skewed

and that the poll is not scientific... interesting nonetheless

[mitchtv]

29. other -Retired

[Blue Belle]

34. Technically I'm employed...

but only until next Thursday. I'm moving, and have a good work prospect (I'm on the third interview stage), but if I don't get this job I'll be unemployed and looking - although, I am toying with the idea of being self employed.

[LuCifer]

36. Ya need 1 more choice (maybe more...)

I had to edit this and add a ton more stuff!

I fall into "Work at a shitty job for shitty pay"!

Well freaks, I started a new job. And I'm THIS close to tell them to fuck off and die. One of my supervisors is a complete ASSHOLE BITCH who probably needs to learn how to use something that vibrates at the rate of a jackhammer. Yesterday, my SECOND day there, I showed up a whopping 1 MINUTE LATE and this whore is acting like it's the end of the damn world. I guess this cunt has never heard of TRAFFIC? And thanks for NOT giving me a fucking chance to say why I was late. Gee, I didn't know I was reporting to duty at a the goddamn Iraqi prison and shit. Oh yeah, and I didn't wear my retarded shirt to work, which, NO ONE TOLD ME I NEEDED TO DO. I almost said "You know that add in the paper that says 'need 25 people to work for 25 who didn't show up'? Well not only do I see now why those 25 didn't show up, because your a completely uncivilized bottomfeeding troglodyte, but you can now make it 26, and have a very nice day! BITCH!" But like an asshole, I didn't. Oh, and did I mention I will be complaining about this jackass?! Oh I did now..ok good! And another thing that PISSED ME OFF, is this job, I'm not going to mention exactly what it is (let's just say you'll need to pay me if you are traveling from Wildwood to Miami, got it?) pays a whopping $7 and some change an hour. Meanwhile, the SAME FUCKING JOB in New Jersey, pay $21 AN HOUR. Excuse me?! (I love living in FloriDUH, not!) Now this wouldn't piss me off so much if the standard of "living" in FloriDUH wasn't THE SAME AS IT IS IN NEW JERSEY! I mean, shit here ain't no cheaper! HELLO! REGODDAMNDICULOUS. So, if today starts off on such a wonderfully shitty note like yesterday did, I will be looking for greener pastures, cuz I will be goddamned if I have to deal with someone who can learn how to jackoff (as fat as her ass is, it's not like she's going to find a real human that would fuck her!) and has the civility of Adolph Hitler at Passover! I swear, finding a job in this goddamn state of FloriDUH that pays a REAL living wage is fucking IMPOSSIBLE. Thanks Jeb, you penis-worshipping pile of batcrap. And any job that pays more than 2 cents a day slave wages, you gotta have the following:

1. 900 years of experience and/or 13 PhD's.
2. Be bi-fucking-lingual (MORE ON THAT IN AN OTHER POST! LEARN ENGLISH, ASSHOLE! WELCOME TO AMERICA! HELLOOOOOOOOO! If I moved to China, how long do YOU think my ass would last THERE if I didn't speak fucking Chinese and INSISTED that everyone learned MY GODDAMN LANGUAGE!?)
3. Kiss ass 90% of the time you're there.
4. Be completely stupid and incompitent, so that your asshole boss doesn't feel threatened that you'll take over their job.

Oh yeah, and these cockmunchers want me to work the graveyard shit shift, WHEN I SPECIFICALLY TOLD THESE MORONS that I did not want that shift A WEEK AND A HALF AGO and it was one of the primary reasons why I bailed out of my previous job.

"Gee, I am be kan't figure why we am be can't keep any good employmaees here am be yuk yuk yuk." Look in the mirror, cockbreath, and you'll see THE REASON WHY.

Is it any wonder why so many people in this state do nothing but look for their next drug fix?!?!?!?!?

[raccoon]

41. I was thinking another category too,

"Underemployed and not looking."

I work at a job I like for shitty pay and no benefits.

LuCifer, as someone who lives in another so-called "right-to-work" ( no unions) state, I can sympathize. And having worked for bullies like the one at your work.

[BooScout]

38. Working full time soon to lose my job.....

After 23 years, my job finishes on August 15th. Our company was sold and merged with another...putting me out of a job. Yay for me! Because of this I am taking my severance and hubby and I are moving to the UK where hubby is from originally. We hope to buy a pub.

Good for us....bad for others I work with though.

[annonymous]

39. I got laid off June 30.

I had worked for the State of Maryland for 14 years 9 months. I missed out on health benefits with my pension because I needed 15 years 3 months to get them. Currently going to school to update my skills but know I probably won't get nearly the salary I was making with the State of Maryland. I am not getting unemployment benefits because there is a dispute over my willingness to work. I cannot take certain jobs because of my childcare situation and the unemployment office is saying that I am turning down work.

[ecstatic]

40. that really sucks!

You were so close to the 15 yrs/3 months mark. I wish you the best, you never know what pleasant surprise might be waiting for you. Good luck!

[Individualist]

42. retired

[Ladyhawk]

46. Disabled. n/t

[cynatnite]

47. stay-at-home mom n/t

[RushIsRot]

48. Retired and living in a veritable Eden in the Ozarks of

Newton County, Arkansas. My heart goes out to all you who are struggling to find employment. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

49. self employed with another job too

Or is it the other way around? Ah, well.

[mongo]

50. How about working 50 hours/week for no money

as president of a corporation. Been doing it for almost 3 years now.

And by president I mean:
Cheif executive officer
Clerk
Handyman
Janitor
Buyer
Stock person
Merchandiser
Window dresser

But I don't have to keep the books!

Oh well. But I just got IM'ed that we're at 138% of this week last year and it's only Thurs - YEAH!

[kestrel91316]

51. Completely self-supporting for 18 years!!!

[karlrschneider]

52. Self employed since 1979, no regrets.

:D

[mtnsnake]

55. Same for me. Been self employed since right around that time and

have never looked back. Have always tried to keep things simple and not get too big or over complicated. If you don't have time to do the things you like, then all the money in the world isn't worth the extra effort.

[SW FL Dem]

53. I have to say other

I'm a stay at home mom by choice. I know I am lucky to be in that position. Somehow, unemployed and not looking didn't sound like my situation.

[Marthe48]

54. how about retired but the company took away our retirement benefits

and now we have to work til we're dead? Thanks ORMET and Judge Barbara Sellers, you bastards