Writing about Washington's alarming disinterest in the unemployed, New York Times economics columnist Paul Krugman makes a sobering assertion: One-sixth of America’s workers -- all those who can’t find any job or are stuck with part-time work when they want a full-time job -- have, in effect, been abandoned.
His column follows a Gannett disclosure last month that, under CEO Craig Dubow, GCI has now eliminated 20,000 jobs since 2005 -- nearly four of every 10.
Krugman's piece recalls the famous "Remember My Forgotten Man" conclusion of Gold Diggers of 1933, about chronic unemployment in Depression-era America among World War I veterans.
His column follows a Gannett disclosure last month that, under CEO Craig Dubow, GCI has now eliminated 20,000 jobs since 2005 -- nearly four of every 10.
Krugman's piece recalls the famous "Remember My Forgotten Man" conclusion of Gold Diggers of 1933, about chronic unemployment in Depression-era America among World War I veterans.
Paul Krugman's article is very discouraging, yet very truthful. Five times as many unemployed as there are job openings! I am one of the "forgotten millions" of unemployed in this country and one of the 20,000 Gannett positions eliminated. Being 50+ is certainly not helpful in the job search. After 17 years of top performance, dedication and service to this company, along with promotions and recognition/awards, I am laid off. No career. No income. Have lost my home. And now have the stress of an uncertain future for me and my family. I understand no company is obligated to keep you employed or offer guarantees. But I wasn't a dinosaur and was always a strong performer. Sure, it wasn't personal and it was only about saving the company money. Doesn't matter that my performance had a positive impact on the bottom line. Just seems like crazy and random decisions. I hope I too can one day say that things worked out great. But right now it is difficult to be optimistic.
ReplyDeleteIn case you may not have noticed, we are in a recession. That typically results in increased unemployment as companies go under or scramble to survive. Hysterial columns like Krugman's don't help. They just state the obvious.
ReplyDeleteWe're only in a recession in terms of employment and underemployment. Wall Street and corporations have been making record profits for a year.
ReplyDeleteIt's time they start stepping up to the plate and start hiring Americans at good wages.
It's time to start hiring Americans at good wages - and those over 50.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, 1:42 p.m. It seems that nearly every job I apply for used to be full-time, but now it's part-time without benefits.
ReplyDeleteAnd these are companies posting health profits.
I heard on the news recently that Lowe's was making all of its department managers part-time. I think that's a big mistake.
At least I can say that Dubow and Martore are my "Forgotten Men."
ReplyDelete11:59 I am sorry for your situation. Seems the U.S. is a nation of "win at all costs" and has lost a lot of its compassion.
ReplyDeleteNo, people over 50 are ignorant of the knowledge economy and so are useless in American corporations today. They don't want to learn new technologies and are uninterested in using them. They brought this on themselves, so it is no surprise they are being turned out of employment. It's a training issue. If these people would go back to school and learn more about the new technology, they might get jobs. But because they are unwilling to take on new education, they are left only fit for minimum wage jobs or as greeters at Walmart.
ReplyDelete4:45 Ridiculous. Look whose blogging you're posting on. I'm 54.
ReplyDeleteNot so Jim. I've been sitting on a jobs panel with a friend who owns a small company. You get job interviews who are over 40 and ask them if they have a Facebook page or use Twitter, and the most common answer is no. (Actually we check first, so we know if they have a page, and lying is an automatic end of interview.). Yes they know what they are, but ask them for the meaning of something simple like jealz and they don't know. Why don't they have a Facebook page or use Twitter, and they tell you they aren't interested. Their kids use them, but they don't. I've even had applicants who aren't interested in smartphones or Ipads. These are typically people with college degrees and experience, but they are not up to the new culture.
ReplyDeleteNow contrast this with job applicants who are in their 20's, and you see the difference. This new information culture revolution we are in the middle of is a key part of the market for this small company, and because it is small, its live or die on what employees do. No coasting.
So you guess who we recommend to get the job.
Of course 4:45 is ridiculous. Arrogant and condescending as well. My high school class is planning a reunion--mainly through e-mail, Facebook and websites. One former classmate is working on a virtual reunion for those who can't make the "physical" one.
ReplyDeleteThe reunion happens to be our 50th; we are all 67-68 years old.
We are quite comfortable with this planning and contact method and most of us spent our last working years, before we retired, learning, using and implementing our share of the "new" technology. I'd bet some even designed plenty of what you use.
Wouldn't surprise me if a good number of the greeters at Wal-Mart could out-tech you too, and with a better attitude while they're at it.
5:22 Snort: jealz.
ReplyDelete11:59 here. 4:45 and 5:22 I understand what you are saying and it applies to a lot of people but I don't happen to be one of them. When I stated I was not a "dinosaur" I was implying that. I have had a Facebook page for years, use Twitter, understand SEO, mobile apps, blogs, etc. I not only participated in and kept up with technology, I actively pushed for it in many cases. There were many staffers younger than I that didn't even know how to use the basic Microsoft programs, much less Facebook. So you are making assumptions. Don't be so smug, you could certainly be next in the layoffs. But I don't wish that on anyone unless you want to get out.
ReplyDelete4:45, sounds like you spend your office hours tweeting, texting, and checking Facebook.
ReplyDeleteIm sure the comment directed at the over fifty crowd was meant to bait. Ill take experience over youth any day. Perspective, depth of knowledge, writing ability,street smarts and most important, news judgement. That sorely lacking these days around the news business.
ReplyDeleteSo 5:22, if they hide their FB page from pubic search, you consider them lairs? I call BS on this...
ReplyDelete11:59 is correct and is no dinosaur. Sorry to hear of your experience and the loss of your home. You are going through deeply personal trauma but express yourself with dignity. I hope that you have loved ones who keep your spirits up. Many of us can relate to your story. You sound like the kind of pro that would be an asset to any organization. Keep striving, and many blog readers wish you only the best. Paul Krugman is not alarmist - if anything, more stories and attention need to be paid to downward mobility of the American middle class...while the top 1 percent get richer.
ReplyDelete4:45 is a mean-spirited office skunk who stereotypes. Those qualities won't age well.
%:22 you are a punk. and one day you will be 50. That is a fact.
ReplyDeleteI meant 5:22 you are a punk and one day you will be 50. That is a fact.
ReplyDelete11:01 the last time I went on an interview and was subjected to a pubic search, I got a job too!
ReplyDeleteTell me how this is useful: Someone takes personally the generalization of a huge swath of people and defends it by their own personal experience.
Honestly, before trying to take your personal life and expand THAT to apply it to a broad cross section, try listening to the guy who has interviewed a broad cross section.
The points are well made. We have several employees with 20 years plus experience and even more than 20 years of gray hair who will be the last to go. Not because of seniority, but because they've made the effort to stay useful to the enterprise.
Our best editor started in the mailroom while she was going to school - so now she asks how a late press start for a news event will affect the trucks. Our ad manager started out on the news side - and watches our stories for trends and leads for advertising. Our mac guy started out in prepress. These people stayed and adjusted and learned.
Who hasn't stuck around? The people who had no interests outside their own silo, who didn't reach out or mentor to new/younger staff, the one-dimensional players. Age is so much less a factor than knowledge and usefulness. BUT age is a reasonable correlation - IN GENERAL, the older people are, the less flexible they are, but also the more dependable they tend to be. (This is a generalization, which means: Yes, I realize YOU PERSONALLY are super flexible and undependable, but many people like you are not.)
"Jealz" is a stupid test. You want to bring in people based upon their knowledge of shorthand slang? You deserve the employees you get. Why not ask them how magnets work?
urban dictionary definition of jealz:
ReplyDelete1. The act of being jealous.
2. What some hotass, down-ass bitch from Kansas City, Missouri would say instead of spelling out or saying the word "jealous". Often seen in a text message. It's more KC that way.
Anyone looking for a job today needs to understand that their credentials and expertise may not fully transfer. You need to learn the new jargon. An intimate knowledge of picas or the AP Style Manual may not transfer. Perhaps you were once the best buggywhip artist in the globe and you have the blue ribbons to show it, but buggywhip makers are really not what employers today are looking for when they hire. You can sit there and bay to the moon about it, but that is not going to change anything. Society and business has moved along since you first entered the workforce. The newspaper business as it was known 20 or 30 years ago is dying, and you need to face the fact you may not find a job as an editor, reporter or someother newspaper-related craft. Broaden your job search to other fields where you can apply the research and writing skills you learned. Understand that businesses are establishing themselves using the social media that is replacing newspapers, and get hip to how they operate, the technologies they use, and what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteWhere was all this bitching and cavilling when blue collar workers lost their jobs as shoe, electronics, and shirt plants moved overseas?
ReplyDelete5:22 pm. what kind of "jobs panel" are you sitting on? The world is not just about Facebook and Twitter. It's perfectly possible to be interested in things besides Facebook and Twitter.
ReplyDeleteJust because a person does or doesn't have a Facebook account (unless you are interviewing for a social media reporter), doesn't mean they aren't qualified for a job. Some jobs demand other kinds of experiences.
Facebook/Twitter are not the be-all/end-all of the job marketplace. Facebook and Twitter accounts are icing on the cake, NOT a reason to hire (or not hire) a candidate.
Jealz. Sheesh! (Thanks, 7:36 am, for posting that definition; I looked it up also.) Now that I know it, I still don't understand what's wrong with the word "jealous".
1:02 You made his point. If you don't understand how business is using Facebook and Twitter, then you don't understand why Wall Street analysts put a $50 billion value on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will use your expanded knowledge of Facebook and Twitter to find another job — because employees over 50 at Gannett get the once over by Gannett lawyers, especially if you are a minority, have a health issue or are a woman. So take that wealth of knowledge you have and go to another company because you will be next on the unemployment line not the 50 plus employees.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way — it's not knowing how to use the accounts that will benefit you — it's learning how to use that technology to bring in revenue. Any 12 year old kid can use those technologies so your comment is just that — a comment with no substance.
Yes, we are in news and newspapers. We don't need this Facebook, Twitter crap. Go someplace else.
ReplyDeleteHey, 10:14 a.m....Do I hear a chorus of the working man's blues? Get off it! There was a lot of hoopla when those jobs were shipped overseas. One thing, though, a lot of that happened before the Internet came into common usage. The Internet has given people a public place to hang the diry linen.
ReplyDeleteThat said, a lot of "blue collar" workers are making more these days that a lot of "white collars." And both are getting screwed by greedy executives, newly elected pols supported by the Tea Party.
Don't forget that the Tea Party is funded by one of America's richest families with deep roots in the John Birch Society.
And of course G A N N E T T loves this as an anti-union force from 'way back.
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