Since I wrote Hired! I have had contact with many jobless people across the salary spectrum and diverse job skills. A fairly consistent percentage of newly unemployed are understandably grateful that state jobless benefits are available to them to lessen their shock. But a recent article in The Atlantic comments on darker transitions for the long-term unemployed, that is, those out of work for more than 27 weeks.
First, longer periods of unemployment can have a very detrimental effect on lifetime income. Future earnings after one returns to the job market suffer, and this occurs disproportionately based on the national unemployment rate: lifetime earning losses are much greater when the national rate is above 8 percent than if it is below 6 percent.
Second, persons who experience long-term unemployment are eventually forced to take jobs that are lower-paying than the job they lost. The imperative to take such a job is certainly driven by the termination at 26 weeks of unemployment benefits in most of the United States.
Third, as I write about in Hired!, the grinding toll of job search, confusion about how and where to apply for work, dismal employer responses, and sheer discouragement lead many to simply give up. These people become invisible: they do not have jobs, and are not counted in the government's job statistics because they are not actively looking for jobs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) February 2015 jobs report indicates that 31% of people unemployed in that month have been out of work for 27 weeks or more. This is a stunning number but five years ago the number was worse, reaching 45% in 2010.
What do these numbers mean? For me they are a reminder of the damage that unemployment can do - if we allow it to do so. I have not forgotten the first night when I was completely ready to just give up. I was only 4 weeks into my search and every job I interviewed for just yielded nothing. It was a very rough night. The next morning I woke early from anxiety, went into my office and in the quiet of that morning I started to analyze: What have I been doing? What am I doing wrong? What do I need to change? That brief morning escape gave me two new ideas to try and that gave me some new motivation.
When I was making notes for Hired! and helping my grown children find jobs, I wrote out daily goals for them on 4" x 6" index cards. When I could see real discouragement in them, I gave them the day off - to regroup their thoughts and recharge themselves, not to sit around the house.
The BLS February report does indicate that our jobs economy is improving, but still at the lowest rate for any economic recovery since the Great Depression of the 1930s. However, your personal jobs economy may still be stagnating or declining. I encourage you to be vigilant to the discouragement that is inevitable whether you work on a road crew, or you are a CEO.
The biggest danger of long-term unemployment is that we might allow it to become too-long unemployment.
I wrote Hired! to help with issues of job targeting, finding hiring managers, how to learn about job openings without going through Human Resources and more. But I do not have magic words for holding off the discouragement that can put you in this fraternity of "27 weekers." Discouragement is going to hit you - probably hard. Be ready and accept that it will come. Deflect it. Do not just "settle" for government benefits. Do not spend 25 weeks looking for the same job you lost. You are not a job title, and your skills are valuable in many different job areas.
There is a little post floating around Facebook that is relevant here:
An old man told his grandson,
"My son, there is a battle between
two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed,
discouragement, inferiority, lies and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace,
love, hope, humility, kindness,
empathy and truth."
The boy thought about it, and asked,
"Grandfather, which wolf wins?"
The old man quietly replied,
"The one you feed."
There is wisdom here.
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