The unemployment truth ~ can you handle it?

This recent YouTube video satirizes the games the federal government may be playing to cast a positive spin on current unemployment figures.

Since my husband, Mark, was laid off in January, we’ve become reluctant contestants in a whirlwind of other games, compliments of Corporate America:

- the “job-description-for-that-position-is-a-moving-target-because-we-don’t-know-what-we-want” shuffle,

- the “you’re-a-great-fit-but-we’re-putting-that-position-on-hold-for-now” waiting game,

and the ever-unpopular

- “we-want-to-find-one-person-with-the-skill-set-of-three-who-is-willing-to-work-for-peanuts” challenge

These games are the unreported reality behind the unemployment numbers. The economic climate has tilted the scales disproportionately in the employer’s favor, and corporations are taking full advantage -- at the expense of people’s lives and livelihoods.

Bottom line: businesses (small and large) are reluctant to “pull the trigger” and make a hiring decision. And, while the unemployed needed jobs yesterday, employers are taking their sweet time. As our friend, MF, put it, “Instead of ‘settling’ for someone who meets eight out of 10 criteria, they keep looking for someone who meets all 10,” he said. “So they continue to search for the left-handed brain surgeon – because the previous guy was left-handed!”

If nothing else, this adventure has reaped a rich crop of surreal scenarios for Mark and other job-hunting friends:

- multiple interviews (the record, so far, is 10)

- being told “you’re the one” only to have the position pulled – or filled by someone else

- unwanted membership in the 50-50 Club (companies reluctant to hire anyone older than 50, and unwilling to pay more than $50,000)

- companies offering contract positions instead of regular jobs with benefits

- a growing list of industries that are going “off-shore” for less-qualified (but cheaper) talent

- zero follow-up or feedback from prospective employers

and, most disturbing,

- the sense that being unemployed is an automatic disqualifier.

There is a growing disconnect between the employed and the unemployed. Nationally, lifelines like the COBRA subsidy and emergency extensions for unemployment benefits have faded away. Now, as the November elections approach, speculation and political posturing have consigned the people behind the unemployment statistics to the role of political football.

Something’s gotta give.

Until then, Mark and I will push forward, and try to maintain that delicate balance between hopefulness and raising our hopes too high.