how many of you are unemployed?

[spacewrekker]

i'll be unemployed by the end of januari, which isn't too bad considering how much i hate being a goddamn cab driver, but im not sure what i'll do next. i was thinking of going back to school (im 31 now so i feel like im gonna be too old soon), but i dunno ..

 

man, i was thinking of getting in a driving biz! what's so bad about driving cab?

 

i'm also thinking of going back to school - definitely a College Diploma in something practical. i wish i focused more on math and sciences in school instead of fucking history and philosophy!

[jeremymacgregor87]

As of today-------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3yHbf7XEXU

!

 

full time dick doodles though, I hope

[Guest theSun]

extremely pleased to be in a good job after working for a shit company for nearly a year. i'm pretty happy that i'd love to spend 20-30 years here and i'm 23, hopefully new york state doesn't go bankrupt or anything.

[Guest couch]

i think the problem im realizing is everyone is moving into grad school...but there is no social mobility that was long associated with earning such a degree...data id read up as much as possible on your possible area of focus, whether its marketable or not....you dont wanna be in the hole for nothing.

Most people I know that are in grad school went because they couldn't find their unrealistic dream job after getting a 4 yr degree. Not to like poop on ppls parade but you gotta start out somewhere. Can't start out at the top.

[Guest theSun]

people getting tens of thousands of dollars in debt for a liberal arts degree (BS or MS) need to be realistic about jobs. people get mad when they are indebted all this money and never bothered to consider how any of it back. it leads to this silly sense of entitlement that is so prevalent these days.

 

the current education system teaches that you will have your hand held thru everything and that you don't have to apply yourself or think critically to be successful.

 

i'm super grateful that i landed the job that i did, but i also put 4+ years of work into the college i'm employed at. all thru college i showed up on time and tried to be a good and helpful worker. my coworkers (other students) basically just slacked off and checked their FB. none of them have real jobs now after graduation. i'm not making a ton of money but definitely enough to get by and pay off debts (hopefully buy a house this spring).

[Guest couch]

Word. The high school I went to discouraged kids from going to less than prestigious universities so they could brag about how good their students are. I wanted to get a technical degree at the nearby community college. The guidance counselor scowled at me for wanting to do "plebeian work". So you got people going into university who don't truly want to be there. And take bs majors just to get it done and over with.

 

If you want to do liberal arts go to a school specialized for it like SCAD or something. Then people will take you seriously about it.

[Guest iep]

i'm quitting my current job in a week's time. i've finished my degree (already a year ago) and looked into a grad program extensively. but for me there is, at the moment, no combination of both a subject exciting enough and a study-enviroment exciting enough or at least i haven't found it yet.

 

so now i've set my sights on one of those "unrealistic dream jobs". which means i'll be having a period of unemployment starting next week, which i haven't had since i was 16 :/

 

the gig i'm trying to get is at a university, and i'm sure i'll learn more at this job than i would at any of that university's grad courses--i'd be working as audio-DSP programmer for a small team of post-docs from whom i could learn a LOT of relevant stuff in a pseudo informal way.

[SR4]

yeah ok. maybe you had some lazy kids, but I worked my ass off.

 

 

I published two articles in professional journals, have a book in publication talks, worked as a TA AND as an assistant in the library, while at the same time managing a 4.0. Don't fucking tell me someone was holding my hand for that shit.

 

 

The problem is simply that the job market cannot accommodate all of these new fresh outta grad school characters. I'm looking at a string of 3 or 4 teaching jobs, all part time. I realize I am going to be struggling for quite a while, but it takes a lot of fucking nerve to say I'm lazy and I'm entitled.

 

 

Theres also an amazingly bad systemic problem in academia. The older profs from "back when" won't leave, and they tend to throw their weight around in committee as violently as possible. Ive seen really good students with good ideas, good work ethic ruined because an 89 year old professor with tenure "doesn't care for them." Meanwhile a girl with big tits and no idea how to conduct research is groomed for a future position.

 

Everyone has it hard right now, which means we are entitled to bitch. That's what we are entitled to, if anything at all.

[Guest Iain C]

Meanwhile a girl with big tits.

 

God, how dare she.

[kcinsu]

I have a job that I HATE and I'd love to just quit and leasuirely find a new one, but I know jobs are shit now, and I'd probably fuck myself by doing that. I just dont have the money to risk it...

[Guest theSun]

you sound pretty well educated smet. what's your degree(s) in?

 

my post obviously wasn't directed at you, but it would be foolish to dismiss the sense of entitlement common in too many americans and the perpetuation of that sense by education professionals with utopian visions of everyone being happy at their jobs.

[Bubba69]

I am, as of 2 days ago. Right now I'm trying to get a boring work from home job going to pass the time but actively looking for other stuff as well.

[eugene]

unemployed and live with my mom though debt-free (the savings are almost gone though) and doing pretty good at uni, just started the final year for sociology and east asian studies, both completely useless as BA degrees but there are some good programs for masters.

[Guest KY]

Thankfully employed full-time since January, after having freelanced here since August of the previous year. That being said, I'm considering looking around to get a more creatively engaging position elsewhere, although the people and pay here are solid.

[Redruth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3yHbf7XEXU

[SR4]

you sound pretty well educated smet. what's your degree(s) in?

 

my post obviously wasn't directed at you, but it would be foolish to dismiss the sense of entitlement common in too many americans and the perpetuation of that sense by education professionals with utopian visions of everyone being happy at their jobs.

 

yeah sorry for flying off the handle....whenever I hear that entitlement argument I tend to take it personally.

 

I am pursuing a degree in the humanities...which, like you said, wasn't a smart thing to set out for, but realistically, the job market didn't become ultra-competitive until about 3 years ago, and a lot of this is due to old professors refusing to retire because they are worried about the economic strain. So what happens is you have a bottleneck in the hiring pool, money dries up in the schools so they cut back on posts...meanwhile they continue to rely on tenured 90 year olds who are paid 100k, sometimes more a year...when there are many (and i mean hundreds) of applicants would settle for a non-tenure track position paying less than half of that, who have better CV's, more publications, and have all around worked harder than a lot of their predecessors. It doesn't make any sense and there needs to be a massive upheaval in our academic systems.

 

I never thought Id say this, but I am completely for the abolition of tenure in academia. If anything tenure should be earned after 15 years of teaching, not 5-7. Its fucking up our ability to gain employment regardless of our efforts...right now im focusing on the book market/publishing to earn supplemental income...its not easy.

 

I see a lot of my friends who worked as mechanics or at McDonalds that now earn far more than I do...in that sense they made the better choice....what I find troubling is the fact that you go to higher education to deserve higher pay, or at the very least guarantee a job in the future...and it doesn't even do that anymore....in a sense, the population working in basic-labor conditions end up better off than people trying for social mobility, and what truly angers me is that society fails to acknowledge this and continues to push "higher education is great for everyone." The risk vs. reward these days makes it a no contest in the majority of cases. Yet I was stupid and naive enough to believe this because my own educators, family, co-workers benefited from the same system that now constricts and strangles so many others that have taken their advice. Its a very fucked up situation..

[marf]

i'll be unemployed by the end of januari, which isn't too bad considering how much i hate being a goddamn cab driver, but im not sure what i'll do next. i was thinking of going back to school (im 31 now so i feel like im gonna be too old soon), but i dunno ..

 

Im older. Ive done my research. Im thining of just being ok with being poor. Mostly cause this economy only wants to reward people that are really good at math. computer programming or engineering. IM the opposite. I can get around on a computer but Im no fucking genius.

 

You can take adult education courses. You might be able to get it compressed or accelerated. Depends on the nomenclature the school uses. Its pretty laid back for adults. Different times. weekends. I could finish a BA in liberal arts quickly at U of Richmond, but what can a liberal arts degree get you? Maybe with connections a foot in the door somewhere. A sales job. Library work? dunno Also, if you work at the university often times your classes are free. We got to game the system

[Dale]

It's probably just a matter of time before things bounce back.

two words: technological unemployment

[SR4]

please expand?

[Guest theSun]

you sound pretty well educated smet. what's your degree(s) in?

 

my post obviously wasn't directed at you, but it would be foolish to dismiss the sense of entitlement common in too many americans and the perpetuation of that sense by education professionals with utopian visions of everyone being happy at their jobs.

 

yeah sorry for flying off the handle....whenever I hear that entitlement argument I tend to take it personally.

 

I am pursuing a degree in the humanities...which, like you said, wasn't a smart thing to set out for, but realistically, the job market didn't become ultra-competitive until about 3 years ago, and a lot of this is due to old professors refusing to retire because they are worried about the economic strain. So what happens is you have a bottleneck in the hiring pool, money dries up in the schools so they cut back on posts...meanwhile they continue to rely on tenured 90 year olds who are paid 100k, sometimes more a year...when there are many (and i mean hundreds) of applicants would settle for a non-tenure track position paying less than half of that, who have better CV's, more publications, and have all around worked harder than a lot of their predecessors. It doesn't make any sense and there needs to be a massive upheaval in our academic systems.

 

I never thought Id say this, but I am completely for the abolition of tenure in academia. If anything tenure should be earned after 15 years of teaching, not 5-7. Its fucking up our ability to gain employment regardless of our efforts...right now im focusing on the book market/publishing to earn supplemental income...its not easy.

 

I see a lot of my friends who worked as mechanics or at McDonalds that now earn far more than I do...in that sense they made the better choice....what I find troubling is the fact that you go to higher education to deserve higher pay, or at the very least guarantee a job in the future...and it doesn't even do that anymore....in a sense, the population working in basic-labor conditions end up better off than people trying for social mobility, and what truly angers me is that society fails to acknowledge this and continues to push "higher education is great for everyone." The risk vs. reward these days makes it a no contest in the majority of cases. Yet I was stupid and naive enough to believe this because my own educators, family, co-workers benefited from the same system that now constricts and strangles so many others that have taken their advice. Its a very fucked up situation..

 

talk to your mechanic friends, is it their dream job or something they do to make money? i get so infuriated with the high standard of high school teachers. the idea that anyone is "happy" at work is ridiculous. work does not have to be fun, but it should be necessary. think about who is going to *need* your services. sure, there are 100 people who love going to work in the world, but they have taken the 100 fun jobs and left the rest of the dirty shit work to you and me.

 

honestly and uninformedly i'd say go full force into writing and pick up something part time to stay afloat. my gf is in sort of the same situation with her anthropology degree. one thing you should look into if you haven't already are civil service exams. my sister got a bio degree and works now as a health inspector for the county. she still gets offers once in a while from when she took and passed her exam.

[Guest uptown devil]

i just quit my job this past friday.

 

[data]

i'll be unemployed by the end of januari, which isn't too bad considering how much i hate being a goddamn cab driver, but im not sure what i'll do next. i was thinking of going back to school (im 31 now so i feel like im gonna be too old soon), but i dunno ..

 

man, i was thinking of getting in a driving biz! what's so bad about driving cab?

 

i'm also thinking of going back to school - definitely a College Diploma in something practical. i wish i focused more on math and sciences in school instead of fucking history and philosophy!

 

i've been driving for a living for the past 10 years almost and i like it. i've only been a cab driver for about a year though, and in that short time i've learnt that people in general are assholes, 'specially when drunk. i mean, it's not that i didn't know that before, but now i have to deal with it/them on a daily basis. also, business people, i realize that if you're a busy person who takes ten+ cab rides a day you can't (apparently) be nice or tip or even say thanks to all of them, but yeah, fuck em.

 

oh and business has been slow for the past 6 months, which is the main reason im quitting.

[Dale]

please expand?

Jobs are being taken over by machine automation in many areas - most of all the service sector which is typically the largest labour sector in a lot of developed countries. Companies/corporations benefit from cheaper costs by replacing employees with machines and most of all, they keep up with the competition right now. The first significant signs of this phenomenon are the self-service checkouts in a lot of supermarkets. It's more efficient and cost effective to bring in machines when we're talking about repetitive tasks. Therefore, it will have to take a change in our social system in order for us to live in a society where technological progression and machine automation is encouraged (because the benefits to society are massive) whilst the system itself accommodates and takes care of the needs of everyone without the need for employment so that people have more time to pursue what they would like to enjoy doing (thus creating a healthier society) and there will of course be more time to consider updating society even further through researching new ideas and contributing wherever you would like to as you won't ever need to concern yourself with money and getting a job (this would belong in the old monetary paradigm).

 

In other words, our technological progression is going ahead of capitalism therefore we have no choice but to change and update the social system if we want everyone taken care of without servitude and being in poverty.

 

This video is in English by the way despite the title:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tslntbfHUjQ

 

@2:36 - someone trying to explain technological unemployment to a banker at Occupy London:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeLHwbwI36g&feature=player_detailpage#t=156s

 

Technological unemployment is inevitable and cannot be stopped.

[Guest theSun]

what if the people who run the current system don't want to liberate the masses?

[Dale]

what if the people who run the current system don't want to liberate the masses?

It's not a case of a group of elites actively choosing not to implement technological meausures - it will just occur as if it is a natural progression. It wouldn't make any sense NOT to increase machine automation from a capitalist's standpoint - but we live in a time where short term based decision making often occurs and I do not find it likely for there to be some kind of conspiracy or master plan by the very rich to hinder technological progress.

 

Increased unemployment = civil unrest (a lot of the time). So this unrest can act as a pressure on governments across the world to consider a new social system. I think things like the Occupy Movement are only the beginning of much more larger, more serious, global scale grassroot movements sprouting up as unemployment keeps increasing. We have to realise that this current system does not look out for everyone.