http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkS2uEqaL5s
Some people think, that just getting a job is easy. For a qualified, young college graduate, it may be. But if you’re 55 or older, and unemployed, it’s really not that easy. The issue of unemployed isn’t isn’t a black and white. There are people who are unemployed for many months, and the longer they stay jobless, the harder it is for them to find work. There are many factors that come into play.
Isn’t it crazy, that some companies refuse to hire the unemployed? When they look for workers, they only ask for people who are already employed?
Lost on Long Island is a documentary explaining the troubles of four families, and linking them to the grand issue of unemployment. It’s a must-watch documentary about folks who live in Long Island, going through difficult times.
Many conservative politicians and radio talk show hosts believe that Americans on unemployment are lazy. They are completely wrong. There are Americans that spend twelve hours a day, looking work, while these very same talk show hosts work little hours, and get paid in the six digit figures.
People are bouncing paycheck to paycheck trying to survive out there in the wild, and to say that they are lazy, and that they aren’t looking for work, is just a lie. Either thepeople who believe these americans are lazy are themselves ignorant, or they are just spewing their propaganda to the masses for their own benefit.
Interestingly, There are laws set in place to combat worker discrimination, but in reality, it still exists. For some jobs, if you are fifty five, and highly qualified, they’d much rather have a younger, less experienced worker, than you. Companies would much rather hire confident, young worker, rather than highly qualified experienced professional.
The saddest part of it all, is that some of these Americans have been working all their lives, and paying into system. The very system, which is failing them now.
by david bassin
I agree 100% to your blog post about the troubles of the unemployed. In this day in age there is a stigma associated with those who are unemployed. Society considers them lazy, unmotivated, unambitious, etc. The truth of the matter is that it is very difficult to even find a job now a days and especially more difficult for those who are 55 and older.
The fact that middle aged citizens are unemployed leads to bigger problems. Social Security is said to be running out and if a middle age citizen doesn’t have an income at 55, imagine at 65 without a retirement package to look forward to or not even a hefty bank account since it was spent during his/her time as an unemployed. These current issues are going to lead to future bigger issues that can worsen the economy. The stagnation in this country just continues.
As the blog post stated in the end the same people who served the system all their lives is now failing them. I don’t know whether to blame government, capitalism, or the 1% but the truth of the matter is that there definitely is something wrong with the “system.” Present day mainstream films point out the flaws of the current system and how the “villain” tries to establish anarchy as the answer but as things seem to be going anything is better than this system because even if there isn’t anarchy literally, there is some sort of chaos that cannot be answered.
This was a very informative documentary and I agree completely on the message that this blog is trying to convey. For young people. its almost necessary for them to find a job early to not be too overwhelmed with college debt in the future. But for men and women who are unemployed over the age of 55 it is even harder.
There is definitely something wrong with the mindset of employers nowadays. It is true that they try to find workers that are already employed and disregard the people who are unemployed looking for jobs. This documentary shows proof that the current system is broken and has to be fixed. If this system continues to treat unemployed workers so unfairly then the American economy will never imporove
I agree with your blog. I think that most college undergraduates have in mind that after they get out of college, they will be guaranteed a job. However, this is not the case (not anymore at least). With the unemployment rate rising to almost 10%, the job selection process is more competitive than before. Many college graduates cannot do anything with their degree because there are just simply no job openings available. With technology becoming more and more dominant in society, they might eventually replace human labor, resulting in even more people unemployed.
It is true that most people who are middle aged (ages 40 to 50) and was fired or laid off from their job will be in a very dire situation. I’ve learned in business class that when a company needs to down size or lay off workers, they will tend to look at the middle managers/ echelon first. In fact, middle managers who do not have any personnel reporting to him will have the highest risk of being laid off. Now, what can they do? It is simply too late to go back to school for another degree. It will be very, very, very difficult to be looking for a new job as they will be competing against college graduates. Companies will more likely hire younger people as they have the opportunity to stay in the firm longer.
For college undergraduates like us, I think we need to take advantage of our education and work harder than before. It is a competitive society where every degree is essentially the same. But how would you differentiate yourself?