How Is The Job Situation Where You Live?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I live in Central Florida and it is awful.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. I live in Northeastern NY and it's much the same here.

x(

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. In A Just Society There Would Be A Job For Every Man And Woman Who Wants To Work

Commensurate with their skills and abilities.

[lib2DaBone]

12. Especially in our "bootstrap" society.....

where our churches and government evaluate a person's worth by the term "Employment".

The only problem is that the "bootstraps" are not there... they have been stolen by the corporations.

Worse yet, this theft is sanctioned by the politicians who are supposed to represent the voters?

Our political system is totally corrupt from top to bottom and back again.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Jobs was the signature campaign issue of our new Democratic congressman

Who won the special election we had here in NY-20 back in March. We needed to fill Kirsten Gillibrand's seat when she was appointed senator. I worked on Congressman Murphy's campaign, and he does seem pretty good at putting people to work, but he hasn't been in all that long, since we had a contested election, similar, though not as prolonged, as Al Franken's. :-(

[stray cat]

30. and it would be worldwide - so how do you plan on implementing such a just world wide society?

and to implement it world wide most of America is going to have to give up alot to help other poorer countries

[RedCloud]

3. At my job we are in the money, but the pricks want to shrink anyway.

They sniff extra money and think we will work like idiots to placate them!

[Maru Kitteh]

50. Most of the smart ones probably will probably comply

Given that there are likely people willing to take their place if they do not.

[Political Heretic]

4. Second highest unemployment in the nation - woo hoo!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. It's Over 11% In FL

If you count the underemployed, those who quit looking, and independent contractors without work which Florida is full of the number is probably twenty five percent.

[onethatcares]

7. yep, west central floriduh isn't bustling

and the government layoffs are getting worse as we try to find ways to build a baseball stadium.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I Was Driving Around Orlando

There are so many shuddered up businesses and homeless people.

[onethatcares]

11. drive around St. Petersburg

or the gulf beach areas of Pinellas. It looks like Atlantic City after the casinos came in. The mom and pops are fading out, the t shirt shops and beach junque stores are closing pretty fast anymore.

I haven't been to Orlando for about 2 years, but with the sprawl at that point, every section looked like a simon mall with an attached homeowners association.

Peace:hi:

[peace frog]

25. North Central FL is withering

several of the larger employers have closed their doors, and literally the only jobs available to the large numbers of newly unemployed are supermarket bagger, WalMart greeter and fast-food burger flipper. It's beyond disgusting.

[Dappleganger]

26. Jacksonville is just a notch above awful

McDonald's is still hiring. /s

What is so bad around here is that nobody want to pay full timers with benefits. Most of the major companies are still only using temporary contracting firms where they can get by with a cheap workforce. My husband came home pissed that yet again, nobody pays attention while he jumps through hoops to get notice, just hoping that the company will hire him full-time. He'd even do it at the low pay rate their giving him now as long as there's healthcare bennies. No such luck. :shrug:

[Selatius]

43. A good rule of thumb. Take official government unemployment numbers and double it.

If you apply it, then nationally speaking, the real what-you-would-see-on-the-street unemployment rate is hovering around 20%. Many history texts say the Great Depression featured unemployment anywhere between 25% to 33%.

[notesdev]

6. Missing an entry

"suck ass" should be among the choices

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. I Didn't Want To Be Profane

My fiancee has nearly twenty years of public accounting experience and can't find work.

I have a small publishing company that is advertising recenue driven but folks aren't buying advertising space.

[lib2DaBone]

14. The whole economy is "dead -in-the-water"...

..except for government bureaucrats.

I used to sell advertising... I know what you mean. It's a very tough sell even in robust times.

The consumer has no money.. so why advertise? Even if you get heads in the door.. they can't buy anything?

We should be doing a massive public works program to put wages in workers pockets and stimulate demand. At the same time bring the troops home and spend the $14 Billion a month here.

Mr. Obama doesn't have a clue.. and Washington is still operating on Ronnie Raygun's Trickle down.. or "Supply SIde economics", where you give everything to the wealthy and they will supposedly let some crumbs fall on the floor.

Very sad.. watching them re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[ixion]

21. indeed... you're spot on

it's both sad and frustrating watching it go down this way. :(

[fasttense]

29. You are so right lib2DaBone.

The bailout to banksters was just a continuation of trickle down. Just imagine what would have happened if they had tried trickle UP for a change. If President Obama had stopped the bush bailouts, instead of continuing them, and used all that money to pay off every middle class American's loan.

[Jamastiene]

10. Statewide in NC as of September 2009

We ranked 44 out of 51 (CNN included D.C.)
http://www.bls.gov/web/laumstrk.htm

The rate statewide was 11.2%

BUT...

I live in Richmond County...

It's 12.2% here.
http://www.bls.gov/lau/laucntycur14.txt

These statistics were as of December 2009.

[rox63]

33. My state is #31 on that list, at 9.4% unemployment

But my county is only at 7.5% unemployment. So I chose "Fair" on the poll. We're doing a bit better than a lot of other places. I've been able to find a job when I need one. Not always exactly the job I want, and not always as many hours as I want. But I am employed, and I can pay the bills for now.

Middlesex County in Mass, for those who are wondering.

[samplegirl]

13. N.E. Ohio

No jobs!!!

[DailyGrind51]

16. Chicago's unemployment rate is near 10%.

[alex456]

44. It took me...

One year and two weeks to find a job in Chicago, but I got one this week!!!! There are more jobs in the city that are legitimate than there were a year ago - or even a couple of months ago.

[quaker bill]

17. poor but seemingly stable

The layoffs seem to have happened. Not much hiring going on yet, but the layoffs seem mostly over. I have seen a few vague indications of improvement recently, but they are not large or frequent.

[NecklyTyler]

18. Construction work has just about come to a halt

With all the vacant commercial buildings and houses across town, there is no need to build new ones. The hospital construction is about finished and the new air port is almost done. Most construction workers have gone from 60 hours a week to 60 hours a month.

Things are spiraling down

[old mark]

19. Fair, but very slowly improving - there are now SOME jobs-there were NONE

at all. For a while, there was not even a help wanted section in the daily paper.

mark

[ixion]

20. Crazy bad here in Sarasota

the official number is around 15%, which means it's over 20%. Burglaries and/or attempted break-ins are becoming a nightly occurrence.

[Hubert Flottz]

22. Still getting worse

[B Calm]

23. I can always get a job pulling a load of new Toyota's. God Bless the US Trucker!

[hobbit709]

24. The official version or what I see around me?

Officially we're doing just fine. Through personal experience and what I see my friends and acquaintances going through-it sucks.

[Urban Prairie]

27. SE MI...lol

Things haven't really been the same here since '79. Only the fact that our state is surrounded by freshwater gives me the thought that someday that water will be worth more than oil. But there is always the possibility that due to our rapidly declining population, and loss of representation/political clout in DC, that water could very well be pipelined or redirected to more politically powerful, but arid states whose water usage is constantly increasing each year.

Once Raygun was elected to office, and companies began the first wave of offshoring blue collar jobs, along with large companies eliminating career jobs by contracting out and using lower paid "temps" instead, and the rise of the PC/broadband internet and automation/robotics, the chances for a HS grad with average intelligence to earn even a modest middle-class living, own property, work for just one company having a decent fringe benefit package while also earning a pension and raising a family, then retire like my father had, became increasingly bleak.

Technological advances are wonderful, but they do cause a domino-like effect by eliminating jobs on the lower to mid-levels of employment, those affected whose loss of income cause others to lose their jobs, and so on.

I thought that with having the first POTUS since JFK, to come from a northern state, that job opportunities in the midwest might gradually begin to improve, or at least stanch some of the "bleeding". But it is very difficult to overcome 30 years of steady or sharp decline, and it would likely take a succession of Democratic presidents spanning at least a decade or two to turn things completely around in the US. If we get another rethuglican in office, esp. later with a GOP majority congress in '12, it will spell the death of most of the middle class, at least here in the midwest, IMO.

[Cid_B]

28. I can say with certainty...

that every single person within my community is employed with benefits.

[alex456]

45. Where's that? n/t

[Cid_B]

57. A medium sized FOB in eastern Afghanistan....

You knew there was a catch didn't you?

[alex456]

59. Heh.

I'll stick to Chicago, thanks. Keep safe!

[fasttense]

31. Here in East TN and the county's official unemployment rate is 15%.

If the county says it is 15% you can bet it is closer to 22%.

When we moved here, right after the dancing supremes appointed the bushes, the unemployment rate was about 3%. It continually increased, until it has reached such a high level that I couldn't find a year that equals or surpasses the current rate (the stats only go back to 1990).

Some other counties around here are doing much worse.

Everywhere you go, you see abandon buildings, boarded up stores, vacant malls, homeless people with signs asking for money. You know bad economic times usually hit the rural areas first then moves to the more urban areas.

And yet I'll betcha that most of these suffering people voted for the bushes at least twice. And they love their RepublCONS because they keep voting them in.

[Fire1]

32. Michigan. Nuff said. n/t

[NikRik]

34. Besides jobs available in crtain areas......

there are many other reasons somoeone like me cannot find employment ! Iam a 52 year old male who went bankrupt within the last two years . I was amazed when I went to apply for a job at local appliance store with high hopes since I've been in retail sales for years and had good referances ! However this piticular place told you right up front that besides a background check for a criminial record they would also be running a credit check ? Would it not be normal for someone out of work and looking for a job to perhaps have some financial problems on their credit report. They stated that having good credit was a way for them to judge ones character. Jst getting past the questions on the application is a challenge in itself. It would be like in fifty two years I should not have anything except a pristine past. I have two young children that neeed a father thats working ,yet the hurdles are seeming to high to clear !
Unemployed in N.California
Nick

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. My Friend Had That Problem. He Explained It At The Interviews

Well many interview(s).

[Kermitt Gribble]

35. Tampa Bay area -

I agree that the job situation is awful.

[laughingliberal]

36. Jobs? Nevada. We're # 2 in unemployment

In fact we're pretty much near the top of every bad list. #2 in foreclosures and #1 in negative equity.

[whattheidonot]

37. houston.

the economy here is not terrible. the job offering , however are slim, nothing solid, mostly scams and sells jobs, definitely not an expanding thing. Houston is a good example of the double effect of high gas prices. got to get a job close to home.

[asdjrocky]

39. Stockton Ca.

Need I say more. We are running at 17% with not a lot of hope on the horizon.

[PassingFair]

40. Detroit Area....I've been staying in a job I absolutely HATE...

because my husband hasn't worked a full week
in 7 years.

Job situation SUCKS here.

[closeupready]

41. In New York, it's poor - there are now a handful of jobs in contrast to zero last year,

and a couple people I know personally have found jobs, but for less money than there were making, and even then, they are lucky to have landed those jobs.

[Blue_In_AK]

42. Urban Alaska has not been affected much by the recession.

Rural Alaska has problems, but they're more related to problems with fish stocks and conflicts between subsistence and commercial fishing.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

46. The People Who Voted Greater Than Poor Please Say Where They Live

So my fiancee and I can send our resumes.

[leeroysphitz]

47. Detroit

[Maru Kitteh]

51. 3.1% Buffalo County, Nebraska

Extremely low cost of living
Low unemployment
Good schools

Once in a while we have one of these:


But that's why everyone has a basement here.

It evens out pretty good.

[OhioChick]

48. Cleveland....Need I say more? n/t

[quiller4]

49. Official rate in my county is 8.9% down from 9.3%. It still isn't

easy to find permanent work but major employers are supplementing work by making heavy use of temp placement firms. It is possible to work very steadily through either WorkSource or Labor Ready and temps are being told of the possibility of permanent work.

Schnitzer Steel, one of two large metal recyclers on the Port of Tacoma, recalled all laid off employees in the fall and is adding to its work force

Although Boeing gave warn notices to IT workers in Seattle and Kent, they are hiring machinists at the Fredrickson plant.

Retail sales have picked up and Safeway, Fred Meyer and COSTCO have all been adding store and warehouse staff.

[sixmile]

52. Miami

Homeless everywhere

[ProgressOnTheMove]

53. Let's do this poll every couple of weeks, because I'd love to know how this is tracking.

[Dulcinea]

54. In GA, 10.3% unemployment at last count.

I haven't had a job in 369 days and counting. It sucks here.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

56. What Kind Of Work Do You Do?

~

[KillCapitalism]

55. St. Louis, MO

Somewhere around 18% here.

This is another midwest city that relied heavily on manufacturing, but since we don't make anything anymore, you can see why it's this high.

As others have noticed there is definitely an increase in the number of homeless, but a lot of them have been migrating south due to the severe winter here. A good number have frozen to death trying to tough it out in the elements this winter.

[Imajika]

58. Northern Virginia

...unemployment rate is not too bad here, at least in Northern Virginia. DC has it much worse, along with some parts of Maryland.

Lots of government and government related jobs here. Job market is not outstanding like it was for many years in the recent past, but not bad really.

Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun counties all doing fairly well considering how bad things are in the country.

Downsides are, cost of living is high, congestion is always getting worse, etc.