'Job Creators' Who Won't Hire The Unemployed

[Swede]

As President Obama hits the road on his jobs agenda bus tour, millions of individuals trying to re-enter the job market, seeking to eke out a modest living so that they too can live the American Dream – or what’s left of it anyway – are stuck in a rut. They write hundreds of cover letters, perfect their interview techniques and network like crazy, but sometimes the barriers are too high.

What some may not know is that a number of employers, including household-name companies, have taken the position that the unemployed should forget about obtaining a job altogether.

Log on to any jobs site, do a quick search and the results may surprise you: slews of job ads are essentially warning the out-of-work that they worthless and disposable.

Welcome to 21st Century, post-Recession hiring discrimination: where you must be an “employed or recently employed” person to get a job.

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083211/so-you-want-get-back-workforce

[kenny blankenship]

1. I guess they are not "job creators" then, just job *swappers.*

So maybe we can stop bowing and scraping and heaping terms of praise upon them as if they shat out golden eggs for the improvement of a society that is unworthy to receive their blessings?

[undeterred]

2. This should be illegal.

But like so many other forms of discrimination, it is practiced right out in the open and nobody does anything about it.

[izquierdista]

3. If they won't hire the unemployed....

then they won't mind if the unemployed no longer buy their product (or service).

[high density]

4. It's the same issue new grads have

No corporation wants to spend the money training new people and expanding the workforce, so they expect all job applicants to have at least a few years of experience. Except you obviously can't get experience without having a job first...

[provis99]

5. that's just plain stupid.

If they won't hire the unemployed, who the heck are they supposed to hire? People who already have jobs they don't want to leave?

Capitalism is about the stupidest economic system the universe can come up with.

[Fumesucker]

6. Lends a whole new meaning to the term "Catch 22"..

That phrase seems to pick up new meanings with depressing regularity.

[customerserviceguy]

7. There's a solution

Instead of just giving everybody another 2% FICA tax cut (mine is only about $20 a week, and I don't need it all that badly), why not allow employers who hire long term unemployed workers a break on FICA? You hire a person who's been out of work for a year, you don't have to pay FICA tax on that person's wages for a year, etc.

While I despise the weakening of the Social Security System by these tax holidays, at least they could be used to do something good, rather than dole money out to people who don't need it, like those at or above the cap, who might spend it on some luxury item.