Help wanted — jobless need not apply

[cynatnite]

Job-placement professionals say that over the last year, more and more employers have made it clear they won't consider job candidates who aren't working. "A lot of our recruiters have had clients who have come across this," Matt Deutsch of TopEchelon.com, which brings recruiters together to collaborate in finding jobs for candidates, told The Lookout, calling the practice "unfortunate."

With the number of Americans who have been out of work for six months or longer at a whopping 6.2 million, and with 4.7 unemployed workers for every job opening, advocates for the jobless say this growing form of hiring discrimination creates another hurdle for the increasingly desperate ranks of the unemployed. "At a moment when we all should be doing whatever we can to open up job opportunities to the unemployed, it is profoundly disturbing that the trend of deliberately excluding the jobless from work opportunities is on the rise," Christine Owens, who runs the National Employment Law Center, told the EEOC.

Some experts say that discrimination against the jobless, as currently practiced, may violate civil rights laws--a question the commission is now considering. In itself, such discrimination isn't illegal. (New Jersey is exploring legislation that would prohibit job ads telling the unemployed not to apply.) But it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race or age. And African-Americans and older workers are disproportionately represented among the long-term unemployed--meaning they may be bearing the brunt of discrimination against the jobless.

The EEOC declined to say whether it's investigating specific cases of potential violations.

Some employers have said they're unwilling to hire unemployed workers because they believe that if a worker has once been let go, that's a sign that he or she is probably not a great hire. "People who are currently employed … are the kind of people you want as opposed to people who get cut," one recruiter told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in October.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/help-wanted-jobless-need-not-apply

[Zephie]

1. It's the new "Colored need not apply"

the unemployed will be sitting on the back of the bus and drinking from separate water fountains at this rate.

[cynatnite]

2. The unemployed are being treated horribly...

It's disgusting.

[Missy Vixen]

3. It's discrimination

It should be dealt with on a national level.

Hey, President Obama, want to stimulate the economy? Make it against the law for any business receiving federal tax benefits to discriminate against the unemployed.

:mad:

-MV
survived 10 months of unemployment in 2008-2009

[Mnemosyne]

4. Plain and simple, common sense, MV, and very well put. Thank uoi. K&R n/t

[Missy Vixen]

5. Hugs to you

I am thinking of you, and sending every blessing. You are needed and oh, so important.

:hug: :loveya:

-MV

p.s. I'm nobody of consequence. If I could come up with a solution to this issue, why can't President Obama? It would take one stroke of the pen to make it so. The 99ers have been driven to the end of their endurance, and now, they have NO hope of finding a job with multiple companies. It's obscene.

[upi402]

6. Or to outsource jobs

with our tax dollars and tax dodges for taking offshore!

aaargh

[cynatnite]

7. Kicking because the American worker is under attack in this country.n/t