http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/mcdonalds-national-hiring-day
Seems like a lot of people I talk to have a sense that what this article says is proving to be true. The "good" jobs have disappeared and all that is left is low-level service-type jobs. I hope that is not the case, especially long-term, but I have this subdued feeling that it might be.
The following quotes from the article really jumped out at me:
"Think of it as a parable for these grim economic times. On April 19th, McDonald's launched its first-ever national hiring day, signing up 62,000 new workers at stores throughout the country. For some context, that's more jobs created by one company in a single day than the net job creation of the entire US economy in 2009. And if that boggles the mind, consider how many workers applied to local McDonald's franchises that day and left empty-handed: 938,000 of them. With a 6.2% acceptance rate in its spring hiring blitz, McDonald's was more selective than the Princeton, Stanford, or Yale University admission offices."
and
"While 23% of the jobs lost in the Great Recession that followed the economic meltdown of 2008 were "low-wage" (those paying $9-$13 an hour), 49% of new jobs added in the sluggish "recovery" are in those same low-wage industries. On the other end of the spectrum, 40% of the jobs lost paid high wages ($19-$31 an hour), while a mere 14% of new jobs pay similarly high wages."
Time to plant a garden, don't you think?
I think it all depend son where you live, what type of employment you are willing to take and what your skill set is.
ReplyDeleteI was was a contract employee developing online training. I am constantly getting bombarded with recruiters looking for people to do what I do. However, none of it is permanent work. All of it is $20+ per hour. I also happen to live in the Dallas area (though I have had recruiters contact me for jobs as far away as Massachusetts). The Dallas area (and Texas) treats employers well. They can be more flexible about hours and permanence of employees.
People need to start treating themselves as their own employers/businesses and start looking at the companies as their clients.
Great points, Tim. A long while back I heard someone mention the idea that they were choosing
ReplyDelete"not to participate in the Recession." Made a lot of sense to me at the time and still does. In many ways my wife and I are doing better than we ever have before, but it means working extra hard and not expecting anything to come easy.