It does not look like joblessness is going to be easing anytime soon. Even though business orders are up, cash reserves are high, and overtime is wearing out employees. Unfortunately, economic conditions still do not seem to be stimulative enough to increase hiring.
For the unemployed this is especially aggravating. Most are hopeful, perhaps desperate is the more accurate word, that “companies” will someday begin hiring again, that employers of businesses both large and small will again provide all the jobs we need like they did before.
And what help can be expected from the government? Although the Democrats stimulus plan helped to avert another Great Depression and created or saved 2-4 million jobs it has not sufficiently convinced businesses or their lenders that there is enough stability and predictability to start hiring. The Republicans, on the other hand, are still convinced that no government plan is best and that if we can just keep taxes to the rich low and markets free of regulation all will recover nicely (President Bush’s tax cut to the rich is now nine years old and that worked out well, didn’t it?!).
This joblessness problem is bigger than politicians can remedy with trite ideological positions and reheated campaign phrases. Here in New Hampshire, listening to the current crop of political ads can hardly give hope to the jobless. They sound like parodies of… well political campaign ads.
We hear candidates telling us that their honesty and business acumen will “fix the economy”. Really? This is one heck of a big mess that will not be solved by way of polarization, finger-pointing, and outrageous claims of superhuman economic abilities. It begins with everyone seeing themselves as Americans first and Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Partyers, or whatever, second. Nobody and no political persuasion have all the answers. When the nation’s most renowned economists cannot agree on what is the right course of action, then that tells me that this is really complicated and requires the collaboration of our greatest efforts, not simplistic political phrases.
If I had a quick and easy answer or method to suggest that would lessen the pain of unemployment, believe me, I’d give it to you. But just like our candidates, be they lobbyists, lawyers, or magazine editors, I don’t have a magic bullet for fixing this unemployment mess and I have yet to run into anyone else who has one.
So, while we wait for our leaders to work together, jobless Americans need to be as proactive as they can. Assume for starters that we are not going back to Pleasantville. For the short-term, anyway, there is going to be a new normal. I think it will help to get yourself in the mindset of treating yourself as if you were self-employed… an entrepreneur. Avoid wallowing in despair and depression and instead face your situation as if you are trying to generate business for your own owner-operated company, the business of you.
Be clear on what you can offer and then constantly look for opportunities to practice your skills. Volunteer, work temporarily, accept positions for now that pay less than before, keep studying, keep networking, do whatever it takes to stay in the game. Recessions historically generate entrepreneurial activity and given how deep this one is, the entrepreneurial reaction of citizens should be strong.
Losing your identity is as bad, if not worse, than losing your money. Can you still say what you “are”, be it bookkeeper, truck driver, or seamstress? You are out of work, not out of life. Find a way to stay engaged in what you do and in who you are. Losing your job is not the same thing as losing your profession.
The evidence that we are headed more and more into a freelance nation is continuously being reinforced. Waiting for the old normal of “getting a job” may never again be the same for millions of Americans. Begin making the mental shift now to being independent. It may be the only thing related to your work that you can control.
