When I put myself through college in the nineties, I relied on jobs like delivering pizzas and bagging groceries. I wouldn’t have been able to pay rent or buy food without this work. These days, I’m often struck by how people in these same jobs get by (or if they get by).
According to the New York Times, the economic downturn has hit the younger and less-skilled members of our workforce the hardest.
From the fall of 2007 to this October, the share of 16- to 19-year-olds working fell by 8 percent, the largest decline of any age group, and the outlook for youths and low-skilled workers in coming months is bleak, economists say, with the industries most apt to employ them, like home-building and retail sales, taking steep dives.
Recent college graduates are forced to take jobs that don’t require degrees, and high-school graduates are lucky if they can even find a part-time, $7.25-an-hour gig. In one case, a young worker is cornered into an unimaginable position:
"I’ve tried for everything, retail sales, office work, but the employers all say they have too many staff and they’re not hiring now," Ms. Everett said. "McDonald’s was the only place that would take me, but only part-time," for $7.25 an hour.
Ms. Everett cannot afford to rent even a room, and stays secretly with her grandmother in a home for the elderly.
My friend Jason, who two years ago was a gainfully employed construction superintendent, is out of work in a sector that enjoys 10.8 % unemployment—the highest of any industry.
Like my family and many others, his family is looking forward to a new direction in economic policy. We’re looking forward to a stimulus measure that generates new jobs, a rollback of the Bush tax cuts, a government for the people (not the business), a living wage and other measures to strengthen the hand of the American worker. It’s not the welfare Sam Wurzelbacher once enjoyed, but it is a 180º turn from the policies that have leeched off of us the past eight years.
Last week, my son asked me if someone can be too rich. "Well, of course they can," I responded. But my six-year old probed further. He wanted to know what happens to these people, as if being too rich would result in something draconian and punitive. I tried to reassure him.
"Well, they usually give lots of their extra money to people who aren’t doing so well. There’s a guy named Warren Buffet, he’s like the second richest guy in the world, and he’s giving all of his money away to help people who are sick, poor, need school...all around the world," I told him.
"So are we going to get money from the second richest guy?" His question caught me by surprise.
"It doesn’t quite work that way, buddy. He gives his money to an organization..." I started.
"What’s an organization, daddy?" he interrupted.
I explained, "That’s a group of people who work together to find the best way to spend the money so that it helps the most people, and the people who need it the most. Before you were born, when Bill Clinton was president, people who made how much your daddy makes didn’t need help. The organizations are only supposed to help people who make less than your daddy...But we will get the help we need once Barack Obama’s president."
My son followed up. "He’s still President-Elect?"
"Yes, until...," I began.
He interjected, "that’s right, until January 20."
cross-posted on MYDD