Many black and orange pixels have been arranged on the subject of the current economy and its effect on people. For me, having spent the last four years working for a construction related business, the deteriorating conditions of the housing market and the economy as a whole have been readily visible.
At my company, the labor cost cutting started slowly and quietly about a year ago. At first, it was mostly attrition, which evolved into hours cuts and position shuffling (clandestine demotion). Now it's a full on avalanche of layoffs. Anecdotally at least, I can attest to the acceleration of the recession.
More details from the trenches of the housing industry and what my plans are now after the fold.
Along with Droogie, ClammyC and several others it seems, my first child came into the world about 10 months ago. She is adorable, awesome, and most other alliterative adjectives. Now, thanks to the bursting of the housing bubble, I get to spend a lot more time with my little girl. This aspect of my situation I am very much looking forward to. The future uncertainty I face is something I most definitely do not enjoy.
My layoff was one part voluntary, one part not. The writing was on the wall at work. When the housing collapse first began to take shape our large company was in a good position. With the size to survive the first hit, we began absorbing the smaller competition that wasn't so lucky. Our market share and even our volume was increasing even while most builders were scaling back or pulling out of the state completely. We even hired a few people in the fall of '07. Then we hit a wall. More builders pulled up stakes or declared bankruptcy. Despite having twice the housing project contracts, we were installing a quarter of the houses we were at our peak in summer '06.
I was planning on quitting my job this spring to go back to school. I eventually told a boss of mine this plan because I felt the perimeter closing in and I felt it would be uncool of me to let one of the close co-workers of mine get laid off when I would be quitting in a matter of weeks. I was hoping to ride out the storm long enough to leave on my own accord, but my hand was forced. Fortunately, my decision to volunteer for the axe bought me some good will from my employer. Instead of being laid off on Dec. 19th, I was allowed to stay on until this week, getting me extra time to train others on my tasks, get past my hire date for another year of employment which increased my employer 401k vestment by 20%, and extend my health insurance coverage until the end of Feb.
Having foreseen this eventuality on the horizon, my wife and I sat down several months ago to come up with a plan of action for my future. She is a RN and part of one of only three sectors of the economy that actually added jobs in 2008 (healthcare, government, and education). Partly inspired by her pragmatism to get an education in a field that provides great job opportunity and security, and partially inspired by the many teachers that post here, I decided to turn my unused BA in history into a teaching certificate that I could use. I will embark on that new course this summer, but in the mean time I get to try my hand at 'stay-at-home dad.'
I am extremely fortunate to be in the position where the loss of my income can be almost completely offset by an extra shift of work for my wife and the lack of need for day care for my daughter. I am about to find out how much work it is to try and watch an infant full time and attempt to accomplish other tasks that need to get done around the house and in preparation for a return to school. I am really looking forward to the challenge, and really looking forward to spending more time with the little one while she learns to walk, talk, and terrorize the dog. I hope this will also mean more time spent with all of you magnificent people.
As I know many of you are teachers I was also hoping to start a diary series about teaching. I figure I could set the topic, expose my lack of knowledge about it, and then learn as much as I can from all of you. I really want to be the best teacher I can be, and it sure couldn't hurt to get some advice from the extremely intelligent and diverse community that is Daily Kos.