What a Jobless Recovery Means for Young Workers Like Me

By Me
Originally printed October 8, 2009 by the Progressive Media Project.

I’m glad to hear that the stock market is up. But, frankly, my own household doesn’t feel it.

My under-30 partner and I don’t own any stocks, so we’re not benefiting from Wall Street’s recovery. We’re both still jobless and searching for full-time work — in my case, for three months now and, in his case, for much longer.

We’re almost on the verge of leaving the country. At least in a less-developed nation, the cost of living would be lower and we might be able to put our past job experience, bachelor degrees and foreign language skills to better use.

In California, where unemployment reached a 70-year high in August, I have more advantages than many job seekers. I am a U.S. citizen and am able to speak both English and Spanish fluently. I have a computer with Internet access, and so I can spend all day searching Craigslist and checking e-mails from various job search listservs.

Yet I have applied, unsuccessfully, for nearly 50 jobs so far — not even reaching the interview stage in most of them.

I have filled out applications and sent in my resume to become a community organizer, after-school teacher, administrative assistant, personal assistant, baker’s assistant, nanny, women’s shelter desk clerk, coffee shop cashier/barista and a dog walker.

Since I graduated from college just two years ago, I haven’t been working in any industry for very long. My longest stretch of prior employment, since graduation, was 11 months spent in a decent-paying job as a union representative in the Bay Area before I was laid off, along with many others, due to an internal political dispute. (The appearance of the word “union” several times on my resume could explain why I haven’t heard back from some employers.)

I am thankful, of course, for the unemployment check I receive every other week. And for the extra $25 per week tacked on to it as part of the stimulus package. And for the COBRA subsidy, for my health coverage, that was part of the same legislation last winter. But jobless benefits don’t make me feel useful and they won’t last forever; already, many other people around the country have exhausted theirs.

My partner — who comes from El Salvador — has a degree in industrial engineering, but he isn’t eligible for unemployment benefits. His experience mirrors that of many other recent immigrants, with far less education. Working as a day laborer in painting and construction, he’s been left unpaid, on several occasions, by unscrupulous contractors.

So, if this jobless recovery continues, we’re thinking of going back to his country.

Amazingly, it seems there are more opportunities for a do-gooder like me in schools or development projects in poor, tiny El Salvador than here at home.

For millions of us in our 20s and many other unemployed folks, the federal government’s economic stimulus initiatives don’t seem to be trickling down fast enough. We, the unemployed, want to contribute our time, our skills, our ingenuity and our sweat. We could be rebuilding parks, painting murals, tutoring kids or doing lots of other socially useful things — if the government would only create these jobs.

But, instead, Time magazine—in its Sept. 21 cover story — explains “why double-digit unemployment may be here to stay — and how to live with it.”

I’ve lived with it long enough — and that’s why I may not be staying.