Does the United States have a spending problem? Obviously, but I really wanted to talk about how the cost of living crisis is presenting itself in your community. That relates to this article because you can’t squeeze blood from a stone. If all of you have no disposable income, no savings, and a job market that can’t support your current cost of living… What happens if you lose your job? Do you default on loan obligations along with America because we are stretched to the edge. Should we vote in members of congress to pass more tax breaks for private jets?Are mods whack? Let me know in the comments.
Hopefully the social security kicks in soon, or you’re not that old! If you’re looking to buy a house I think there are some tax loopholes for using retirement savings. I’m sure trump and his cronies would also love to relieve you of your retirement in some diabolical way. So I’m guessing your job market is fucked too?
yeah and unfortunately im not that old. just into my 50’s so to far from retirement but definately a minus when job hunting along with being unemployed for over a year now. its like two strikes. I mean they won’t say that outright. honestly like anything when you look at how fucked so many people are I know im not getting the worst of it.
Yea I’ve been out of work almost 3 years now. I’ve been taking seasonal jobs and burning through savings. I’ve seen a total of 3 jobs I really wanted in that time. I’ve tried to sell myself at under asking price. It’s ugly out there and if it goes on for a few more years it’s destroying my chances of retiring.
The hardest part is once upon a time I made incredible money. I’ll probably never get to enjoy that lifestyle again. I got kicked off the damn ladder and found the thing fully pulled up. I’m younger than you but man the years go by fast when society has forsaken your skills.
you sound like me. I did well but I was single income with a sick wife so needed it. I to am picking up work as I can. I mean I have seen many more jobs I would want but nothing ultimately goes through. 3rd shift weekend in office falls through. I have put in for a variety of jobs outside my field that don’t pay much and don’t have many requirements and never hear back. Im not sure if they figure I will not hang around or if the whole age and long term unemployment are just too big of strikes. If I could have insurance without it sucking up time to maintain and did not cost me anything I could likely float us with pick up work but unfortunately filling out forms and calling offices and such along with interviews or such limits my ability to go full force on it.
I’ve done a lot of 4 part interviews and personality testing, weird competence tests, pretty much anything asked. I’m starting to suspect that the recruiters don’t look at those either. Most of the jobs I see are just sales jobs for robbing rich boomers. I think that’s what bothers me the most. The best jobs are scams, it’s a scam economy. Want to make more than a doctor? Just sell 50,000 siding jobs!
I mean im mostly looking in IT, so competency tests are not untward and usually if I go the distance at least 3 interviews, but it does feel often like they just don’t want to commit. I can say that winter of 24/25 were everything seemed to stall when I did recived replies it was often they are not moving forward whereas I identify stuff moving somewhere after spring 25 because I would get some that they went with someone else. I think this where I really got screwed. Being let go a month and a half before the election is what pushed me to over a year not working and now its a black eye along with my age. That being said the whole field seems to have gotten wierd with ai and purple squirrel type of thing. It reminded me a bit of around 2000 where adverts are asking for a set of requirements that are or virtually are impossible to fullfill. Again I feel its gotten a bit better but kinda anemic. Like they realize they need people but just don’t want to commit funds and are super easy to pull back. So I can say that before companies I worked at were pretty much identifying their budget for the fiscal year and committing to it before the year started. I feel now they are not deciding their budget till the first month of the fiscal year and are now very tentative about everything they do.
If nobody will hire you, then hire yourself. It has never been easier to start your own business, and make it pay. The Internet makes it almost free to start. You may not become wealthy, but it can still generate steady revenue.
Yea im working on that too, but businesses don’t turn profit over night, they take investment money, it’s risking your savings. Some of us came from business, and we got wiped out competing with private equity running their shop at a loss.
Not all businesses require investment money. Every business I had started with nearly nothing. My first business started with a legal, pad, a pen, a phone, and a list of potential clients, and a lot of cold calling. When you don’t have money to invest, you tend to have to substitute your own sweat and determination.
It means that your new business might not be in the field you want, or be as big as you want, etc. You may have to start with a smaller concept, and evolve into a bigger one. The guy who started Chipotle wanted to start a high-class restaurant, but couldn’t afford it, so he started a small burrito stand to make the money for the fancy restaurant, and it became such a hit, he never started his fancy restaurant.
Your goal should be success, not the field. I started off in the music biz, but that collapsed, and I eventually ended up in a business that I never thought I’d be in.
It’s hard for people to drop the expectations they’ve been carrying their entire lives, and view their career path in a different way. Use your imagination, work as hard for yourself as you would for any other employer, and you’ll do well.
In America your business either gets big enough to get purchased by private equity, or small enough to crushed. How am I going to start a business in a state with no jobs, who are my customers ya know?
I’ve managed to keep my one man operation going for 18 years, and I’m not quitting any time soon. I know lots of other people with small companies like mine.
I guarantee that there are lots of small businesses where you are, even if you think there are “no jobs.” That’s kind of my point - If there are no jobs for you, create your own.
Stop blaming others, circumstances, the economy, etc. Nobody is stopping you but you.
that is so ridulous. taking time away from job searching to what. make youtube videos? yeah just go star a business that makes more than it costs to a level that its a long term option. or maybe just learn to code or any of the other inane offhand, low effort advice people like to give. I mean I assume your motivated from the best of intent but go start your own business is so. ugh.
How is it ridiculous? MANY people are self-employed. Sure, there’s daily stress, but I was under daily stress in my corporate life, too. At least my future and my fate is in MY own hands, and not being decided by the whims of some Sociopathic corporation that despises me, and is constantly looking for ANY excuse to replace me with anything cheaper.
Besides, I can’t think of ANYTHING more stressful than long-term unemployment. If I’ve been applying for jobs for months, with no response, I would try a different strategy. What have you got to lose?
And even if you do find a job, having a side hustle that actually makes money keeps your employer from being able to exploit you too badly, because you know that you aren’t 100% reliant on their Sociopathic policies.
But if you don’t get it, that’s okay. Not everybody can be a business owner, which is a LOT different from just being a boss. We need workers, too, and some people can’t see themselves as anything but an employee.
you hit the nail on the head. its not so easy and it takes a lot of time and much like a lot of things you need some talent in the area. I could go get phlubotomy training but I can’t stand needles and blood. I mean its not quite as bad as just go get a phd but basically you have to realize the average person and even exceptional people have a limited set of options that fit their background, training, and general talents. Well why not just become a professional sports guy. They make lots. or go become a famous actor.
Sure, choose ludicrous options to try to disprove my point. Nobody is expecting you to go out and become a professional athlete or artist, and to pretend that those are the ONLY options is disingenuous.
I used to be in the music business, a career I planned for, and tailored my entire education toward since middle school. After a couple of decades in it, the entire business collapsed, and millions of people lost their jobs, including me.
I tried a few other things, mostly sales jobs, and finally decided to start my own thing. That was 18 years ago, and it was the best decision of my life.
This is looking like the toughest year, due to MAGA screwing up the economy so badly (the indicators lag by a few months, but in a quarter, it will be apparent how badly the economy has slipped. Small business owners are already feeling it, including me). So I’m not sitting around whining about it, I’ve already started a few other initiatives to generate some money, including an online business. I have confidence that my regular business will survive this, but it will be good to have alternative sources of revenue, and when the economy recovers, I’ll have those side strategies boosting my income, which is always nice.
You have skills, and they are transferrable to other businesses. My music education and experience didn’t help my current business, so I developed the skills I did have - sales, negotiating, improvisation, quick thinking, etc. - and applied those.
You’re what Small Businesspeople call a Dreamstealer. You’re fishing for excuses, but if you don’t think you have what it takes to work for yourself, that’s fine, but don’t try to make it sound like I’m wrong for encouraging people to follow their dream, and Hire Themselves.