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Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

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Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#161

Post by WorldMaker »

simplecomplex wrote: post #120
intopieces wrote: post #2

My fear never went away. As someone who graduated at the very beginning of the Great Recession, I have a constant feeling that this cannot be forever.

Do you have savings? If you had enough saved to spend a year looking for another job, would you still live in fear?

Statistically "everyone" who graduated in the Great Recession is still a year or two at least (and in some cases far more) from paying off student loans. Statistically we're a generation of nothing but debt with no savings to fallback on because we've never had a long enough "peace time" of growth to pay back our creditors.

It's wonderful to imagine some hypothetical reality where you had enough saved to survive an entire year looking for a job. What privilege you would have! Presumably you have no health problems because CORBA is broken again and the current administration crippled HCA guarantees because who needs affordable health care when you don't have a current employer. It feels like you might as well wish for a Pegasus to fly you to all your job interviews while you are at it.

We've all earned our cynical stripes here, but thanks for offering a lovely fantasy.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#162

Post by rconti »

simplecomplex wrote: post #119

Save some money, then you don’t need to fear losing your job. Fear of losing your job is a result of poor personal finances. There’s no need to fear if you have your personal finances in order.

I've never lost a job in 20 years of full-time employment. Every new job has been a step up in pay/prestige/responsibility/etc. I've always been able to job hop with ease, when necessary.

My parents never fought job loss when I was growing up, although sometimes times were tight on a single professional income.

We're a dual-income no kids couple with a mortgage and few 'real' responsibilities.

We have plenty of savings in the bank.

I will never not worry about losing a job. I don't WANT to draw down my savings, for any reason. I don't WANT to have to worry about how long it will last, where the next paycheck will come from.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#163

Post by povertyworld »

OBLIQUE_PILLAR wrote: post #142
povertyworld wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Trump admin has been doing that stuff from day one with the "alternative facts" thing. I can't keep up with every unpresidential move these guys make. On the plus side, I did just see Trump just fired Bolton which makes war feel a bit less likely.

He'll just nominate Elliot Abrams to replace him.

So, I'm sure if Elliot Abrams starts a war, the NY Times will convince you to support it. Just like the NY Times and Samantha Power convinced corporate Democrats to cheer while Obama destroyed Libya with 400 million dollars worth of bombs.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#164

Post by ryandrake »

avgDev wrote: post #153
rubicon33 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude. I beg of you, to stop repeating the propaganda that big tech so desperately wants you, and everyone else to believe. There is NOT a shortage in developers. There NEVER WAS. Big Tech simply couldn't stomach the rise in salaries that we saw between 2005 and 2017/2018. This all comes down to cost. There's plenty of talent not just in the US, but abroad. But big tech continues to see a need to drive prices down, an…

Big Tech yes, but there are smaller companies who have an insanely hard time finding well rounded full stack engineers.

Having a hard time finding employees does not necessarily mean there is a shortage of employees. There are two sides to this market. What are the companies doing right who are successfully finding people? How much are they offering in compensation?

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#165

Post by taurath »

magicnubs wrote: post #115
Ensorceled wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This illusion has been shattered first by the employers (outsourcing, at-will employment, gig economy), and now the employees (ghosting, switching firms without notice). This wasn't an illusion, companies actually did take care of employees and had pensions and full-time jobs and retraining and stuff. Also, ghosting and employees bouncing is a symptom of the employers not providing any loyalty to their employees. B…

> companies actually did take care of employees Was this primarily due to employees having more leverage and demanding it (because union rights were a lot stronger)?

I'd say its primarily because the original purpose of a corporation wasn't shareholder value at the expense of all other things, like benefiting the community, employee wellbeing. It was supposed to be the responsibility of the employer to take care of loyal employees. The 80s and the age of corporate raiders and activist investors changed that.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#166

Post by en-us »

avgDev wrote: post #153
rubicon33 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude. I beg of you, to stop repeating the propaganda that big tech so desperately wants you, and everyone else to believe. There is NOT a shortage in developers. There NEVER WAS. Big Tech simply couldn't stomach the rise in salaries that we saw between 2005 and 2017/2018. This all comes down to cost. There's plenty of talent not just in the US, but abroad. But big tech continues to see a need to drive prices down, an…

Big Tech yes, but there are smaller companies who have an insanely hard time finding well rounded full stack engineers.

Based on my last job search, smaller companies just aren't paying salaries that are going to attract well rounded full stack engineers.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#167

Post by Someone1234 »

transreal wrote: post #151
Someone1234 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UBI is an interest concept but it wouldn't solve this. If you go from e.g. $5K/month (job) to $1K/month (UBI) you'd still have to adjust your living standards (and if people expect to lose their jobs, even with UBI, they'd still make more cautious decisions which would still trigger the same indicators). UBI and other social safety nets are "good ideas." But they aren't a one size fits all solution to every problem.…

The point of UBI isn't that you will live off of $1000/month. Americans generally don't want to live off the government dole, they want to work hard. Perhaps they want to start their own businesses and live the American dream of self sufficiency. But for most, this is out of the question unless you come from a well to do family, so you are forced to work a crappy job for many years just so you and your family don't s…

> The point of UBI isn't that you will live off of $1000/month.

I think you replied to the wrong person, or misread the comment you replied to. The post above was about consumer confidence. Which is what the thread itself is about.

This seems like a wholehearted defence of UBI as a concept, but it just isn't relevant in this comment chain or as an argument for why UBI would prop up consumer confidence (or alter the measures).

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#168

Post by ramphastidae »

I always thought job loss was something that happens to other people until I got laid off despite being an ‘A player.’ Now I assume it is just a matter of time no matter the role.

This is the reality for everyone under at-will employment. Even if you are the best at your job, outside circumstances like changes in strategy, funding and leadership can make you a target for ‘managed offboarding.’

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#169

Post by rubicon33 »

avgDev wrote: post #153
rubicon33 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude. I beg of you, to stop repeating the propaganda that big tech so desperately wants you, and everyone else to believe. There is NOT a shortage in developers. There NEVER WAS. Big Tech simply couldn't stomach the rise in salaries that we saw between 2005 and 2017/2018. This all comes down to cost. There's plenty of talent not just in the US, but abroad. But big tech continues to see a need to drive prices down, an…

Big Tech yes, but there are smaller companies who have an insanely hard time finding well rounded full stack engineers.

That has nothing to do with a shortage of engineers. There are plenty of engineers, just none that are willing to work for 70k a year.

There is a salary divide between what big companies can pay, and what little companies can pay. That's drawing a significant portion of the talent away from the smaller labor market.

Either the smaller companies need to consider hiring more junior engineers (of which there are plenty). Or they need to make their offers more attractive.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#170

Post by [deleted] »

aswanson wrote: post #96
jurassic wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm right there with you. I rode out the recession in graduate school and I've been waiting for the sky to fall pretty much since the time I got my first good tech job in 2014.

Yup, it will. It is only a matter of time. Have to expect as much and plan accordingly. That's reality in this day and age.

[deleted]
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