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One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

finance.fortune.cnn.com

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Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#11

Post by Hyena »

cageface wrote: post #8
fatalisk wrote: post #2

What's really interesting here is that companies are reporting awesome earnings[1], yet they're still resting on their laurels when it comes to hiring. And, I think everyone is outraged when it comes to what's going on in Washington right now. [1] http://www.cnbc.com/id/18038403/

Or, to put it another way, companies just don't need as many unskilled workers as they did a decade ago.

All companies need unskilled people: you train them so your business can expand. That's where global supply chain managers and database programmers came from originally--and in many cases still do--they don't fall from the clouds.

The issue is that a lot of these companies are only expanding overseas, so they're not really ready to hire and train people. Much of their profits come from cutting back on their junior staff, from laying off the next generation of skilled workers.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#12

Post by sliverstorm »

fatalisk wrote: post #2

What's really interesting here is that companies are reporting awesome earnings[1], yet they're still resting on their laurels when it comes to hiring. And, I think everyone is outraged when it comes to what's going on in Washington right now. [1] http://www.cnbc.com/id/18038403/

You can interpret that several ways. Perhaps those awesome earnings are short-term gains due to not paying wages for all those empty jobs, but long-term losses due to faltering growth as a result of all those empty jobs?

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#13

Post by seanmcq »

sliverstorm wrote: post #10
seanmcq wrote: post #9

"or getting by on the paychecks of wives" This is pretty rampant sexism for 2011. Don't want it to go unnoticed.

In what way? Not that I disagree, but please expand on your statement?

Sure.

It's been more than a generation since women started making more money than men in some households due to increases in equality between the sexes. The phrasing and positioning used implies that a stay-at-home dad is something that we should be reacting to as an economic problem.

In other words, it required the assumption that men are the proper breadwinners in heterosexual households.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#14

Post by daimyoyo »

I have experienced this first hand. I have applied for a LOT of jobs in the last 2 years and one of two things happens: They don't talk to me, or they do, and I sail past the preliminary interviews only to get rejected after the background check. I am not a felon, a terrorist, or a scourge of society. I have bad credit.(Funny/sad aside, I once went to Best Buy to see if I could get a card to finance something with the idea of improving my credit score. I was rejected summarily. I was trying to buy a toaster. I literally can't finance a toaster.) This scarlet letter had precluded me from any job paying a living wage. And that's why I'm retraining myself. No one cares what the FICO score of a talented software engineer is. At least, that's what I desperately hope the case is. For recruiters out there: Do you care about the credit of a potential coder?

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#16

Post by ck2 »

So if a tool made in China cost $20 and the same kind made in USA cost $100, which one do you think people are going to buy at the hardware store (even if the one made in China lasts 1/4th as long).

What if there was a tax that made the one made in China cost $70 - you think the one made in USA would have a fighting chance? I think so. It would create a whole bunch of jobs because there would be less impulse to move jobs overseas.

What if that $50 was used for single payer health care so that "job providers" didn't have pay for health insurance or play that game and compete with the international market.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#20

Post by ars »

ck2 wrote: post #16

So if a tool made in China cost $20 and the same kind made in USA cost $100, which one do you think people are going to buy at the hardware store (even if the one made in China lasts 1/4th as long). What if there was a tax that made the one made in China cost $70 - you think the one made in USA would have a fighting chance? I think so. It would create a whole bunch of jobs because there would be less impulse to move…

You need to think on a larger scale.

If everyone had to spend 3 times as much on the things they buy, then they would have even less available money than they do now.

So they would probably stop buying, which would really hurt the economy.

Or they would cut out health insurance and other things.

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