Unemployment

The Racial Component of Favoritism

by Mike Dang May 6th, 2013

In the Times this weekend, Nancy DiTomaso, a professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School, discussed some of the research she has done examining how favoritism has played a part in driving inequality and unemployment numbers in the U.S.—especially among African Americans, whose unemployment rate still hovers over 13 percent.

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How to Deal With An Unemployed Person

by Catie Lazarus March 29th, 2013

Whether you’re headed to a wedding (even your own) or just a barbecue, you may interact with someone who is unemployed. Do you offer a hug? Should you feign laryngitis and walk away? It can be stressful for the employed, or otherwise economically stable, to know how to respond.

Trust me. Since I was laid off, family, former colleagues, and especially, strangers, (albeit indirectly and always unsolicited) let me know how challenging my joblessness is for them. These rules of thumb will help you handle the unbearable lightness of being around the non-working class.

JUDGE: If someone admits to being laid off, fired, let go, or otherwise not working, let her know that her current situation is directly related to her defective character. Use strong simplistic (not to be confused with simple!) terms. Cloak statements in the form of questions like, “What did you do wrong?” or “Who can blame them (insert: corporation here)?” If the unemployed person seems defensive, remind her that you have a job for a reason.

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Unemployed, Discouraged, But Not Hopeless

by Maggie Hamilton January 30th, 2013

Laid off. Let go. Terminated. Fired.

However you want to spin it, I am jobless.

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Embarrassing Things I’ve Done When Looking for Work

by Michelle Markowitz December 10th, 2012

You have phone interviews where you hope the interviewer can’t tell by the sound of your voice that you’re not wearing pants. I’ve been there and have made mistakes so that you don’t have to.

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Are Retraining Programs Effective for the Unemployed?

by Mike Dang October 16th, 2012

There are few things that both the Democratic and Republican tickets agree on, but one of them is the importance of getting the unemployed into job retraining programs. The question is: Do job retraining programs work?

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Surviving Unemployment by Going to Disneyland

by Mike Dang October 5th, 2012

There were a few months during the recession when I joined the ranks of the unemployed, and I forced myself to treat each day like a work day.

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What Percent of the Country is Unemployed? And Why Is This So Complicated?

by Logan Sachon September 11th, 2012

What do all the numbers meaaan.

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A Visit to Seattle’s Unemployment Office

by Markham Lee September 10th, 2012

Seven years later, I was back in Seattle and on unemployment again. I received a letter in the mail telling me that I had to report to the local WorkSource, Washington State’s unemployment office, in two weeks to have my resume reviewed, take classes on resume writing, looking for work, interviewing, and other training courses.

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