Archive for January, 2007

– Meredith McGroarty, Bronx, NY

I work as a production editor for scientific/medical journals at a large publishing firm. Last January we were told that our jobs were being outsourced - albeit slowly - to India and that we should find other employment. I tried to find employment within the firm, as management suggested, only to find that the only jobs they were willing to offer me and my ilk were lower-level, lower-salary positions. Positions that I was unable to take, as I was still strapped by undergraduate student loans (I was 27, and had graduated from college with a debt burden of $20,000+) and the high cost of living in the area.

I have tried to find other work in my field, but the two or three interviews I garnered (out of 100+ resumes and cover letters sent) were for part-time/freelance (read: no benefits or job security) positions that were in place while the workflow was being “transitioned” to India. I have tried to find work at lower and lower levels (assistant editor, editorial assistant, secretary, etc.), but with no success.

There is massive unemployment in the publishing field, nearly every publisher is actively outsourcing production and editorial (yes, including copyediting) operations, the jobs are few and far between, the competition pool is stupefyingly large, and employers are taking advantage of these conditions to offer wages that are untenable to all but the most desperate (or parentally funded) individuals.

As time passes and no job leads emerge, I find myself sinking into the former category (”I could take $24,000 a year. Chinatown sells 20-lb bags of rice for $4. I’d be OK.”) Something needs to be done to ensure that the large chunk of the population that falls somewhere outside of the categories of upper-level management, service employee, and externally funded worker, is able to regain the peace of mind that comes from having a secure job at a decent wage with - dare to dream - the prospect of career advancement.

– Ken, North Carolina

I rose steadily and early in technology sector jobs, becoming Chief Scientist of a $2B unit of MCI at age 33. After getting caught in the dot-com bust as CTO of a startup, I spent 4 years trying to reinvent myself in the nonprofit, contract, and enterpreneurial sectors - never earning more than one-third my peak salary of 2000-01.

Since re-entering the full-time employment world in ‘05 and focusing on a hot area (info security and risk management), I have clawed my way back to about 85% of peak salary at times, but I have also been caught in two small-company layoffs from Director-level positions - both times in the last six months! I’ve been landing on my feet and am employed now (took a $20K annual cut last time).

Each layoff takes a tremendous toll. How many more of these layoffs can I survive? I just turned 44, I have two young kids, and my wife and I feel like we live under the specter of the possibility that I’m already washed up. Just read Uchitelle’s book. We have GOT to do something.

–An update from a previous anonymous entry:

I just got a notice from Blue Shield that my insurance is going up 25%. I’ve submitted no claims in the past two years and have had the two exams allowed with this policy - a mamo and ob/gyn. I will now pay $875 for a $2500 deductable policy - I will probably have to drop my insurance and cross my fingers.

— Name withheld

I’ve spent 20 years working in non-fiction television. The entertainment industry isn’t famous for providing benefits and documentary isn’t famous for paying large salaries. Non-fiction television is the bone that was tossed to women — it was a broadcast genre that allowed women to advance to produce and direct and I was blessed with great PBS projects that allowed me to do work that I loved. I learned hard skills — I learned to manage projects through to completion — write, budget, negoiate, hire, license intellectual property, multi-task, work with capricious personalities, etc., etc. Then non-fiction started to include reality television and demographics dramatically changed to try and snag that ever-elusive 18-34 year-old market.

People (not gender-specific, age-specific) like me aged out. I’ve always prided myself by adapting to the reality facing me so I’m not feeling sorry for myself — I’ve gone back to adult school to advance my computer skills and have found a group of adults with college degrees, who have been laid off from middle-management jobs and have gone back to school to learn advanced Word, Excel and other software programs so they can get support jobs in a company that may provide health benefits so that they can stay insured.

Because let’s not forget, these are Boomers in their 50’s and 60’s and many of them have had to jettison their health insurance because it was too expensive because of pre-exiting conditions. I, myself am paying $700/month for a $2500 deductible health insurance policy because I had cancer in 1950! I’m lucky that I have equity and am willing to clean and organize my friends’ offices and get paid under the table. But with all the job sites on the web and all my contacts, I can’t even get arrested.

Listening to Bush talk about the booming economy, I want to wring his entitled neck — does he worry (or has he ever worried) about how he’s going to feed his family or pay for tuition for his kids or provide medical insurance? No! This jackass assumes he knows what’s good for this country and wants to eliminate the government safety net. This country needs this kind of organization that has a lobbying presence, so good luck and here’s my check!

– Tom Panas, NYC 

For awhile I’ve been sensing something going on, couldn’t put my finger on, a vague anger, sense that, somehow, we’re being screwed, that we as middle class people who have bought into “sound” middle class values are really, when you come down to it, a bunch of suckers. The USA is the “most powerful country in the world.” So what? Our health care is pathetic, and I just read that the retirement package of the head of US Healthcare is 1.1 BILLION dollars. I gotta tell ya, that guy is NOT a sucker.

 – Susan Berlowitz

In July, 2002, I traveled from New York City to Red Oak, Iowa for my 35^th class reunion. I hadn’t seen any of my high school friends since I graduated in 1967. Priscilla drove from Kansas City, and Becky came all the way from Orange, California. We also made plans to get in touch with a handful of friends who graduated in 1968. 

In 1999, I had been pushed from a fulltime job in the music business to working freelance, and from time-to-time I struggled to keep afloat. Prior to my trip to Red Oak, I conjured up images in my head of my old friends and classmates living stable, productive and successful lives, wondering if I would fit in with the group. I need not have worried.

In fact, Priscilla was recently divorced, and had just moved to Missouri to be near her family. During her 25-year marriage, she had moved from city to city due to her husband’s work, and she didn’t ever have an opportunity to establish her own career. When she moved to Kansas City, Priscilla thought she would find a job right away, but she didn’t. She ended up living with her mother for nearly a year until she finally found a job in a doctor’s office. Still, the job didn’t afford her the luxury of renting her own apartment. She kept looking, and found another job working in student health at the University. The position paid a little more money but not enough. Eventually, though, she found a little house in Prairie Village where she could keep her dogs. She looked into going back to school and enrolled in a medical encoding course that was supposed to assure her of a better job, as well as more money. She finished the course, and passed the state certification test. Ultimately, Priscilla found work that paid a higher wage. However, her current employment has nothing to do with the certificate she earned.

Becky and I found it interesting that we had followed similar paths. We had both worked in the restaurant business, as well as in music. In July, 2002, Becky was also in transition, and was waiting tables in a restaurant despite her degree in music. A couple of years later, she made up her mind to go back to school so that she could teach. This past Christmas, I received a letter from her husband telling me that 2006 was a rough year for Becky, but that her students scored a little higher on their standardized tests. He went on to say that the students were unruly and difficult to manage.

Vickie lives in a small town near Iowa City. About two years ago, she was forced to leave her job in law enforcement. Currently, she is working with the disabled, and although she is happier, her income has been cut in half. Vickie just finished a two-year writing course, and is hoping to carve out a new career for herself.

Sara lives in Christiansburg, Virginia. Her dream, as far back as I can recall, was to be a stage actress, and she has an extensive resume in regional theatre. Her degree is in speech therapy. Currently, Sara is a freelance typist. Her husband has been downsized, too. Previously, he has worked in middle and upper-level management positions. However, in the Christiansburg area, he hasn’t been able to find a position worthy of his skills. Therefore, he is working in a low-level supervisory capacity, and has been passed over, time and time again, for promotions.

The most stable of all my high school friends is Marsha who moved back to Red Oak to take care of her aging parents. At that time, she went back to school and studied to be a dental hygienist. She has a good job, as well as a good employer who treats her very well. And, she has a benefit package about which I can only dream. 

The 2002 reunion with my old friends took each of us back to our ideals, and the promise that if we worked hard, attended college and earned a degree, we would be guaranteed good jobs that would help us to create successful lives that would sustain us. Instead, thirty-five years later, we were all struggling, at 52, wondering what had gone wrong.

– William “Skip” King, Sherman Oaks, CA

I have worked within the IT profession for nearly 30 years. In 2001 I had worked dilligently and with extreme loyalty for one particular company. (My story involving this company and the Northridge earthquake is particularly amusing. Well, it USED to be, that is.) I closed escrow on my first home in January 2001, and yet 10 days later they laid me off, without any warning. I was 3 days from my 15th anniversary with this firm. And since then? Nothing. No jobs. (Well, I fix people’s computers! That’s not a “career”.) I’ve been using my home’s equity (which has grown astronomically due to the neighborhood I chose to buy within) to survive. But the equity is nearly gone. What then? I’m near the end of life, in my mind. But I saw your piece on CNN and I thought, “I can give some of the last money I may ever see to this good cause. Why not? I won’t be needing it soon anyway.” That’s my story.

L.C.S., Texas

 I was forced to retire as a dental hygienist after twenty years because of the occupational strain this profession placed upon my neck.  Not wanting to return to college at age forty-five, I started a new product development company.  For the past ten years I have been self-employed.  I hold the patent to Lite OwlTM, the first outdoor night-light.  I haven’t made a dime yet but am presently negotiating  with a company that has shown interest in licensing it.  For a total of thirty years I have been paying for my own health insurance. I currently pay over $500 a month for insurance with a $7,500.00 deductible. Presently I am fifty-six and at the age that health insurance is more important than ever.  I am desperately looking for help with the cost of health care in this country.  Most of us feel like we are hanging on to coverage by a thread. I also support a raise in the minimum wage.

–Rose, New York

 As a member of the professional community I’ve found it has been extremely difficult to find a good job to meet my qualifications. 

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