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The Economic Policy Institute recently released a comparison of McCain’s and Obama’s healthcare plans. Please click on the link to read the entire article.

“Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have presented very different plans to reform health care in the United States. Last week, the Urban Institute/Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center (TPC) provided what appears to be the first evaluation of each plan’s effect on costs and coverage outcomes.¹  While the TPC findings are preliminary, there is a wealth of information contained in them; some of their implications, however, may not be immediately apparent even to those relatively well-versed in the U.S. health care debates.  …”

 On one typical cold and rainy West Coast winter evening ten years ago, I stood with a small group of mostly union activists handing out leaflets to lined-up moviegoers, urging them to boycott the theatre in solidarity with locked-out union projectionists. I had never been a union member, but was there, as I had also been at many other union rallies, because of believing in the principle of solidarity. Having found myself a single mother on welfare, then having joined an anti-poverty group, having started a welfare rights group which led to a short-lived Union of Marginalized and Unemployed Workers, was the reason I was out in foul weather trying to convince people not to go to a movie. One woman I handed a leaflet to engaged me in a conversation that ended with her telling me I was a dupe of the unions—”they wouldn’t do the same for you as a single mother.”

Over the course of the next five years I saw this sad fact demonstrated. Our anti-poverty actions were almost unanimously ignored by labor unions. Our Union of Marginalized and Unemployed Workers folded both from lack of funds and from a decision to change our name after a racked-with-rage speech by a man traumatized by poverty and disability: “it is a union worker who will cut me off welfare, it is a union bus driver who will kick me off the bus when I don’t have enough fare, it is a union ambulance driver who doesn’t want to help me because he thinks I am a drug addict.” 

In spite of all this, I still believe in the principle of solidarity even though it is rarely practiced. I believe in it because there is a way to manifest actual, as opposed to theoretical, solidarity: implement a universal Guaranteed Livable Income in every country in the world. 

This may sound implausible, however, this very old idea—also known as Guaranteed Annual Income by people such as Martin Luther King Jr., a National Dividend by Thomas Paine, and ‘Basic Income Guarantee’ by many current international groups—is again on the horizon.  People can simply choose solidarity enacted with a Guaranteed Livable Income, or humanity will continue to choose by default a world dominated by perpetual conflict and competition. 

This Conflict/Compete ethic will encroach further and further into every facet of human-to-human interaction, as well as poisoning, literally, human-to-nature interactions thus creating a tragicomic war against ourselves—since, after all, our life and health depend on the life and health of our natural environment.

One sign that a universal income benefit is on the horizon is the recent call from United Professionals for “Transition Rights” which parallels labor unions’ “Just Transition Fund” [1]. 

According to the UP article, Transition Rights are about “freedom to explore what [job] you want to do next, without financial devastation.” The principle of the “Just Transition Fund” is to ensure that workers who lose their jobs due to environmental policies are not forced to commit “economic suicide.” [2]

A Guaranteed Livable Income would universalize ‘Transition Fund’ principles to extend them to all people–especially those excluded from formal work [3].

Hand wringing about where the money would come from for a guaranteed income (since money is a human invention), or worrying “what if people won’t work,” are only worn-out excuses (going all the way back to Malthus!) that allow billions of people to live with the lethal pendulum of income insecurity dangling daily over their heads – depleting their health and needlessly shortening their lives. [4]

So … It should be simple and obvious for humanity to choose between the pathetic (because it is avoidable) nightmare of forcing everyone, including children, to compete for jobs and income, or the achievable goal of universal income security. [5]

References:

[1] Just Transition Fund

UK Trades Union Congress sponsored document “Green and Fair Future” documents the history of Just Transition and calls for a JTF in order to make sure that “all the conditions exist for a genuinely just transition to a low carbon economy” http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-14922-f0.cfm

Canadian Labour Congress 2008 convention: “In creating the legislative framework for investments and expenditures to deal with climate change, the Federal government should establish Just Transition Funds.”  http://www.labourcouncil.ca/CLCgreen.pdf

[2] Tony Mazzocchi: “Workers Must Be Compensated Fully If Jobs Are Lost for Environmental Reasons — We Call This ‘A Just Transition’”, 2000, http://www.kclabor.org/mazzgreen.htm 

Mazzocchi who coined the term “Just Transition” was called the “Rachel Carson of the American workplace” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Mazzocchi

[3] Books documenting the excluded:

“Global Women: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy” by Barbara Ehrenreich (Editor), Arlie Russell Hochschild (Editor)

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=2-9781862075887-1

“Disposable People” by Kevin Bales: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8428001.php

“If Women Counted” by Marilyn Waring:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12617124.500-review-not-accounting-for-womens-work–if-women-counteda-new-feminist-economics-by-marilyn-waring-.html

[4] Inequality and Health: Richard Wilkinson

http://research.nottingham.ac.uk/NewsReviews/newsDisplay.aspx?id=239

[5] Livable Income For Everyone (LIFE): www.livableincome.org

C L’Hirondelle is a freelance worker in Victoria BC, Canada

In a dramatic victory for the 8.5 million out of work Americans, Congress passed an essentially “bulletproof” 13-week extension of unemployment benefits last week. Given that our economy is now losing 60,000 jobs a month due to lay-offs, job eliminations, and an otherwise sluggish economy, the action was overdue.

The very good news is that those who are already receiving an unemployment benefit will not have to reapply as they will be automatically extended. Those who have exhausted their benefit under the old limits will need to reapply, confirming that they are still unemployed and looking for work.

UP began agitating in late ‘07 for an extension of benefits by encouraging its members and friends to let their representatives know how they felt. We proudly joined with allied groups in pushing for the extension. According to UP founder and board member, Barbara Ehrenreich, “joining with allied organizations such as the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and others in pushing for positive social change is a critically important part of UP’s overall strategy.”

EPI’s Jared Bernstein and UP board member agreed and observed that “the rationale for extending benefits was never in doubt. The question was whether UP and other groups could organize a successful coalition against some powerful forces. And the answer is: we could and we did.”

What if losing your job wasn’t a big deal? What if you’re downsized, RIFed, outsourced, laid off, or just plain fired – and you don’t panic, feel like a total loser, get depressed, or go into debt? What if there was no negative stigma involved in losing your job – in fact, what if the idea of “losing” a job became quaintly outmoded, and the idea of making a positive change took its place?

What if you had the freedom to explore what you want to do next, without financial devastation? What if you’re sick of being a lawyer and want to be an organic farmer? What if you’re a bricklayer and want to be a teacher? What if you never had to feel trapped in a job you didn’t like, held hostage by salary and benefits?  And what if this were possible?

It can be possible. It’s a concept called “Transition Rights.” Workers would pay into their transition fund much like they now pay into a 401k, with dollars matched by the employer, local or federal government, and possibly also by charitable foundations. So when employees are laid off or just want to change jobs, their transition fund is available.

The idea of transition rights is based in part on the ideas of Amartya Sen, Nobel prize-winning economist and philosopher; Gunther Schmid, a German economist; and Karen Orren, author of “Belated Feudalism.” The basic premise is that workers – whatever color their collars are – should not be treated like serfs, earning their bread at the mercy of the local landlord. If we as a society truly embrace individual freedom and dignity, we must begin to reshape our concept of the employee-employer relationship, which is still referred to in U.S. law as “master-servant.” 

 In exotic northeast Indiana, where all segments of the labor market are far too experienced in unemployment and transtions, the Workers’ Project is connecting the ideas of Sen, Schmid and Orren to working reality. There is wide recognition that the economy has been broken on the heads of workers but will be fixed by their ingenuity and initiative. Employment attorney Alan VerPlanck along with UP board member and Northeast Indiana Central Labor Council president Tom Lewandowski believe the best hope for implementation of transition benefits programs may be at the local labor market level.       While transition rights are currently only at a developmental stage, Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs) are a similar concept already in effect in several states and are embraced by dozens of companies. LiLAs are employer-matched, portable, employee-owned accounts used to finance education and training. Senate Bill S 26 proposes the establishment of a federal demonstration program for such accounts. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) strongly endorses LiLAs. 

The average American will change jobs 10 times between ages 18 and 40, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the United States, layoffs are easily accomplished (when compared with France, Italy, Germany, and elsewhere where national laws limit lay-off activity) and are a source of economic strength that greatly benefit American-based companies.  Those proposing transition rights assert that it would make economic sense to help workers accept – and even embrace — the transitions that are now a normal part of our work-life.  A more aggressive development of transition rights would be a positive step in that direction.

As VerPlanck recently wrote in his blog on the Working Indiana website, “The clear advantage of refocusing the life-course and work-life balance is a promotion of individual liberty and freedom of choice.  One of the ironies of American life is its often blind belief in and adherence to marketplace norms—everywhere but in the labor market.  Perhaps by investing in transition rights we can … provide enrichment to human capital.”  

As we find ourselves not-so-valued by Corporate America, with our jobs outsourced to who knows where, the vacuum left by the departure of other-created busy-ness may be filled with a rush of creativity. If your energy rush includes the thought that, hey, maybe companies will want to outsource jobs I can do to me if I become a freelance contractor or consultant, read on. The fact is, even if you become re-employed full-time, you now know that for the rest of your career, it’s your career - captain of your ship, owner of your brand, salesperson of your skills. Any way you work it, you’re an entrepreneur.

Here are some strategies I’ve found that work. Focus on what you know. Outsource everything else. Repeat these two sentences until they become one with your breath. Form a clear and detailed picture in your mind of yourself doing what you want to do successfully - not just a verbal description of it; see it running like a film clip. Seriously. Entrepreneurs need to become adept at the arts of auto-suggestion and envisioning your goal so clearly your muscles go through the micro-motions of it, the same as top-level athletes do.

Especially in the early months of freelancing or entrepreneurship, it’s easy to get distracted by details of matters in which you are not an expert. Structure all your support staff-employees, contractors, advisors-to free you to do what only you can do. Usually that means two things. One, you’re the COO. You do all the production work or you closely direct the production staff. This is true whether the “product” is a physical product or a service. Two, in the beginning you’re the point-person for marketing and sales. In the early days (or years) of your independent contract work, you are establishing your brand. Especially if your product is a service, you are the brand. You have to establish trust in your “brand promise.” Later, the testimonies of satisfied clients can support that promise, and your sales and marketing minions can cite those “referenceable customers,” but in the beginning, you’re it.

If you thought reporting to your corporate boss was hard work, being your own boss is far more demanding in order to achieve success. You are now the boss, the producer, the workerbee, the gopher, the administrative assistant, and every other role you can imagine. Automation can help. Others who offer freelance services can help with bookkeeping, office administration, legal issues, marketing, sales and other functions that are not your primary expertise.

Join a local Chamber of Commerce, or just visit the list of members on their website, to find a trustworthy small-business attorney, accountant, and banker. Those are three resources you want to look in the eye and shake their hands, interview several of each, and then trust your gut on the final selection.

Much marketing and office admin work can be outsourced over the Web if you can’t find a reliable local provider. These are commodity services; they are what they are. Your office phone can actually be answered, and your mail (both e- and snail) can be sent, from anywhere. You want to cut the best deal for value of the service delivered for the fee you pay, the same way you shop for the best value in sugar, flour and milk. In the first few months of any such service that represents you to your customers/clients, monitor the provider’s performance closely. Call clients yourself and ask how they felt about phone and mail interactions with your “office staff.” Clients will appreciate your personal concern for quality in those functions, especially if they weren’t impressed with your virtual staff. If you’re not satisfied with their performance, tell them clearly one more time what you expect, check again, and if they’re not performing, terminate the contract before the “test” period expires. Make sure your agreement with them includes a test period during which you can terminate their service with 7 to 30 days’ notice. And be sure to get non-disclosure agreements from your service providers. Your local attorney should help you with all the contract issues. A hundred dollars of lawsuit prevention is worth a hundred thousand dollars of legal remedy.

Get ready for a long learning curve. Parts of it will be shallow and feel like they’re taking forever. Other parts will be steep and feel like too much is happening too fast. You will have resounding successes and howling failures, and you will develop the discipline to learn from both.

Resources for new entrepreneurs

Notice: Mention of an organization or website in this article is NOT an endorsement or recommendation. These are examples only to kick-start your research for the organizations and sites that work best for you … emphasis on the “work.” You’ll have to define what you want from each type of resource first (such as health insurance, job postings, or advice). Then you can do a nicely focused investigation, picking the best one or several for your purposes.

Freelancer organizations. Consider joining organizations for freelancers in general and professional organizations for your industry to network aggressively. Some offer regional networking, health and/or dental insurance plans, and other benefits.

• Freelancers Union: Resources for all professions of freelancers. Membership is free. Visit http://www.freelancersunion.org/
• Profession-specific organizations. None are listed here because you have many to choose from, and several will work better for you than others, depending on what you need it for. Many profession-specific freelance sites are run by a freelancer who makes part of his or her income by maintaining the site (especially if you have to pay for a subscription to see the job postings and receive newsletters), sending newsletters, and hosting Google-Ads. You’ll have to explore those for your own best value.

Freelancer information. Websites offer information for freelancers. Most offer access to job postings, and resources for posting your profile, e-networking among members, subscription to newsletters.

• Solo Gig News: http://www.sologignews.com/
• All Freelance Work: http://www.allfreelancework.com/
• Quintessential Careers: http://www.quintcareers.com/consultant_jobs.html
• My Biz Office: http://www.mybizoffice.com/individuals/resources_consultantassociations.html
• Guru: http://www.guru.com/

Business start-up information. Websites offer information for those starting companies.

• Entrepreneur Magazine: Visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/ and the Starting a Business page at http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizstartups/index.html.
• Inc. Magazine: Visit http://www.inc.com/ and the Start Up page at http://www.inc.com/resources/startup/.
• WorkHappy.net: Visit http://www.workhappy.net/ and the Authentic Jobs page at http://www.authenticjobs.com/.
• MIT Sloan School of Management, Resources for the Entrepreneur: Visit http://web.mit.edu/e-club/hadzima/. Peruse the Boston Business Journal’s “Starting Up.” If you like this site, search other sites related to the best B-schools.
• Wall Street Journal’s Small Business News: Visit http://online.wsj.com/small-business.
• Garage Technology Ventures: Visit http://www.garage.com/resources/index.shtml.
• Industry-specific entrepreneur sites also provide helpful information, but they merit the same caveat as do the profession-specific freelancer sites. In addition to industry-specific entrepreneur sites, there are sites for women, green, international, non-profit, inventors, and other considerations that may span many industries.

You have now read the equivalent of three pages. That’s two more than a CEO would read. Your reading level is probably also higher than 7^th Grade. We’re done here. Now, focus like a laser on your goals. Go on … start up!

From The New York Times: 

 ”WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled for older workers Thursday in a closely watched age discrimination case, placing on employers the burden of proving that a layoff or other action that hurts older workers more than others was based not on age but on some other “reasonable factor.” …

“[T]his decision, coming near the end of the Supreme Court’s term, completed a five-for-five sweep for employees’ rights in workplace discrimination cases that was little short of astonishing, given how far the court had appeared to be tilting toward business under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. By comfortable margins, the court interpreted federal antidiscrimination statutes broadly to enable employees to overcome procedural hurdles and to pursue a category of claims not fully detailed in the statutes themselves.” …”

From EPI, the Economic Policy Institute:

“This morning, EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey issued the following statement on pending legislation to extend unemployment benefits:

“For months, as the nation’s economy has deteriorated, members of Congress have tried and failed to push through a common-sense extension of unemployment insurance benefits. Now there is another chance. House leaders plan to vote as soon as tomorrow (Wednesday) on a stand-alone extension bill passed Monday by the House Ways and Means Committee. The extension, which adds 13 weeks of benefits to unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits, might also remain attached to the emergency supplemental appropriations bill for war funding. Congress should use every possible vehicle to put this issue before the president.

For the families of the millions of workers who are exhausting their right to unemployment compensation, the deteriorating job market is a real emergency. There are now only 3.7 million job vacancies but 8.5 million unemployed looking for work. The fault is not with the jobless; the problem is a failing economy and the government’s failure to turn it around.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill now under consideration will provide benefits to 3.8 million people who otherwise are at extreme financial risk. The benefits will also provide a crucial boost to the faltering economy. Now is the time to ensure that Congress takes action. EPI asks that you contact your local representatives in the House and Senate (names and addresses can be located at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov) and urge them to pass this needed legislation.”

I’m told that I still look “good” for my age, but age is what it is. At some point they will have to know the truth - when you complete paperwork for medical insurance or sign permission for a background check it all comes out. I come from a generation that looked up to and respected their elders, maybe the last generation as far as I can tell.

After working for unscrupulous, greedy people who happened to be in real estate when the sub prime market blew up on their company last year I found myself unemployed, a lay off and office closure due to lack of work. The simple truth is no one at the corporate level cared about the people or how they might be affected. No one so much as said “thanks for your hard work and service.”

I collected unemployment to the bitter end of the 6 month period without being able to find another job that would come close to paying me what I earned before. Unemployment ran out in March and I still have not found a permanent job. My savings are gone and I now face reposession of my car, the IRS threatening to Levy for money I owe them for back taxes that were underpaid in 2006 and I’ve been paying off monthly. I am not accustomed to the bill collectors calling me daily and it’s not only bad for morale, but also very depressing. Oh, and did I mention that my fridge is empty most of the time, I buy my dog what she needs (lucky for me she is small) and hope for invitations where I can take home left overs to live on till the next dinner out. Last week I actually considered suicide! No worries, I won’t do that but it sure would be an end to my troubles. I have no one to fall back on, no one who can help me through this, and no one I can move in with. I sold anything I could that would help me keep up with my bills and now it’s all gone. I have always been the strong family member who everyone else turned to for help making it hard for me to now ask for help from anyone.

This week brought news that I now need surgery for a cataract as my vision has deteriorated making it difficult to work on the computer or see well enough to drive. Stress? Who knows. My family can’t help for a variety of reasons I won’t go into. I am so overwhelmed at this point I don’t know where to turn. Holding on to what is left of my pride is important to me, but I realize I’m facing having to pay a visit to the local Social Service Office and find out how I can get emergency housing for me and my little dog, (try finding a place to live with a dog) medical insurance and I guess food stamps. Luckily my landlord has been understanding and kind all things considered. I try to pick up temp jobs to meet the bare survival expenses, but I need something permanent with insurance. You can’t rely on getting enough temp work, that’s been my expereince and it took weeks to be asked to the first temp job.

Said best, people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. I was so busy supporting others for so many years, I forgot to take better care of myself in the process. Wanting to see the rest of my very small family on their feet I forgot to plan for myself or kept putting it off, thinking, or not, that I still had a little time or maybe I’d meet Mr.Right and get married again. Times up! The future is here and I have started collecting my social security early because I had to- $684 a month. Yes. That’s ALL there is. And I never wanted to become a burden on my family or society!

On a recent job interview I noticed the interviewer writing on my application and when I stood up I leaned over to see what she had written. “Older” was the word. I pointed it out to her and she ,red faced, replied, “oh I just do that to remind myself.” Yeah sure, honey! On another I was outright asked my age, which I know isn’t legal yet the discrimination continues anyway. Why tell her she was breaking a law, I’m sure she knew and just didn’t care, the lick em while they’re down syndrome! I am trying to not be bitter, accepting part of this is my own fault for not planning better for myself. Yet, when someone tells you he received just over 100 resumes for the position and they will be interviewing for weeks, or when people say they will let you know one way or the other and you never hear from them again, or when you take the time to respond to an add and hear back nothing at all, it’s hard to NOT feel angry and bitter,not at anything or anyone in particular, just at the situation in general. What really burns me up is this; (for anyone else trying to find a job listen up well)As a result of job searching on the Internet and clicking on various adds I am now receiving daily emails promsing me money for doing data entry or surveys etc.
KNOw THAT 99% OF THESE ARE SCAMS, PEOPLE! “They” the invisable vultures, see a need and come crawling out of the woodwork to take advantage of people are desperate or may not know better than to give out a bank account number for a one time debit to pay for a list or the like. I cannot believe the meanness in some when they see you down and still attempt to take advantage. That makes me angry and bitter for the ones who are being duped.

I have never had a difficult time finding a job so this is an unbearable situation for me - I have good skills, I’m hard working and reliable, honest and I have great references. I think I’ve done all the right things, but to no avail. I’ll try to maintain my dignity and keep a sense of humor and positive attitude etc. till I’m working again but it’s hard, it’s really hard! And some days you just want to give up you feel so beaten up.

I ask that your readers share their experience and please give me some guidance and advice that may help me find work locally, which is in New Haven, Connecticut, or better yet offer me a job! I’ll get my eye fixed ASAP and be as good as new, even if “old”. I may be an oldie to some, but I am most certainly a goodie to all!

Here’s a healthcare horror story on a national level: 60 Minutes’ report on Remote Area Medical (RAM), which sets up emergency clinics in the world’s neediest areas. Recently, though, RAM set up its massive clinic, for a weekend, in an exhibit hall in Knoxville, Tenn. Founded to transport U.S. doctors to truly remote areas to provide medical service, RAM is now running weekend clinics in urban as well as rural U.S. areas.

As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, “Remote Area Medical sets up emergency clinics where the needs are greatest. But these days, that’s not the Amazon. This charity founded to help people who can’t reach medical care finds itself throwing America a lifeline.”

Patients, some of whom have to drive hours to reach the clinic sites, begin arriving in the middle of the night in order to make sure they get a number low enough to be seen that day. Those who have cars sit in them all night in the cold, running the motor just enough to take the chill off. Even gas approaching $4.00 a gallon is cheaper than the cost of medical services close to home.

The patients’ stories are heartbreaking, but, even more sadly, not surprising. The pain of an infected tooth, or glasses that are no longer strong enough to make out people’s faces, or it’s past time for a post-surgical checkup for cervical cancer (because the patient has 3 kids and her husband lost his job a few months ago). Ross Isaacs, one of the volunteer doctors, was asked who these patients are. “It’s the working poor … most with families, most not substance abusers and employed without adequate insurance.”

The clinics serve about 500 people each weekend day, the numbers are growing, and the clinic weekend documented in the piece had to turn away more than 400 people at the end of Sunday.

Stan Brock, the founder of RAM and originally a Brit, said he thought it really sad that the wealthiest nation in the world can’t take care of its own. When asked how RAM is funded, Brock explained, “We operate entirely on the generosity of the American people. I’d like to say that we had big corporate support in America but we don’t. So it’s the little checks from those people who send in the $5 and $10.”

Click on link to read entire article.

 When I was growing up it never occurred to me that you could have too much education. My parents were first-generation college graduates and this meant they achieved much more than their own parents and grandparents. Going to college was assumed in my home and education highly valued.My brother ended up as an engineer. His four year-degree in a highly technical field made him very employable and successful. My sister finished school eventually with a linguistics degree. Not as practical as my brother’s education but she managed to turn it into a viable career with the government. I don’t know if her job could be called exciting, but she supports her family quite well. Then there’s me.

My first degree was in humanities. Yes, I got one of those liberal arts degrees that meant I could be charming at a cocktail party and hope for a job as a secretary. I managed to postpone all that by marrying and having children and immediately taking jobs that worked around the needs of my children. In all, not necessarily a bad plan…unless you end up divorced.

You know those life event tests, the ones that tell you how many major events in one year will drive you crazy with stress? Within a couple of years both my parents died, my marriage ended and I wound up struggling to survive emotionally and financially. If I’d had the money I could have kept a therapist busy 24/7 for years. Instead I lived carefully to stretch my inheritance as far as I could and then decided to go back to school and get more education. The plan was to make me more employable.

Now, I didn’t decide to get a masters degree on a whim. I had accidentally fallen into a job teaching business classes at a local community college, and I was really good. However, after three years the school came up for reaccreditation and was forced to get rid of all instructors who did not have an advanced degree. So, it seemed a logical step-get the required degree and step into my new career.  After some fumbling and stumbling I found an accredited online school, signed up for student aid and began working on my education again.

What I didn’t realize is that career positions in the community college system are almost impossible to land. Full-time instructors and administrators stay in their jobs until they die. And though the system functions on the use of part-time adjuncts, it’s impossible to make a living as an adjunct.  I graduated with my shiny new management degree, a mountain of student loan debt and no prospects for employment.

I had become “overeducated,” which meant no academic institution would give me a full time job, no non academic company wanted to talk to me and entry-level service type employers just thought I was crazy.  My impressive grade point average and wonderfully written papers meant nothing. After almost two years my masters degree means a mountain of student loan debt I wonder if I will ever be able to pay off and a resume albatross.

When you’re overeducated and unemployed there are a few commonly held beliefs that make your life quite miserable. Here are a few of the most frustrating.

People assume that you just won’t take certain kinds of jobs. I have been getting advice for years on how I should just be happy to “take anything” to get started, and since I’d been out of the workforce for a while I should be grateful to have a job-any job.  These well-meaning folks seem to be under the impression that this thought has never occurred to me. They see me sitting in some unemployment ivory tower where I only apply for perfect positions, content to take nothing at all rather than “settle.”  Explaining to my friends, family and acquaintances that I really will take ANY job remotely near my home makes me feel even more pathetic.

Employers who do interview me assume I will leave for a “better opportunity.” There seems to be a huge disconnect between employers and human resource professionals and the job-seeking public. Sure we’d all like to have a dream job some day, but while I’m waiting for that day I’d like to be able to pay my electric bill and eat something besides instant noodles. Really, where are all these better opportunities that I am supposed to be jumping on anyway? If they were that easy to find, don’t you think I’d just skip the middle phase and go straight to the dream job? Maybe it’s just politically incorrect to discuss the NEED to have a job that pays a living wage. Ok, employers want certain skills-fine. I’d like to do work I enjoy (or at least don’t hate). But more important than any of that, I want to stay off welfare, keep a roof over my head and know I won’t spend my retirement years living in a box somewhere.

Scam artists and multi level marketing types assume that unemployment means I have either lost my intelligence or my ethical bearings. True, many days I am desperate. However, I know that there are no businesses that can guarantee fast wealth, and tricking people into a scam is bad for you.  Either you get caught and punished or the bad “karma” wrecks your life later. Yes, I need work and yes I’m willing to “think outside the box” but I am not willing to lie, cheat and steal-not yet.  Oh, and I can tell the difference between a real job and a come on so stop wasting my time.

If you aren’t working now or have a “spotty” work history there’s something wrong with you. When HR people reduce you to a standardized form they really miss out on lots of valuable information. Most application procedures and websites are obviously constructed for the convenience of the screeners and with the assumption that all applicants will fit a preconceived form. So the part-time, seasonal and parenthood or lay-off interrupted career looks substandard because it doesn’t fit the forms. Just because you haven’t been lucky enough to find a great career path yet doesn’t mean you lack talent and potential. It does mean that employers will have to spend the time to look below the surface.

 America is in for a hard time if we don’t smarten up. While India and China are expanding higher education opportunities we are kicking our educated professionals in the teeth.  Not only do we run the risk of losing out in the global marketplace, but we are creating generations of depressed and desperate job seekers. These people make prime targets for scam artists. The overeducated and underemployed may end up overusing their credit cards or moving back home to live with their parents. So, I beg you HR professionals, before you utter the words “overeducated” or “overqualified” again-think. Think about the talent and skills you are passing up. Consider the professional who will work for you with enthusiasm and loyalty because you could see past the standardized form. Ponder what you would do if suddenly you found yourself downsized or laid off…and “overeducated.”

About the author: Karen Southall Watts has been teaching business and entrepreneurship since 1999. She is a veteran of marriage, divorce, long-distance relationships and being overeducated in the American job market. Karen’s latest workbook “Sex is good for business-a workbook for couples in business” is available through www.sexisgoodforbusiness.com or by emailing the author directly at KSouthall2@gmail.com