How long has it been since you were out of work I was layed off Nov 2001 was to be called back after Jan. but they laid off more people did a few side jobs to keep up with the bills but things started to come together i just started back to work with a new company on Mon 3rd and feels good to get back in the game I had never been that long out of work in all my 20 plus years of working went on the interviews that I had not done in years to all of those still out of work dont give up try not to get down on yourself stay positive and I wish you all well things will come together

I may be joining the unemployed soon.  My company didn't pay the phone bill so we can't make long distance calls. I would say that's a good indication that things aren't going well.

I'm finding it harder and harder not to tell people who say things like "Hang in there" to go fuck themselves. In fact, I'm just barely restraining the urge in this instance. The next person who tells me that the economy is on the upswing gets some amateur dental work done.

I'm glad to hear you got hooked up, GARY.

The economy is not going to recover for a while. Foreign investment have stalled without any reduction in out trade deficit. The dollar is weakening. Interest rates remain low only because the Fed is keeping it that way, but they will have to raise rates soon.

For all those who claim that the economy is recovering, can you tell me which sector is leading the recovery?

I'm with jarhead_22, sometimes the optimistic outlook makes me sick.

...word to the wise, don't tell people who are unemployed and have been for awhile to hang in there, they might confuse that statement for, "you might as well hang yourself because you will never work again."

Glad I got that off my chest, now where is that rope and rickety chair....Just Kidding!

Yeah, Jarhead, Nortel just announced 3500 more layoffs and the contracting has dried up, too.

As for hanging in there, I have already sold $3000 worth of guns, used up my CDs, and moved to a cheap place.  I'm pretty tired of hanging in there.

Late july 2001 is when I was laid off from my Telecom job.

Christ its unbearable.  My wife was also laid off from Telecom (now making about $11 working for the city).

I worked my ass off for 5 years to get my engineering degree (3.8 gpa), then worked hard as a telecom engineer for less than 2 years afterward - and what do I have to show for it?  The best I can do is $9/hr as a cashier in retail.  I can't even take a piss without asking a 19yr old head cashier for permission.  

We (my wife and I) did everything right.  All our lives we did what society told us was the best thing to do to earn a good living and have a good life.  Do well in high school so you can get into a good college, then go to college and major in a useful field, graduate in the top 10% of your class, then get hired at a good company and reap the rewards of your efforts.  Okay, I did that, so wheres the rewards??  It worked for my dad/father in law - they were well payed and retired with the same companies that hired them straight out of college. How times have changed. The American dream is the idea that anyone, with hard work and dedication, can make a good living.  So what the F$#@ happened??

2001 was the best year in recent history for my company. We even got an extra day off in celebration. 2002 is looking to be better.

The only industry that is not hurting and does not show any signs of weakening is the PRISON INDUSTRY. There are currently over 7 million people in the slammer and with all of the bs laws that the government keeps passing, the client base will only go increase.

[RANT] What happen , the government thats what . They take more and more of individual and corporate productivity and give it to lazy f*ck couch potatoes who sit around and do nothing . Who do you know whats to start up a new business after getting reamed on taxes and regulation . After 4 years of struggling with red tape I just threw up my hands one day and downsized myself . Poor 1Gunner knows what I mean , its like an extra heavy load to carry and it looks like its caught up with our economy . [/RANT]


Gee I feel better , almost as good as sex .... I did say almost .

I was laid off from Enron last year the next working day after my son was born.  They sent flowers to the hospital and a pink slip to my cubicle.  And this was well before the meltdown in October/November of this year.  I got a severence package, but we nearly lost our modest house and two ~$20k cars.

After doing some infosec work for some companies around town and then doing nothing at all because the market was so bad, I finally got on with an energy company doing contract work.  My 3 month contract turned into 9 months because I busted my ass and went above and beyond the call of duty on many occasions.  Then one day my contract was abruptly ended because of a problem.  It seems a vendor contracted support person deleted some data intentionally because he thought it wasn't needed anymore, only to find out he just waxed 3 months worth of project data.  And, due to a combination of oversight and hardware error, which had been previously documented to management, we didn't have the backups necessary to restore the data.  I took responsibility for it, since it was my responsibility even with the extensively documented hardware problems, and they decided to let me go.  I don't have a problem with that, but I do have a problem with how they handled it.  After working 50-60 hour weeks for several months because they wouldn't spend the money to fix the problem, they just decided to let me go one day at 4pm.  I had worked all weekend because we had a server crash and I was the on-call person, and then they just tossed me aside.  They didn't even tell me or why I was being let go, but I ended up taking the blame for everything.  I've been unemployed since, and I've interviewed once since then.  They were really jazzed about my abilities and past work experience, but then hired someone else because they didn't want to pay for someone with my expertise.

In the last week I've done some consulting work, but not enough to pay my bills.  And after taxes, it doesn't go far.  I've started selling my personal posessions, which has helped.  And just when I thought I didn't have any pride left, my mom and grandmother gave me their social security checks to help make ends meet.

Pride sure does taste like shit.  All I want is a job.  Unfortunately, with the impending doom in regards to energy companies, Houston may be headed to similar conditions during the oil bust of the 80's.  The .com fallout already shook up the town, then Compaq laid off a couple thousand workers, then Enron collapsed overnight, and now every other energy company in town is under some sort of government scrutiny.  Things do not bode well for the economy down here in the Bayou City.  It looks like I may not be calling Texas home much longer.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

I heard playgirl wanted to pay male ex-enron employees to pose for the magazine.

You will not be seeing my rotund self posing nude in any weiner mag.  I know all the ladies were getting their hopes up, but Tex is a married man.  Did I mention I'm fat?

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

slipknot, not everyone is guarenteed a good life despite hard work. Luck has to do with a lot in life. In my case I got rejected from everyone of my top university choices due to various factors, of which affirmative action is the major one. Such is life, my life isn't going to end I didn't get into MIT. Whatever happens, you should always make the best of it, there will be good times again. BTW, in the case of going to school, getting a good job, etc. Perhaps you should read a book called [b]Rich Dad, Poor Dad[/b]. I would take Kiyosaki's stuff with a grain of salt on most things, but the part he said about careers and school hits it right on the head.

I was laid off last December for the first time in 22 years. Four months later my company hired me back.
I now commute 196 miles to work and get to live in motel rooms during the week.  The company pays for it all.  Eeehaw.  This week I will either be in SLC or Reno, don't know which yet.
Last week I was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  I'd forgotten how beautiful the Tetons were.
Hang in there, yeah right, what else can ya do?
[sarcasm]But hey, free trade will save us all.[/sarcasm]

Amen, brother.  With the markets toying with 52-week lows, high unemployment, accountants on drugs, and criminal CEOs, I'd say the economy is royally fucked for a while to come.

You may have to relocate to find a job in your field.  I work at Hill Air Force Base here in Utah and they are constantly looking for engineers with starting salaries in the 50K range.  For Utah that is pretty good.  The cost of living here is fairly cheap and it is gun friendly.  Check out this website:

http://jsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/a9.asp

Click on Air Force in the top drop down box and then click on Utah in the bottom one.  Leave everything else alone and you'll get mostly engineering jobs at Hill, some of which are open indefinately.  The work here is interesting dealing with high tech weapons systems.  Good luck.

Since Jan 2000[:(][:(][:(]

Sgtar15

PS I am now offically crazy!!!!!!!!!

Lots of jobs moved overseas.

Engineers of all disciplines treated as commodities.

H1-B VISA holders weakening our bargaining power.

The same thing happened around 1970 when the space program slowed after the moon launch. There were guys with advanced degrees working at gas stations. Many went into teaching. Some never worked again.

Now days you have to view yourself as a free agent. Once you accept it, you don't feel as bad about being laid off. You owe your employer nothing, he owes you nothing. If you are loyal to your employer and expect the same in return, you open yourself up to getting screwed.

I don't see telecomm picking up any time soon. Is there a related industry you can get into? I'm a software engineer and don't know a hell of a lot about the hardware field.

BTW, I was shown the door last July. My employment ran out in January and since then I had about $10k come in for a contract. Now my income is zero.