Give credit where it's due: both the Los Angeles Times and NPR's Scott Simon ran excellent stories about the difficulty of being unemployed or underemployed this Labor Day weekend.
I especially liked the LA Times story, because so often reporting on this topic falls into the either/or trap; that is, either you have a full-time job, and are sailing through the Great Recession more or less unscathed, or you have no job, and are living in your car.
I see a different truth: plenty of folks are doing all they can, and somehow are getting by, but can't scratch up enough work to make a decent living. As reporter Don Lee wrote:
Beyond the 15 million Americans who have no jobs at
all, millions more are caught in part-time or limited jobs that don't
pay them enough to maintain their standard of living — much less
contribute to the strong consumer spending needed to power the nation
out of the economic doldrums.Economists have a technical term for these people: underemployed.
But Simon did what NPR reporters can do better (but often don't). He gave the facts an emotional spin:
Having no job means that things people talk about so much these days —
iPads, Android phones, 3-D movies, new music or meeting friends over $4
coffee drinks — are just beyond reach. You worry about getting dull,
having nothing to talk about and losing friends. You worry about life
leaving you behind.You may be sure that your
family loves you, but worry that they'll start feeling sorry for you,
and wonder why you have to be the one person in 10 who doesn’t have a
job. You may blame politicians, brokers and bankers, but in the middle
of the night, you might turn your eyes to the sky and wonder what you
did, didn't do or should have done.
And, most amazing of all, Ted Rall found the humor in this unhappy (no joke) situation:
Kit Stolz 