Fudging the Numbers

Recently I had heard comments, by some who hold a generally conservative view, that people on unemployment don't want to work, in some cases are lazy, etc. It was also stated that there are plenty of jobs out there, because they see them "on line" on job boards etc. all the time. It kind of bothered me so I did a little investigating. Here is what I found out.

I visited the Illinois Department of Employment Security, and observed, listened, and interviewed some. One of the folks I talked to was the Veterans Representative, who tries to assist veterans obtain gainful employment. He establishes relationships with hiring employers, and the veterans he represents. He informed me that although there are employers who are hiring veterans, there are a lot of jobs that are directed to the more recent military veteran, more so than the aged veteran from the baby boomer era. This is partly because of the high technical nature of the position, and the recent veteran brings some of his technical training, of a similar nature, to the table. Whereas the older veteran does not have the qualifications.

In Illinois alone there are more than 350,000 unemployed workers. I am unable at this time to get a demographic breakdown by age race and sex. But I am willing to bet there would be a high percentage of "Baby Boomers". The census puts this category as persons born between 1947 and 1964. AND....I might add that they will be retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day in 2011 and beyond. This will certainly put a huge strain on the Social Security system.

During my information gathering I spoke to one woman who I'll simply call Carol. It seems that Carol is a Physical Therapy Assistant. Her company provided rehabilitation services to patients. However, because the State of Illinois is slow to make the medicaid and other reimbursements, there had to be a reduction in staff made, and she was let go. She also stated that she had never collected unemployment before in her life and she hoped to find employment soon. She was optimistic.

Another person, whom I'll call Regina, was 72 years old. She worked for a governmental contractor for the past 20 years, when all of a sudden, and without warning, twelve people were let go, because the Federal Government was making cutbacks, and they were no longer needed. She definitely fits the Baby Boomer category, but was very optimistic, and excited, because she saw "on line" that there were plenty of jobs out there.

The third person was Bill, he was 60 years old and a former professor at one of the colleges, but he did not have tenure. He was let go due to declining enrollment. He did not have a PHD, and wasn't too optimistic that he would be able to find employemnt in his field.

In talking with the representative in the IDES resource center, I was informed that there were funds available for retraining of workers to a new field, but there were not many participants. She thought that this might be because those people figured they would keep searching to do what they had always done, however, there are some who do partake in the program, but after being on unemployment for quite a while, when their expectations aren't being realized, and their hosehold financial obligations start to get under water, they come back and see her.

This mornings news stated that new unemplolyment claims were down a record amount for the month of December in Illinois. I predict this number will greatly increase in January. Why? Because those folks whose claims ran out in December, but are qualified for an extension under HR4853, which simply extends the benefit elegibility dates, are being made to file new claims. Therefore the new claim numbers will increase.

The IRONICY of this is that in Illinois in order to qualify for the second year (the up to 99 weeks they talk about) you had to work, and you had to have had an income during the first year. The amount of wages you had to earn has to be an amount equal or greater than three times your current weekly benefit amount.

Let me make this clearer. If you were receiving $333.00 per week in unemployment compensation, somewhere during the year you had to earn a minimum of $999.00 during that year. However, they never tell you this in any form of correspondance or other media.

Well, if you're out of work and cannot get a job, how in the world would you meet that requirement. I think the Illinois Law was instrumented so that most people would not requalify. I do not know if other states have similar rules though.

So for the new year, the outlook looks bleak. I'm sure there will be jobs out there for some, but the baby boomer might have it tough. The sad part is that this might have them applying for Social Security at 62, when they would have waited for 66 or their full qualifying year. Will this put a strain on the system.......I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

What I did not find was anyone who DID NOT want a job, who just wanted to sit around and simply do nothing, while getting their checks. But also there were folks who were discouraged. Unemployment compensation does not pay the bills. In some cases it only puts food in your mouth, while they continue to mount.