Blocking Unemployment Benefits Hurts Job Seekers

(CBS)  Thursday morning the labor department reported 472,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, 13,000 more than the week before. All told, nearly 15 million Americas are without work, or 9.7 percent of the workforce.

If you want to know what it feels like to be out of work just ask Lesley Pink.

"It is a very painful thing to be unemployed," says Pink. "It's very humiliating and it's very humbling."

In January she was laid off from her job in a New York law firm. She's been constantly looking for work. Her $420 weekly unemployment check is the only way she can pay her rent. The checks end this month and she is angry that Congress did not extend her benefits, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

"I've been paying taxes. I've helped the banks bail out and I figure now I need help. Why should I be overlooked?" she says.

Late last year the federal government extended unemployment payments from the standard 26 weeks to 99 weeks. But worried about cost, Republicans in Congress are blocking efforts to keep that extension in place.

So by the end of July 3.2 million people will no longer be getting an unemployment check.

At a packed unemployment office in Glendale, Calif., Thursday, Dominic Lucas worried about how he'll support his son once his benefits end.

"Your hands are tied behind your back and someone is threatening to shoot you," he says. "That's how it feels."

The larger problem is that consumer spending is needed for the economy to recover. Now millions of Americans are losing their unemployment checks and their buying power. Some economists fear that could lead to a double dip recession.

"We're hearing from people that are saying how am I supposed to look for a job if I don't even have money to put gas in my car?" says Andrew Stettner, the deputy director of the National Employment Law Project.

And finding work is daunting. There are five unemployed workers for every one job opening. In Pawtucket, R.I., nursing assistant Michelle Populus has been out of work for almost two years.

"I desperately need a job. I really do," says Populus. "I know in eight weeks I'm screwed."

While those in Congress take a break from their jobs for the holiday, millions of Americans desperately wish they simply had some work to do.

[JayAdler1]

Virtually every employer, blue collar force or white collar office environment zeros in immediately on how the applicant has been spending their time in recent months. Although in these troubled times it is a bit delusional for an interviewer to be non plussed by a so called gap in your life, they would rather see some kind of ongoing activity, even if it is non-paying in nature like volunteer or intern work. I have gone on record as saying that i would not have opposed unemployment extension. You have to understand that when an employer hears that you have been sitting around on unemployment for 6 months they get pre conceived notions of what that is about. I would advise you to can your check if you can secure a job at similar pay. It is not a good idea to veg out because you want to play it out to the end rather then work. If you cannot find a job, which is possible, keep yourself busy with say charity work. When the gift stops for good, you want to sit across the table from an interviewer with something substantive to say. When I was in the employment agency business in 1974 I remember interviewing a guy who was pretty ruddy and probably had a few. I asked him what he had been doing in the last few months and he said "I am a big TV watcher". He did not have to tell me about beer.

[JayAdler1]

If I may, I would like to offer you some more ideas on making a living in this recession. Did you know that there are couples that purchase their wedding bands by inviting a home sales representative in equipped with sample cases? Most of these home sales occur in ethnic or inner city neighborhoods, the way I feel money is money and if you spend a little time with one of these companies, they may offer you a training allowance and the commission. I have seen in home salespersons in jewelry easily make $1,000 a week once you get the hang of it. Surprisingly, these wedding band concerns are mostly legitimate and they will offer the couple the opportunity of appraisal and guarantee. I paid $100 for our wedding bands in 1981, that was in the stone age. Today you may be talking well over a $1000 each and your end could be as much $500 for a few hours work. In home sales is generally being ignored as job possibilities. Custom made closet companies, alarm companies, heating oil, clean the yard after the dog companies, the list is endless. It is not nearly as difficult to be hired by an in home company as a conglomerate. Truthfully, dealing with the public is very difficult and that is why you can get one of these jobs even as a stop gap. Ingenuity and courage and you will make it.

[JayAdler1]

UPS and FED EX do hire a good number of workers all year round.They do well because in many cases they are competitive with the post office and because they are the carriers for millions of Internet sales, something we never had in the old days, the bottom lines look good. Both companies are fair with their employees with great benefits and good competitive pay.Companies like these do process your hiring only by the Internet until you are interviewed. There is a physical exam.The consistently offered jobs are loading, some driving. You should be in good shape.While getting hired at these huge companies is certainly not a given, if you are free Christmas time you have a good chance of a helper or loading platform person.These are the companies that will evaluate you and promote from within.Again, there are jobs out there and they go to the seekers that push for them.

[JayAdler1]

I just wanted to add another job possibility that although something difference and certainly not for every body is always available anywhere. I passed the real estate exam and took the required courses to obtain my real estate salespersons license in 1982. Two years later after I competed more education, two New York State Investigations and a Federal check I was awarded my Broker's license and although I worked a short shift all together for 20 years, even p/t I made a fair amount of money including one $11,000 commission. You can be hired into a training program with a coast to coast agency or just work for a Mom and Pop as long as you have a nice appearance and are well dressed and groomed. there is a catch, while you are taking courses and undergoing training you are are given no salary. The money comes when you know the business which as a guess will take you at least six months. So the trick is you must have "seed money" at least a stake of $6,000-$10,000 to live on while you learn. This is not for everybody but believe me, once you push off the dock in real estate the earnings are unlimited.

[JayAdler1]

Before I begin, today I walked into a variety store that I frequent constantly because they are the only place in town that has all the widgets and gadgets and various and sundry items that Woolworths and Lamstons used to have on Broadway in my old New York neighborhood. Can you believe that in a small coastal community I live in this store needed a worker.This is not the only help wanted sign I have seen around here. If you want to sell beds and I want to let you know that once you are trained by a bedding chain, you can make a very good living and there are openings if you have a sales personality. Briefly, I wanted to give some unsolicited and gratuitous advice to female applicants going on interviews. Wear conservative clothing, nothing revealing and do not be flirtatious at all with male interviewers of any age bracket. Be businesslike and if they ask you how you spend your free time and what your hobbies are, this goes for everybody. Do not say that you go to the Hampton's every weekend or Fire Island, you go to museums and out to dinner with friends and you enjoy the movies.Remember no company especially a conglomerate is going to tell you everything they are looking for. They would rather hire someone who drinks moderately and does not flit around town on the weekends. Companies like marrieds because they feel they are stable and will not get into trouble. They are very often scared of young and comely single women because as I have seen a few times, they could possibly become a friend of the boss and I have been in situations where the workforce suddenly has two bosses and the new one has become powerful and demanding. All of this is totally unfair and perhaps is contrary to employment laws but it goes on all the time. That's why I say to all parties going for office positions, be conservative, do not joke with the interviewer and convey the impression that you lead a moderate lifestyle. It's all in the game.

[JayAdler1]

I personally do not believe that unemployed Americans are all ineffectual seekers of fortune who must necessarily remain on the rolls until the hard times are over, a credible prediction was made of five years. President Obama in my view did not present the job market in a way that I would have liked to see today at his speech. He propped up some young gentleman and painted his job search in a completely hopeless scenario of sending out dozens of resumes and getting no result.That is telling us that we have to have an extension because people are unable to get jobs in recessions. The first mistake is that people hide behind their resume and besides it is so easy and impersonal to shoot out resumes through the mail where they end up in a company file. I have outlined some creative methods of seeking and then securing employment in previous posts. There are cases such as very high paying jobs where a resume is indicated. As I have said before Obama's theory of total inability to find a job in this recession is true in virtually all small towns where zero is zero. Where I live in the tri state area there are tons of jobs in retail, sales and driving.Sometimes, because my wife has to go to Manhattan on business I send her in this 1000 fleet car limo service. This company is military exact and customer friendly. On its recording they ask for drivers. Take a job, even if you have to lower your standards and pay. You will be in a lot less trouble then being unemployed. Even myself born in 1951 and retired from government, I have been pitched over the Web to work for a blue chip Fortune 100 company cellular phone store at many locations. Of course at my age, I would not take that but at least I am still working as a sole proprietor. If you live in a big city, do not accept anyone's nonsensical admonitions about no jobs. There are no great jobs, true but go to work, it is good for you and good for the country.

[gha49ers]

The Republicans and Democrats that are against this bill that will help millions of unemployed people like me must have a plan that will create millions of jobs. They must stop using people that put them into office putting us as a number and start putting us as human beings. Maybe they are the ones that need to be laid off and have a taste of being laid off without no money or ways of putting food on their family table. Able to support their family. Have a roof on top of their head. This is making me sick and embarrassed to call my self an American. When the banks and the stock markets were going to go broke we had millions of taxpayer?s money to save them.

But now that the taxpayers are the ones that need help this government of ours is saying that we can?t help you. It will make our debt bigger than it already is. Shame on you. The people need your help and now you are turning your back on us.

But the rich is getting richer and you are planning and helping them get richer while the average American is barely making ends meet. You call yourself an American and proud to represent the hard working Americans. Which Americans were you referring to? The wealthy that put you in the office and you give big tax breaks to or the ones that really care about this great country and willing to give their life and willing to sacrifice everyday.
All the Democrats and Republicans who say this bill will make our debt bigger should have worried about that long time ago not when the real American citizens of this great Country are asking for your help. Shame on you. If any of your senators has any of ideas or plans that will help the hard working Americans that have worked their entire life and now that they need our help we are saying no. That is totally ridiculous. We must have a plan for today not tomorrow or next year.

Tell those senators that oppose this bill which will put food on the American families, give them shelter, give money to pay their bills, to be in our shoes and feel the pain that we are feeling right now. And see if they can survive.

[JayAdlerMusic]

Many years ago when I was a job seeker in far different times, I had a definite preference when it came to networking. I did not like any kind of typical networking such as the Job Fairs at hotel chains and absolutely never paid another individual or company marketing a product or service purported to assist me in finding a job.Same thing for meeting people, I preferred to meet prospective dates at parties or museums or Moby Dick Clubs(worshipers of Melville), nothing organized by singles organizations. All of the above was absolutely my own agenda and certainly as a matter of personal choice. My suggestion for the best way to network is to join an organization or political group in your city or town that is substantial and hopefully nationwide in scope. Charities, religious organizations, natural disaster or environmental concerns, literary groups, volunteer at the library and the list you can imagine is infinity itself. Once you join, the trick is to make your self available and help, put in some time not necessarily a donation. You will find for the most part that there are a lot of well heeled and influential individuals who by design are known to be involved with causes. In no time they will sincerely appreciate your volunteerism and interest. At this point, there is nothing wrong with speaking to these members and describing your need for employment in government or private industry. Never make a War and peace request, just to the point. Of course there is no guarantee that you will get a job but I always regarded this modus operandi as personal, unlike a commercial event. Remember one hand washes the other and both wash the face.

[IIDoves]

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[Dottie15]

I would like to say, that the senate doesn't cared about the people who put them in office, they wouldn't have went on a holiday break without passing an extention for the unemployed. I read somewhere that they won't be back in office until july 12. What nerves! I couldn't cook ribs, grill anything. My food in my house is very low. and my bills are later and later. My rent is not being paid, so on top of that I'm going to come and live with some of the members on the senate board. Enjoy you 4th of July Senate members.