Stories Behind the Unemployment Numbers

First, the good news: The latest jobs report out on Friday said the unemployment rate dropped unexpectedly last month from the month before. Now the bad news: That still leaves 10 percent of American workers out of work. And that statistic tells only part of the story - the PEOPLE behind the number tell the rest of it. Seth Doane reports our Cover Story:

"I drive a fork truck and work on the assembly line."

They're involuntary dwellers in a disorienting world.

"I've been out of work since …."

They're America's unemployed . . .

"I was laid off."

. . . now numbering 10% of the population.

Initiation into this sphere, they're told, is not personal - just business.

"I received a letter. . . "

"They sent an e-mail that just said my job was being eliminated . . . "

"They called me into a meeting and just said they didn't need me to work there anymore."

But no matter who you are or what your job is, it's almost always traumatic.

15.4 million Americans are unemployed, and countless others are affected.

Here are three stories, three perspectives . . .

His Job is To Tell You Yours Is Ended

When a company goes through layoffs, there's usually one person whose job at least seems pretty secure - if unenviable.

Michael McLaughlin was that guy. Part of his job was to tell workers that they no longer had one.

In a lot of cases, the person being laid off just hears one thing: "You're fired."

"And then they don't hear anything else sometimes," said McLaughlin.

"You get lots of reactions. Some cry. Some want to appeal. Some want to say, 'Are you sure this isn't a mistake? Is there something I can do to change this decision?'"

"Is there something they can do?" asked Doane.

"Not normally. Normally when there's a decision that's been made, it's been made so the person is going to be laid off."

For two decades at Deloitte Consulting, McLaughlin advised outside companies on how they could maximize profits - which he says led to layoffs only as a last resort.

He doesn't want to say exactly how many people he personally laid off - just that it was more than a hundred.

(CBS)

"I wouldn't say I second-guessed it," said McLaughlin (left). "It's not something you want. And when faced with the situation where you're going to have to talk to somebody, you don't want do it."

"Do you think about their reaction?" Doane asked.

"Of course, yeah. You can't help it."

"Does it weigh on you?"

"It never goes away," he said. "I can still remember mostly every person I've ever talked to about these kinds of things."

"Most everyone you've had to lay off?"

"Yeah. For myself and the people who I know who have done this, they're very much, very much bothered by it because they know that if the roles were reversed, how they would feel."

On the Other Side

Quen Agnew worked in the human resources department at a media company in St. Louis for about 10 years, and at times she, too, had to lay off workers.

"I've walked with individuals and taken with them their boxes and walked them out to their cars," she said. "I've been on the other side of the table before, so you know you never ever think that it's going to happen to you."

It did happen, nearly a year ago. She and her husband Mark already had a five-year-old daughter, Lauren. She'd just given birth to their son Andrew when Quen received a call at home:

"My senior manager called and informed me that my position had been eliminated and that was it," Agnew said.

"What was that call like?" Doane asked.

"It's adrenaline, it's emotions of fear, joy, anxiety, maybe bit of sadness," she replied.

"Did you cry?"

"Yes, I did. I did. I did. I will be honest with you. I did cry. And you know what, I still do cry. Sometimes when I'm looking at my checkbook and I'm thinking, 'My gosh, you know how are we going to be able to pay our mortgage this month?' or 'How are we going to be able to, you know, just stay afloat?'"

Because it was her salary that was keeping them afloat. Mark had already lost his job at the nearby Chrysler plant just four months earlier.

"We kind of knew from listening to the news that, you know, the auto industry was in trouble and that they were going to be making some drastic cuts," Mark said. "And they came down and said that they were going to close the plant and we were laid off."

The Agnews say they still can't help but wonder, Why us?

"We always had jobs," Mark said. "You know, we've always had jobs and it was just that point where OK, neither one of us has a job and, you know, what do you do next? Because we've never been in that position before."

"And I think the other thing is, too, we've always done things the right way," Quen added. "You know, we got married, we had kids, we went to school, we got our advanced degrees. And we've never been in trouble or anything like that, so it was like, Wow, this has happened to us."

Statistically speaking, the Agnews may have been at higher risk than others.

According to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, among black men, the unemployment rate is 18.8% - nearly double the rate for white men (10.4%).

Among young black men (ages 16 -24), the rate is an astronomical 35.8%.

And the race gap exists among women as well: For black women, 12.8%; for white women, 7.9%.

Radio Resumes

Radio station KMJM is trying to do its part. DJs Tony Scott and Tammie Holland make time for job pitches during their afternoon drivetime show.

The St. Louis station, which has a mostly black audience, is running a campaign called Radio Resume, where unemployed listeners call in or come by to make their pitch.

"So tell me why you think someone should hire you . . . "

It's part of a national campaign run by the station's owner, Clear Channel Radio.

Tara Brewer worked as an office manager for three years. She was laid off last month.

"Initially you're kind of humiliated and you're a bit frustrated, and you wonder, is there something that I did wrong?" Brewer said.

And finding a new job is proving difficult.

Brewer said she is worried about it. "Yes, Now at this point, I am. Because I haven't gotten any phone calls yet, and I think I've applied to over 100 probably in the last week."

They're involuntary dwellers in a disorienting world. Still, Quen Agnew says she'll persevere.

"It's just one of those things where you have to be able to have a lot of tenacity just to be able to fight through the fire<' she said. "And if one door closes, there's going to be another door that closes, and maybe another one. And hopefully at that fourth or fifth door, someone will open and give you an opportunity to walk through and give you a chance."

It's a chance more than 15 million Americans still need.

Click here to seek the resumes of some of the jobseekers.

For more info:
KMJM "Radio Resume"
Michael McLaughlin
Worksource Oregon