Posted on 05/17/2009 4:17:55 PM PDT by reaganaut1
In October, as the stock market tanked and the economy shed 400,000 jobs, Matt Singer moved from Oxnard, Calif. to Portland, Ore. He didn't have a job, but he was attracted to the city's offbeat culture and hungered for change. Mr. Singer's plan was to get an editing or writing gig at an alternative weekly newspaper, the job he was doing in California.
Seven months later, the 26-year-old is still without a steady job -- and still here. "I wasn't really aware of how bad the job situation was at the time," says Mr. Singer.
This drizzly city along the Willamette River has for years been among the most popular urban magnets for college graduates looking to start their careers in a small city of like-minded folks. Now the jobs are drying up, but the people are still coming. The influx of new residents is part of the reason the unemployment rate in the Portland metropolitan area has more than doubled to 11.8% over the past year, and is now above the national average of 8.9%. City of Youth
Some new arrivals are burning through their savings as they hunt for jobs that no longer exist. Some are returning home. Others are settling for low-paying jobs they are overqualified for.
With his search for a journalism job coming up short, Mr. Singer has spent thousands in savings, and is now earning $12 an hour at a temporary job scanning loan documents, a task he says is so mind-numbing he listens to his iPod all day. "Careerwise, it's definitely not what I'd like to be doing," says Mr. Singer.
The worst recession in a generation is disrupting migration patterns and overturning lives across the country. Yet, cities like Portland, along with Austin, Texas, Seattle and others, continue to be draws ...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
No worries. This is the ‘change’ they voted for.
“$12 an hour at a temporary job scanning loan documents, a task he says is so mind-numbing he listens to his iPod all day”
Dang. New hires at the factory I am at get $12/hour and have to work their butt off. I won’t tell ‘em about this!
“....and is now earning $12 an hour at a temporary job scanning loan documents, a task he says is so mind-numbing he listens to his iPod all day”.
Can’t even properly do this job, apparently.
At some point we’ll wake up and realize most of the middle class jobs that kids like this might have gone into have gone overseas. Doesn’t matter whether it was a blue collar job at the plant or a white collar type job being a supervisor at a customer service center.
We’re in a race to the bottom. Plenty of work for janitors and also for some high end management. But the jobs that the large “middle” had are all now in India, China, Mexico. Or they are on there way there.
Bush's fault.
Where I sit at this moment in Austin, I see no less than eight high-rise condo towers that are under construction or have just been completed. The minimum buy in to one of the condos is 500k.
The city is full of young people, most of them making tons of money. The economy is still good, better than any other city in Texas.
And yes, the city is very liberal even in the wealthiest neighborhoods.
It is a strange town.
Interesting article, as it mentions two cities I have been in recently, Portland and Tulsa... :-)
Unemployment in Austin is about half that of Portland and less than the national average, so I don’t get the generalization in the headline. Another lazy reporter arriving at unsupported conclusions.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/03/23/daily48.html
You said — i think someone here is mistaken. this fellow is doing exactly what he is qualified to do, otherwise he would be doing something else.
—
Well, I would disagree with that one, in this kind of a market. When unemployment goes up and you’ve got the kinds of factory closings and layoffs that I’ve been reading about for months — it’s *for sure* that a great number of people are going to be taking jobs (if they can get one at all) that they are over-qualified for.
That’s something that I would call “self-evident”...
That kid has a tough life. When I graduated colllege in Austin, the economy was down and I had to drive a cab to make house payments and help support my girlfriend and wife who was at NYU Law.
I later moved to NYC and worked as bartender and made crazy money.
*Seven months later, the 26-year-old is still without a steady job — and still here. “I wasn’t really aware of how bad the job situation was at the time,” says Mr. Singer.*
Did this guy think that Portland had a glut of “alternative newspapers” which would hire him to write? Cliff’s sake—the mainstream newspapers are all going broke!
And he counters “mind-numbing” jobs with an iPod? Isn’t 80 percent of the drivel people listen to on iPods mind-numbing enough?
Why can’t this guy do what everyone else with a rotten job does? Drink. Or, since he’s in Oregon, marry a gay and then get a lethal script of drugs from a merciful doc.
Shouldn't that be "... for which they are overqualified" ?
Typical idiots. They go off to the big city with no job, no real skills, and they expect to find a posh job.
Meanwhile, the young adult who spent time building their resume and took the time to find a job in the city before going will do well, but be surrounded by these idiots.
“Stories like this illustrate why sending more people to college is not necessarily a good thing — it spoils some people for useful work.”
And it teaches them to learn how to live beyond their means. A lot of people who get degrees aren’t getting ones that ensure a steady future. Many students are not learning about ‘process,’ and how people end up with the ‘cool’ jobs in the first place.
Bartending is my goal right now. I’ll make scads and start my business. I already have partnerships and I hope to have more by the end of the month.
To say nothing of the volunteer work I have signed up for and the CPR training course I hope to complete at the nearby fire station (free!). I signed up for 36 hours a week volunteering and once that kicks in, I’ll have those hour pins they hand out in a few months and be merrily earning experience, credentials, and recommendations and references.
Plus experience in a more professional medical setting, a step up from my experience in the local free clinic. Perhaps some of these dips could spend time volunteering and gaining experience, but I think that would bored the little hippies because it would mean meeting a disciplined schedule.
Girlfriend AND wife at NYU? I bet you sure hoped they never had a class together!! (Just kidding:)
“When I graduated colllege in Austin, the economy was down and I had to drive a cab to make house payments and help support my girlfriend and wife who was at NYU Law”
Having a girlfriend and wife is expensive in any economy.
Well, I wasn't a hooker or anything like that. Just low paying, dirty, grungy things until something better came along.
perhaps. if i gain a skill and move to a place where it is not needed then would i be overqualified? i might be. i might also be an idiot.
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