Posted on 11/07/2011 5:30:01 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Cody Preston, 25, keeps looking for work that will pay what he made installing granite counters.
PORTLAND, Ore.—Few groups were hit harder by the recession than young men, like Cody Preston and Justin Randol, 25-year-old high-school buddies who didn't go to college.
The unemployment rate for males between 25 and 34 years old with high-school diplomas is 14.4%—up from 6.1% before the downturn four years ago and far above today's 9% national rate. The picture is even more bleak for slightly younger men: 22.4% for high-school graduates 20 to 24 years old. That's up from 10.4% four years ago.
In contrast to those men, Messrs. Preston and Randol are old enough to have had some time in the job market. They worked together installing granite counters before the housing bust.
Mr. Preston married his girlfriend and settled into what he assumed would be a secure pattern of long hours on job sites and enough cash to travel and enjoy restaurants and bars. Mr. Randol at one point felt flush enough to buy a 63-inch television set and a 50-gallon fish tank for his apartment.
Then the recession hit. Neither man has found steady work since that pays as much as he earned before. Mr. Preston's marriage broke up and he moved back in with his parents, an increasingly common pattern for jobless young men. Mr. Randol has made do with help from girlfriends and by living in houses packed with roommates to keep the rent low.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Obama voters hardest hit, can’t say we didn’t tell them so.
Obama = Carter 2.0 for a whole new generation.
It is amazing that most news outlets don’t focus on this more. Women have not been hit as hard because they tend to go into low skilled office jobs and government jobs which have not been as impacted as those jobs that actually produce something. So we continue to bleed actual productive jobs but hang onto non-productive/anti-productive jobs and people wonder why things aren’t getting better.
No where in the story did it say who these guys voted for.
Things suck right now for most people.
In 2007 I was recruited by a Defense company. I went to work for them the day I retired from the Marine Corps. In June of 2009 I was laid off.
I found a job in November. I went from $29.95 an hr to $19 an hour. In Jan 2010 my former employer called me and asked if I would come back for the same pay as before. I jumped all over it.
In May of this year I was sent packing again. I found a job in July of this year with another Defence company on a very stable training contract. I make $7.00 less an hour, but I like the work, and this contract won’t be going away any time soon.
It’s going to be some time before things go back to the way they were, if they do at all. I’m just thankfull I have job. It’s a bonus that it’s a job I like.
If you just sit back and wait for life to happen to you, you WILL be disappointed with the results.
I guess the Mrs. wasn't into that whole "For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer" vow. He's far better off.
Best to Preston, Randol and the other millions ground under by Obama's economy.
I know a GREAT employer: the Department of Defense. My job has been VERY steady. In fact, I’m looking at a 90K reenlistment bonus next year. Not a CEO level bonus; but nice enough for upgrades to the wife’s ring and handgun, and for me to upgrade to a better Jeep.
The key to your post is that you’re a go-getter: you didn’t wait for another $30/hr job, but you took what you could, believing you’d get back there again.
Too many people are unwilling to do that - they sit back while life passes them by.
It’s a really tough economy for young people. Hirinig is extremely limited and illegals are a dime a dozen.
These guys don’t sound like the voting type to me. I’ll bet they were either drinking or playing video games on election day.
Yeah, imagine how it is for those of us who’ve never had a 30/hr job.
Sorry, no sympathy. Glad things are working out for you, but for the majority of us, it’s not. And it has nothing to do with waiting for life to come to you.
I don’t make any $30/hr - you’re talking to the wrong guy. Certainly you would admit that there ARE those with delusions of grandeur when job hunting...not all, but some.
Absolutely.
I was one of those making about 20 an hour but I was entirely contract.
I’ve since worked for 10, 11 dollars an hour, despite having all the qualifications. It’s just hard to get work.
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