
Is Your Dad Unemployed? So is Mine - wetzeljohn
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140612142358-20747703-is-your-dad-unemployed-so-is-mine
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badman_ting
My father has been a salesman his whole career. A few years ago he was fired
from a job where he grew the market for a particular product from $8 million
to $25 million. They decided they didn't need him anymore. I figured that
given what he did at the company, the numbers would speak for themselves and
he'd have no trouble getting a new job. Instead what happened was that he was
unemployed for a couple years, then underemployed.

After almost two years jobless, he interviewed for a job that seemed pretty
good, and took it really hard when he didn't get it. Watching one's father go
through this is traumatic. (Not to mention what it was like for him.) I mean,
this is a smart, hardworking guy whose work made money. And none of that made
a god damn difference. Why should I expect my future to look different, at
all?

I think a lot of us still haven't woken up to the way things are now - it
seems like you just never know what is going to happen, tomorrow your goose
may be cooked. And the reason why doesn't have to make sense, at all. It's
hard to have hope for the future this way. One day, I'll be considered to be
too old to write code. And that will be that.

~~~
wetzeljohn
The "new economy" is a much less friendly one, and I am also personally
terrified of my coming professional irrelevance. Savings are nice, as is the
social safety net, but I've seen them both either fail or get used up. It is a
perverse culture where you fear the fate of your father.

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janesvilleseo
I have watched my father go through this as well. 2 masters degrees under his
belt, +35 years of programming experience, self employed contractor for around
15 years.

He has and will travel across the US for any assignment that made sense. He
has worked for a lot of well known large organizations.

He too is unable to find work. It has been hard for me to watch my father give
so much of himself for his family and now he is unable to find a source of
income to pursue his own hobbies now that his kids are on their own.

I have had to talk with him about settling down and retiring, even though he
was not ready. He still loves what he does and he is good at it by all
accounts.

It is as if he is giving up a part of himself. I tell him he now has the time
to do what he wants, to build what he wants, but to him it's not the same. He
wants to be a productive member of society. The rejection is hard.

I too feel that ageism is a live and well.

I am trying to learn as much as I can from this. One thing for sure is to make
sure you are prepared for anything. Save as much as you can while your young.
I am trying hard to accomplish this while I can. Who knows I may even start my
own business or at least grow more of what I have. Nowadays it is hard to rely
on just one source of income.

~~~
wetzeljohn
I am taking the same steps. I am currently working, but am also looking to
stand up a security consulting firm/start-up on the side (I have my employer's
permission). Multiple income streams seems to be the only way to mitigate the
risk of losing a job in the future. That and building wealth (if Tom Piketty
is right).

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brandon272
There always seems to be a lot of discussion about how young people are
fairing in the economy but of greater concern in my view is how older people
are fairing.

A combination of a lack of preparedness for retirement and long bouts of
unemployment when you are in your 50's and 60's seems like a recipe for
disaster for a lot of people.

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malandrew
It seems like home ownership is a huge factor here. Several studies have shown
that home ownership correlates with higher unemployment. Owning a home greatly
decreases mobility and can cause you to stick to a region far longer than is
necessary. I can't help but wonder how things might have been different for
the OP's father, if after the first layoff, he had chosen to sell his home and
move to another market experiencing growth and extremely low rates of
unemployment [0].

My father also struggled for several years after moving back to Brazil, where
ageism is alive and well. He had tons of experience, even founding his own
company, being its CEO and growing it to 300 people back in the 90s when that
was a much harder thing to accomplish. He then ran another company as a CEO.
Right now he is just beginning to do reasonably well again as a consultant,
but he had to work hard to diversify where he gets work from. In his case it
is his aging mother that keeps him in Brazil instead of returning to the US to
a market that is more likely to employ him. He doesn't have the luxury of an
option that will afford him mobility like people with a home to sell do. For
those with that luxury, selling your home makes sense. Wishful thinking that
long bouts of unemployment can't happen to you is a naïve and dangerous.

[0]
[http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm](http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm)

~~~
hga
More specifically, I would expect that to be home ownership in an illiquid
market. In the OP's example, Michigan, while it didn't suffer a housing driven
downturn like Nevada, was nonetheless hard hit in that sector.

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turar
This is very tough. I've seen my dad struggle through the same. He's been
without a stable job since 2010. He'd sent out dozens of resumes daily for the
last 4 years. He recently got a contract, and hopes this will turn into a full
employment one day. What seemed to change his luck was that he stopped
claiming 25+ years of direct relevant experience on his resume, and changed
that to 6+ years. He got an offer within a week of doing that. That, and an
improving economy seemed to have helped.

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adamconroy
My father is 80 this year and still works 4-5 days a week. He was a commercial
banker until he got a golden handshake at around 60. He retired for about 5
years but got bored and since then has been working as a book keeper /
accountant for a small company.

He is probably luckly, because his friend owns the business where he works,
but I am impressed nonetheless.

