Unemployment Hits Home: Beyond the Financial Cost of Job Loss
Posted: Monday, February 16, 2009
by Mogama
http://www.mogama.info
Have you heard the latest unemployment numbers? Those numbers might have changed by the time you read this; they are compounding so fast we can hardly keep up. CNN Money reports, "About 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year (end of January 2009), according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945."
That's 2,600,000 employees, workers,
family members, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, husbands
and wives, heads of households, real flesh and blood human beings
without their normal income.
When a person, especially the head of a
household, loses work or income, that person has lost his/her most
important tool for meeting basic needs and building wealth. Even if
the person lives in a developed society that offers unemployment
benefit, the person still sees such a big cut in pay that may affect
a string of lifestyle areas the person has come to regard as normal. Job loss
can have direct impact on four basic needs in countries like
America:
-
Food or Diet -- the unemployed may no longer be able to afford certain restaurants, groceries, foods.
- Housing -- the person may forfeit her current home. The time might have come to downgrade from owning a house to renting, from a large house to a smaller one that may not be conducive for the family. Sometimes the scary experience of foreclosure becomes the reality, as the bank or lender takes back the keys to the jobless person's home.
- Transportation -- the jobless may have to sell his/her car. Worse the bank or car dealer may repossess the vehicle. If the person has a paid-for car, keeping fuel in the car may become too expensive, and paying for regular maintenance or repair on the car may be financially out of the question. One may have to give up driving entirely, opting for a bicycle, catching the bus, or walking (which may be good for health, but nothing else)
- Utility -- the person may not have enough money to keep the house properly air-conditioned in summer or heated during winter. For example, where we live the average home's heating bill may easily near or top $200, not to be outdone by the cooling bill during summer.
Because of these financial constraints,
the unemployed may begin to dip into his checking account, savings
account, investment account or retirement account just to meet basic
needs. Unemployment is a financial earthquake that rattles the
monetary foundation of an individual, resulting in many financial
fractures and fragments that are not easily and quickly pieced back
together. It may take years before one rebuilds that safe financial
habitat equipped with checking, savings, investment and retirement
accounts, if ever again.
Yet as awful as the financial cost of
unemployment can be, losing a job is much more than losing a pay
check. It's more than the economic cost of living on far less than
you used to.
Job loss comes with a social cost, as
the jobless person's social status takes a dive. The unemployed feels
different among her employed peers outside of the work environment.
The word soon gets around that Sarah has been fired, and Sarah's
friends begin to look at her with eyes laden with dwindling respect. And Sarah
herself feels diminished, less than the Sarah she used to feel like.
Job loss also carries psychological and
emotional price tags. These are probably the most exacting costs of
all. When you lose your job you feel afraid, the fear that you may
not find another job any time soon, and with this daunting fear comes
its twin, financial insecurity. You feel shame, the embarrassment
that comes with a loss of self-esteem, feeling like, "I must be
incapable. May be that's the real reason they got rid of me."
You feel like the player that gets benched, or worse, cut from the
team. When you're jobless you may feel useless and worthless,
unqualified or even disqualified for any other employer.
Anger may set in, as frustration mounts, with outbursts of home rage toward family members. Example: One guy who's been out of work began to get abusive and violent towards his wife and children. The wife said he's been drinking heavily, and it's now scary to be around him. Obviously, this guy is about to crumble under the load of having his manhood pinned down for months, as he gets tired of relying on his wife's income to support the family. Though at first grateful that his wife was toting the financial burden of the household, he now feels resentment-driven anger towards his working wife, and he can't quite figure out this irrational rage towards the hand that's feeding him. The hardworking man that he's been most of his life, this hubby is suddenly fed up with the wife-dependent syndrome.
In addition to all of the above, the unemployed may go on a
self-doubting spree: "May be I'm not as good at what I do as I
once thought. May be my skill level is no longer good enough. What's
wrong with me? How could I have avoided being fired? Where did I mess
up? Somehow this must be my fault."
You feel guilty, feeling like you've
let down anyone who depends on your income. For a parent or spouse,
this guilt can bite like torture at the hand of Al Qaeda terrorists.
No wonder some unemployed people lie
about their situation. They cover up and try to hide the fact that
they've been laid off. One mother who lost her job kept making up
stories when her kids asked her why Mom had not bought the toys she
promised. She "protected" her kids by telling them more lies.
It is because of the psychological loss
associated with unemployment that a jobless person may sink into
depression. Some even entertain suicidal thoughts, while others
actually act out suicide.
Employers need to take the total
package of financial and emotional devastation into account when they
consider passing out pink slips, especially to dedicated, devoted,
loyal employees who have served their companies with unreserved time,
talent, skill and sweat. Yes, the employer may be terminating jobs to
save the company money, but is it always worth the trade when saving
your company money means shattering the lives of real individuals and
families, or in some cases causing people to lose hope and lose even
their lives?
In our current world shackled with the
chains of recession and mounting joblessness, let us not forget that
employment or a job is not just about a pay check. Rightly or
wrongly, humans do find meaning, purpose, self-esteem, and
fulfillment in work that sustains our livelihood. When that
livelihood is yanked from beneath us, we lose far more than money.
Our world unravels, and we would appreciate anyone who truly
understands our financial and psychological situation, someone who
can do anything to prevent our sinking further into the emotional
basement, somebody who can help shorten our period of unemployment with the mental trauma that doubles its painful impact.
Those of us who still have our income
intact may regard such feelings as character weakness or
overreaction, but these feelings and thoughts are real, and they
hurt. The unemployed do not warrant our contempt. They need our
understanding, support, our taking their hands and praying with them,
our networking and spreading the word to help find new employment for
them.
What a joy it was when one of those 2.6
million unemployed people informed us this week of his new
employment. The smiley face man said, "I have found work! Thank y'all for praying."
Do you know anyone who has lost his/her
job lately? Remember, that person has lost so much more than a pay
check. So much more...
I have known the sting of being layed off. I am fortunate to have a job. My heart goes out to those who are struggling. Thank you for a great article.Please log in to respond to this comment.Me too, Ken. In addition to being unemployed, I have also tasted the thorn of underemployment, which is like living with an extended pay cut. But things are much better these days. Thanks for your input. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
Magama, I hope this memo catches you in good health. I absolutely agree with what you have written. Lay offs are devastating. My son is facing that reality. I fear that if he gets "laid off" that his moral will diminish to the point of depression, and fear of the future. I am affraid for him, and his family. It is more real than he thinks. Somehow, folks get to feeling comfortable with their jobs, and assume they will be forever...I am the type of person that knows it can end, and jobs are not so plentiful out there. I am afraid for these young families, and all young families. You touched alot of areas that will affect the people, everything from loss of income, to depression and self distruction. If a man or woman does not feel their earning potential worth.....it is devastating for some....even to the point of suicide....its a shame, I hope this turns around....consumers are dying out here......Great article and well informed, and interesting read, always a pleasure to read your articles, your fan and friend in pen.......Gary.Please log in to respond to this comment.Indeed, Gary. I have seen and spoken with a number of jobless individuals lately, and I see it in their faces -- the fear, the anxiety, the self-doubt, the insecurity. That's why I grin so big every time I hear of someone finding employment, because I know it will reverse many of those negative emotions. Thanks for your comments, my friend. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
Mogama another great article yet I will tell you that the same friendly banker who gave you the mortgage, the car loan, the credit card will also now lock you out of getting to your money. Think not then you know not. That is if you have any in their bank. Yes and you can't open another anywhere. The destruction of America is reaching an end and peole sit there mooing. Yes government help, really only for those that can "qualify" and who can? Rent, where and to who? A person may not have credit and if your looking for those agencies that work for the banks, called credit bureaus, or check processing companies to help, what chance does one have. In my opinion this sin and blight is so large a the stain on these politicans it will never be repented of nor those that supported them whoa re no more then accomplices, like it or not, fact. Best wishes.Please log in to respond to this comment.I appreciate your taking the time to read and comment. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
