Do you know anyone laid off for an extended period of time? What was their situation?
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Anonymous
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I constantly see posts on LinkedIn and Reddit where people state they have been unemployed for months / years: in most cases, they were laid off and despite applying for (in their words) thousands of jobs they are unable to find employment. This is just terrifying to me!
Do you know anyone like this and if so, what was their situation/career before being long-term unemployed? |
Anonymous
| My husband, it took him six months to find a job and the new job isn’t really what he wants to do but he’s taking it while continuing to look for something better because we haven’t been able to save while he’s been unemployed. |
Anonymous
What field is he in? I hope he finds the ‘something better’ very soon (and honestly, good for him for doing what it takes. I saw one gentleman essentially refusing to work unless he could get a job in an extremely niche field). |
Anonymous
| I’m coming up to 5 months |
Anonymous
| Are you kidding, OP? Months is the bare minimum these days. It’s brutal. Especially in your 40s or older. |
Anonymous
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My DH was laid off in 2016 and never found another full time job.
He freelances. It's brutal in your 50s to get laid off. |
Anonymous
| It use to be said that it takes 1 month for every 10K of salary |
Anonymous
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After 50s, you should talk in years, not months.
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Anonymous
So how are you supposed to support yourself or your family? |
Anonymous
| I’m at an agency where they’re probably going to lay off 40-60% of us. In talking with others, most people estimate it could take on average 6 months even for highly credentialed and connected people to find another job, and much longer for others. We’re lawyers FWIW and I frankly thought my backup would be a firm but no, many firms are not hiring. The market is VERY bad and may get worse. The economy is being tanked on purpose. Everyone is worried. |
Anonymous
they don't care. "should have planned better. don't you know families are expensive?" a friend got laid off from a tech job in their 50s during covid and has not been able to get a job since. still get interviewed occasionally but they are resigned to downsizing and living on what they managed to save. |
Anonymous
Live off your savings, downsize drastically, start a dog walking, house cleaning or babysitting business. That’s always been the American way. I find it truly astonishing that these questions are only now popping up on DCUM. I guess the crowd here (or their parents) completely missed out on the collapse of multiple industries in the 1980-90s. Some time ago I posted here a link to a NYTimes article from 2001 about middle aged people who lost their executive jobs in tech industry and were never able to get back in the saddle. |
Anonymous
That sounds absolutely miserable, to have to downsize and go to such a low standard of living. I feel like at a certain point I’d just find it pointless to stay alive to be honest. |
Anonymous
| This happened to my FIL in his 50s. STEM executive laid off by a big company in a recession. Tried to find another position but ended up in part-time consulting then nothing. He took over the household management since MIL had to keep working into her late 70s and we kids subsidized their living expenses. Money was tight and it put a big strain on their marriage. |
Anonymous
| My entire field was laid off essentially overnight in February with the termination of USAID. There are now thousands of us with very similar skill sets - and overlapping networks - looking for jobs. It is utterly brutal. I expect it will take well over 6 months for people to transition to new industries or retrain. As to PP’s question about how you support your family…well, you can’t. I have colleagues who are now relying on unemployment and food pantries. |