A new poll from the Pew Research Center says long-term unemployment causes massive devastation to a person’s life, family, and self-esteem. The results from a national survey of 2,967 adults aged 18 – 64 was conducted in May of this year. The purpose of the survey was to measure effect of unemployment on the quality of a person’s life, and to do that it also measured the average length of unemployment. This revealed quite a startling fact that half of the people who are unemployed have been unemployed for at least six months. Why is this so startling? That is the highest average length of unemployment in nearly three quarters of a century.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median duration of unemployment stood at 25.5 weeks in June 2010, meaning half of the unemployed — the largest proportion since World War II — have been looking for work for six months or more
Being without a job is already discouraging when economic conditions are not as brutal as they have been over the last three years. Unfortunately for the some 9% of Americans who are jobless, they’ve been like that for at least a half year. I remember how tough it was for my family in the mid-1980s when my dad lost his job because of Reagan’s pet theory ofTrickle Down Economics, and the general screwing of the middle class by very rich. Going to the Food Bank and to the HHS office to get food stamps is something I will never forget. The struggle to survive in our money driven society becomes nearly unbearable, and for some it is unbearable. This survey comes at a time when every Republican in the Senate as well as Nebraska’s Bob Nelson, a so-called Democrat, have opposed extending jobless benefits to those unemployed for more than the standard six month length of time normally allowed. In light of this poll, their actions are not only insensitive, immoral, and selfish, but practically criminal as well.
In this, the Great Recession, being unemployed for a half year or more meant that 46% of those surveyed have strained familial relationships, 43% have lost contact with close friends, and 48% are reporting a significant reduction in their self-esteem. That is a major blow to the overall quality of life from which some may never be able to fully recover. In fact the Pew survey says that 43% of those suffering from extended unemployment feel their long-term career goals are setback, if not completely derailed. The Pew poll goes on to describe other severe effects of unemployment on a person’s life that is definitely worth reading. In fact, I hope that this come across the desk of some of those callously cruel Republicans in the Senate that are too worried about their investments to care about those suffering alone in their own economic despair.
One of most damning aspects of capitalist society that Karl Marx outlined in his many writings is the alienation of people from their labor, but most importantly from themselves and their community. Our society is so caught up in monetary and economic success that we tend to lose our humanity somewhere along the road. It’s clear that the success of businesses now, and the devastation still being felt by the working class are part of a larger and more systemic problem called class warfare. The rich have been squeezing the poor for the better part of 30 years, and all their hard work is coming to fruition in the forms of busted, broke, and sadly unemployed Americans. Businesses are sitting on billions of dollars of cash, but they aren’t spending it because profits are more important than people.
With all of this happening, one would think that our elected officials would do something to help ameliorate such devastating consequences, but that’s not the case. Instead, the last seven weeks have been marked by Republican after Republican refusing to allow people out of work the longest to get government aid. It’s rather disgusting.
Chronicle of Higher Education