Michael Swickard
Tried to find me an executive position but no matter how smooth I talked they wouldn’t listen to the fact that I was a genius. The man say, “We got all that we can use.” – Jim Croce, Working at the Carwash Blues
Some say I am lucky. Staying employed over the years has not been especially hard for me. Yes, I have had a few weeks here and there when I was a bit concerned. But overall I have been fine.
What is the secret of my success with working at not being unemployed? First, I have taken some jobs I hated, but I needed the money and, more so, I needed to be employed to find my next job. Secondly, while I have worked for some companies and universities, my preference is working for myself, which I have done the most.
What has me thinking about this is that the national unemployment rate is near 10 percent; one person in 10 is not officially employed with probably another person not being counted. And there may be two more people out of 10 underemployed. Forty percent of our potential workforce has an employment problem.
The employment picture is a serious threat to our country, since all of those people not making money means there are fewer people supporting our country with taxes. Many people say there are no jobs while many jobs are going unfilled. And there is the rub: Some people would rather be unemployed than do some jobs.
Doing exactly the wrong thing
Complicating this is the government giving almost two years of jobless benefits to those without a job, which basically keeps most of those people from getting a job until the benefits run out. One woman ruefully told me recently that she took a job before all of her benefits were done and she feels like she is working for pennies because she could have just taken the unemployment check.
The way she sees it she was a fool to even look for a job until the last couple of weeks of benefits. Perhaps so. A wise person told me, “When you do not get what you want, look at the incentives.”
What did we Americans want? We wanted a vibrant workforce. What incentive did we as a nation give to make the workforce more vibrant? Actually, we did exactly the wrong thing by providing an incentive to not apply for jobs when out of work. We as a nation spent money to have a problem.
The unintended consequence of two years of benefits was that we pulled people out of our workforce for two years before having them try to reenter the job market. It is unfortunate that many companies are reticent to hire someone who would just not work for two years. This makes it very hard to get back into the workforce.
What some companies think is that anyone who would ride unemployment for two years may not be a dedicated worker. This is especially so when there are entry-level jobs always available but they do not pay as well as unemployment checks. Yes, I know that taking an entry-level job hurts the pride of someone who until laid off wore a suit. There are no winners here and everyone in the country loses.
A critical crossroads
The second part of the problem is that our nation has drifted away from what made it so strong in jobs, our selling of goods to other countries. Instead, our balance of trade works against us. It is important to note that having jobs just servicing other Americans does not make America stronger. We need money from other nations.
Any jobs program that is going to work must get workers back in the workforce, not on some sort of government ride. Americans must work at work if they are to retain their identity. There are no short cuts, we must restart manufacturing goods to sell offshore and our tax structure must enable this action.
America is at a critical crossroads. The government must reinstall a business climate so that the manufacturing sector can lift the nation out of this recession – or we can continue using government to keep people from being productive.
Swickard is co-host of the radio talk show News New Mexico, which airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday on KSNM-AM 570 in Las Cruces and throughout the state through streaming. His e-mail address is michael@swickard.com.