A sign at a fast-food restaurant in Lilburn deemed worthy of a double take the other day. “Hiring for assistant mgmt.,” it stated.
It made me think of Bob Hanson. Remember him? His story appeared in this space a year or so ago. He’s a 63-year-old white male who has been unemployed for some time. He has concentrated his job search on transportation and logistics because that’s where his training, experience and expertise lay. In this tight job market, though, it has been tough going and, to borrow a journalistic cliché: This UGA grad and Loganville native isn’t alone.
“My next-door neighbor is also out of work and has been for nine months now,” he wrote in an email. “A man who attends church where I do just this week got a job for $9 an hour in Monroe, where he lives. He has two college degrees and this is a temp-to-hire job.
“If it were not only about five miles from his home he couldn’t afford to take the job as gasoline expense to, say, Atlanta would eat up whatever he earned. There are others in the same situation, but these are the two who come to mind.”
Hanson has applied for about 400 jobs (“I think the actual count is 388, but not certain,” he told me). He’s had roughly a dozen interviews and a few telephone calls to answer résumé questions.
His unemployment runs dry in late September, as far as he can surmise. A relative, thankfully, helps him out financially, but that can’t continue forever.
Naturally, he’s at his wit’s end, but keeps moving, keeps inquiring, keeps searching for what has become elusive for too many people in a country where opportunity used to be guaranteed.
One wonders how Hanson and others in his predicament keep their spirits lifted.
“Most times I don’t,” he said. “You have no idea how depressing it is to know you’ve been out of work for a year and eight months, applied for nearly 400 jobs, and are absolutely no closer to employment than you were on Nov. 3, 2009.”
In Washington, Republican and Democratic party officials talk big about putting America back to work. About how their ideas will, or have, stimulated the economy and lessened the impact of a national economic and financial nightmare. One can’t help but wonder if the idea is to keep the economy in the toilet. Let the people, let Hanson and others in his plight, struggle.
One idea that should enrage us all is this notion that businesses won’t hire because they are uncertain about President Barack Obama’s stand on taxes.
I’ve yet to see any study, survey or even anecdotal proof that shows that taxes dictate a businesses growth or expansion as it relates to hiring. Big businesses aren’t hiring because top executives are clinging to profit, enjoying bonuses and working the few remaining employees on staff to the bone.
That’s the real world and, right now, it’s Hanson’s.
Rick Badie, an Opinion columnist, is based in Gwinnett. Reach him at rbadie@ajc.com or 770-263-3875.
About the Author
