The unemployment numbers are on the rise, where is the outrage?It is depressing to have to report that the most recent unemployment numbers are showing that right now, there are officially 14,087,000 Americans that are unemployed. According to the Labor Department, unemployment is increasing, rather than going down as expected. The jobless rate for June soared to 9.2%.
My question, and many other peoples, is where is the outrage? How can this many unemployed people be virtually invisible?
It seems as though if you aren't unemployed, you may not even be aware of the fact that we are in the worst job crisis since the
Great Depression. 14 million people are out of work and the news is more concerned with the budget deficit and gay marriage.
If you are one of the unlucky 14 million who are out of work though, it could take, on average, 9 months to
find a new job. For some people, it can take significantly longer and there are even more people who have just given up.
In other parts of the world, the jobless have taken to the streets, had protests and have put pressure on their governments to help them find work. Here in America, it's a completely different scenario. Here, the unemployed are seemingly quiet and resigned.
If you look at the situation from a purely political standpoint, the majority of voters are employed and since the 9.2 percent of the population without jobs haven't been uniting or creating any real pressure, there isn't much incentive to do anything to help the problem. In fact, according to the experts, they aren't voting either. In 2010, 46 percent of people who were employed voted while only 35 percent of the unemployed voted. This isn't anything new, in fact, it was the same turnout in 2008.
Our current situation is a far cry from the riots and revolt that occurred during the Great Depression. Americans used to be quick to protest and periods of high unemployment were viewed as breeding grounds for revolution. Have people simply given up or become apathetic?
I don't think it's either. In times past, labor organizers and socialists were quick to sow the seeds of dissent among groups of unemployed and poor people. Back then, revolutionaries and labor organizers along with hundreds of jobless people could gather together in bread lines, unemployment lines and wait in welfare offices for hours and days on end. As they waited and grew more frustrated, they were able to talk with each other and with organizers and plan meetings. These days, most unemployment claims and even public assistance is handled online or over the phone.
In addition, many people who are unemployed feel ashamed. They believe that it must be something they did wrong that caused this to happen to them, even when they were laid off through no fault of their own. When people are depressed, they aren't as willing to want to organize or ask others to join with them.
However, with the rise of social media, there is a new community of unemployed that is growing. Groups like
Working America and
UCubed have been reaching out to the jobless online and trying to organize and get people working together to help solve the problem.
For now, it seems that the 14 million unemployed are willing to wait it out patiently and keep working toward finding a job. However, it is important to remember that it took awhile for people to organize and become mobilized during the Great Depression as well. It was only after several years of disappointment and frustration that people became willing to put pressure on the government.
So, if you are one of the 14 million, just know that you aren't alone. Accepting help and talking about your situation doesn't mean admitting weakness or confessing your shortcomings. There are so many people in the exact same situation, from all walks of life. Bankers who used to make six figures a year are cashing unemployment checks, people who had great factory jobs are having to leave their families in order to work out of town and sleep in their cars so that they can save money and come home on the weekends. People have lost their jobs, lost their homes in foreclosure or have been evicted from their apartments. They have been forced to move in with family, live in shelters or look for low cost housing that doesn't require credit checks.
You aren't alone.
Do you think that the unemployed should work together? Why do you think that there isn't much attention to the rising unemployment rates? Let me know in the comments.
