tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19982658080796774832024-02-21T08:20:41.680-08:00The state of UN EmploymentThe trials and tribulations of a (formerly) unemployed citizen in the state of California.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-15441628530163486822021-09-11T18:26:00.002-07:002021-09-11T18:26:36.029-07:00Where’s my unemployment check?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXSBfk3kKKubLb5ZXFK9kUFwoxrVqMmISkGVil-vERIGqj1xXH-z8TP1luvTpO6luoVvuoinryfb0sioEZnJ2DZsfWJRVtGDvU7ypAUvrr3mmMke-f3zongM3fDvvVoZbUh-JEGb6AaVw/s1920/unemployment-check.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXSBfk3kKKubLb5ZXFK9kUFwoxrVqMmISkGVil-vERIGqj1xXH-z8TP1luvTpO6luoVvuoinryfb0sioEZnJ2DZsfWJRVtGDvU7ypAUvrr3mmMke-f3zongM3fDvvVoZbUh-JEGb6AaVw/w640-h360/unemployment-check.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Where’s my money?<div><br /></div><div>I imagine one of the most asked questions being asked by state unemployment agencies these days. Where’s my money? Why haven’t I gotten my unemployment check yet?</div><div><br /></div><div>How do you even find an answer to that?</div><div><br /></div><div>It depends on state by state and, honestly, how well that state is handling the COVID unemployment crisis. In California, it can take days (yes days) to get a live person on the phone. That’s with calling, sitting on hold, day in and day out. The solution? Keep calling. If you leave a message, it still just as long for someone to call you back, if they call you back.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some say Newsom botched this. That it was his ball to drop and he did. That’s what Larry Elder would have you think, at least. He wants Gavin Newsom’s job because of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t either of the two will be all they helpful with finding your unemployment check. It’s just the way it is today in the state of unemployment.
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0California, USA36.778261 -119.41793248.4680271638211551 -154.57418239999998 65.088494836178853 -84.2616824tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-82535789439495946282021-09-05T15:01:00.003-07:002021-09-05T15:01:34.816-07:00California Unemployment Benefits Expiring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Word on the street is that unemployment benefits are expiring soon. Ironic it just after Labor Day. This is on the heels of the nationwide eviction moratorium ending, too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Out of work and nowhere to live—only in America. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The irony is that this is an induced issue. We, as a nation, did it to ourselves. I get it for all the reasons why. COVID-19, quarantine, failure of leadership when it mattered and a lot of bad decisions after the fact. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So now what? Going back to work and risking exposure seems to make the most sense. But have you had an exposure scare, yet? That’s what going back to work means. It means going back into a labor market with no more protection than a two-dose vaccine and everything still to lose.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Is it that grim? Probably not. At least more than half of us are vaccinated. But, for those not vaxed and just “pretending” to be… </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They’re the ones we must watch out for. They’re the ones to worry about in this depressed labor market.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you’re losing your unemployment and the stimmy money is all gone, I wish you luck. Really best of luck to you. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh, and vote no on the recall. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-12640834309186403082019-08-19T19:38:00.003-07:002019-08-20T18:24:19.942-07:002021 RecessionSo, the prognosticating bean counters have put their collective fingers on a date for the next (not so great) recession.<br />
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Are you ready for it? You thought about it when the <a href="https://thestateofunemployment.blogspot.com/2019/08/dow-drops-by-1000.html">Dow dropped by 1000 points</a> the other day, right?<br />
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Me neither, at least I don't think I am.<br />
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But, if the collective consciousness of the financial world is right, then its just about time the new man comes around. Just like when Obama came into office the last time.<br />
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I don't think the yield curve lies.<br />
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<div style="padding-bottom: calc(100.00% + 44px); position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/UnderstatedThirdHarpseal" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<a href="https://gfycat.com/understatedthirdharpseal">via Gfycat</a><br />
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It's coming, the recession is coming. You need to get ready for the next state of unemployment.<br />
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I don't think our leadership is ready for it. The stock market isn't ready for it. Neither is the healthcare industry.<br />
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<b>What was important during the last recession?</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Keeping Healthcare</li>
<li>Keeping steady work</li>
<li>Paying for a roof over your head</li>
<li>making sure there was enough</li>
<li>tightening the belt when there wasn't</li>
<li>Fixing things</li>
<li>Home food</li>
</ul>
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<br />
<b>What wasn't important in the last recession?</b><br />
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<ul>
<li>Paying credit card bills</li>
<li>Wasting money on movies and entertainment</li>
<li>New cloths</li>
<li>New TVs</li>
<li>New Cars</li>
<li>Eating out</li>
</ul>
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You have to set your priorities and get ready for it.<br />
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How do you prepare?<br />
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<ul>
<li>Save your money</li>
<li>Get more education</li>
<li>payoff what you can.</li>
</ul>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-24218025096594207942019-08-05T19:32:00.001-07:002019-08-19T19:43:38.342-07:00Jonnie LawDid I really just see a commercial for <a href="http://justfired.com/">justfired.com</a>?<br />
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I wonder how much money a law firm makes just chasing terminations. It's gotta be some amount of scratch.<br />
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I remember my first time on Jury Duty, I sat on a wrongful termination case. It was a civil case, so we didn't need a unanimous agreement, but we still needed some kind of consensus. It ended after four days of deliberation and no verdict, which spooked the term'd employee so he settled.<br />
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Crazy, I know.<br />
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I don't know what the take away is, but I know I'd never like to be in that guys position. I think I'd probably look for a settlement, straight out of the gate, which may be what justfired.com is looking for.<br />
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Crazy.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-42003636192625498572019-08-05T19:22:00.000-07:002019-08-05T19:22:15.195-07:00Dow drops by 1000So is this it? Is this the tipping of the domino that brings down the rest?<br />
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A drop of 1000 isn't the beginning of the end by it feel like it did last time. 2009 started with a drop that didn't end for about 3 years.<br />
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Terrifying.<br />
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Have you done anything to insulate yourself from the next one? Or are you like the rest of us and just looking for the bullets to dodge?<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-12644779699582431862019-08-02T18:38:00.001-07:002019-08-02T18:38:25.058-07:00The Next RecessionIs it dramatic to worry about the next recession?<br />
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I mean, we all know one's coming. The question is when.<br />
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We seem to run in 10 year cycles with up and downs in the economy--the stock market goes up, the stock market goes down. There are winners and there are losers. So what do you do when it happens to you?<br />
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It's morbid, I know, but just think, there's a whole generation of people, fresh and bright eyed in the job market who HAVEN'T experienced the horror of an economic down turn. Many of those kids are neck deep in the gig economy, doing high attention work for low wage incomes. It may not seem like now, but nobody I know is getting rich on driving an Uber or doing Doordash to bring a Taco Bell taco to someone too lazy to get up and get it themselves.<br />
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And don't even get me started on Amazon, hiring people to pick-up and deliver packages like a hive of ants, competing for the ability to get a little bit of work. They use their own car and their own insurance, for what, a barely minimum wage income?<br />
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So much for bringing jobs back from overseas. They're back, but as AI makes doing the work more "efficient" they're not worth much.<br />
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So where do you stand in the shadow of the next looming recession? Are you in a position to weather it?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-82721828074088168632019-08-02T18:29:00.000-07:002019-08-20T18:22:14.333-07:00Which Insurance?What kind of insurance do you get when you're laid off or unemployed?<br />
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If you're laid off, you can get COBRA insurance (maybe). If you quit, or just unemployed, then you end up with Affordable Care, better known as Obama Care.<br />
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The irony, as we hurtle headlong into this <a href="https://thestateofunemployment.blogspot.com/2019/07/uber-lyft-or-bust.html">gig economy</a> is that more and more people are going to end up not having any insurance at all and end up on the ACA (if it's still around) or no insurance at all and just rely on hospital ERs as the last ditch hail-mary to stave off what ever illness creeps up pit of nowhere.<br />
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So, which insurance are we better off with?<br />
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I'm really enamored with the idea of a single payer. A social medicaid or social medicare. Why not have an American public NIH type of insurance where everyone is covered and doesn't have to worry about what they'll do when they get sick or need minor (or major) medical attention.<br />
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It makes more sense than setting up a system where people have to rely on the charity of hospitals to see and treat them in the ER.<br />
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What kind of insurance do you have?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-73553083381998983532019-07-17T20:13:00.000-07:002019-08-20T18:18:46.910-07:00Uber, Lyft or Bust<br />
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It’s hard to say what’s worth it, but I suppose when you’re unemployed and trying to make some money, working for a soon to be downsized driving service to rack up a bunch of extra miles on your car is the way to go. <br />
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I mean who not drive for Uber or Lyft, right? I suppose one could be a Byrd charger. That’s a thing, right?<br />
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It’s a super hard decision to opt into the gig economy and pick a company to drive for maybe that’s why so many people drive for both. <br />
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I’ll be honest, it’s a decision I don’t want to have to make any time soon. hopefully your not in the same boat and having to find some supplemental employment to make ends meet. It’s a drag when you get a pink slip or riff’d or what ever you call it when you get laid off from a good paying job. <br />
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But, why worry about it when we’re in the <a href="https://thestateofunemployment.blogspot.com/2019/08/2021-recession.html">strongest economy</a> we’ve ever seen, right?<br />
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I worry about it every day. Remind me to tell you what happened way back in 2009. The situations changed, but the fear still haven’t gone away, <br />
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But I’m finally doing something about it.<br />
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So which would you choose to drive for? Uber? Lyft? Or would you just give them both the Byrd and charge scooters for a few bucks? Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-324979317178883692009-02-05T05:21:00.000-08:002019-07-17T20:18:33.715-07:00The COBRAI think I get why they call if COBRA insurance... <br />
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Because it wants to constrict how much you can use it by because it costs so much. <br />
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I know, I should be a comedian.<br />
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I wonder if it woudl be cheaper or just more humane for companies to offer to extend your previous health insurance under your old plan. Make it like a 401k where you can just role it over to a new plan, and not go through the hassle of signing up for new doctors, new providers, and all the other junk...<br />
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I mean, can it be much harder to muck up our health system to make us think were getting a lot until we need a lot? <br />
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Ok, I'm bitching now... What do want from me, I've been home for a week with neurotic dog all day...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-32155365060928701442009-02-04T07:19:00.000-08:002019-07-17T20:16:12.966-07:00Which donut?If only it were so easy to pick... I think I'd of eaten my paperwork...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZ_gPmByVaHgArO2kN1xvS5mlnhlRUfkFhz2FQdkdDybtMqpWXlgLM_SDI0oVbyZrYtkHBuWdLesXqu8McNsCmZnBldp_HJaFXlwH6v4Y5Kg75j9diEENKI2UKq6IykFn5Y6-Jiv2P-z6/s1600/donuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1050" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZ_gPmByVaHgArO2kN1xvS5mlnhlRUfkFhz2FQdkdDybtMqpWXlgLM_SDI0oVbyZrYtkHBuWdLesXqu8McNsCmZnBldp_HJaFXlwH6v4Y5Kg75j9diEENKI2UKq6IykFn5Y6-Jiv2P-z6/s640/donuts.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
One of the things I missed most after I was laid off was the ever present, beautifully colored box of donuts.<br />
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Yum.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-60665872421591048452009-02-02T04:12:00.000-08:002009-02-02T04:12:00.850-08:00A little JadedDid anyone else read the news that there were gogin to be more layoffs. <br /><br />Is that such a surprise, or is it more Pollyanna to think that things are getting better?<br /><br />Yikes, I'm sounded jaded, and its to early to be so jaded... SO JADED. <br /><br />Maybe a little is ok.<br /><br />I did hear an interesting tid bit on the local <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Are-You-on-the-Layoff-List.html">news</a> that the California state EDD posts what employers project for upcoming layoffs. I'm not really sure why they post it, something to the effect that they need to make announcement to their employees the impending layoffs so they can have a chance to look for work, but what employer in their right CEO mind would announce to his workforce that their laying people off?<br /><br />Well, if your reading this at work give the CA site a look-see if your company is in the cut waiting for the axe.<br /><br />California WARN - <a href="http://www.edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/Layoff_Services_WARN.htm#ListingofWARNNotices">EDD layoff notices</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-69588135364026712852009-01-31T00:00:00.001-08:002009-01-31T00:02:35.532-08:00end of week 1Well, its been a week... <br /><br />I think my expectations are a little out of wack in expecting to actually hear something back from a prospective employer already. I started this as a catharsis project that ended up being more of a downer to address it head on.<br /><br />Maybe that's more to the issue of avoidance I suppose. <br /><br />So goes the state of unemployment.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-59142145141788668662009-01-26T03:09:00.000-08:002019-07-17T20:18:05.700-07:00This is so true...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4ERUaeZKXvY40YnIX3djL-Xhv_i6Uq10rexNYThUcz-y_S-E80CSYy_TnP3uXDrpR5eh6iCva71AEGwA5Lwwm9rmFXqhLmg-JNPeZih0IiGIMWSomQIycnrVOBt7ezjrh0sC2M4ZizHL/s1600-h/6a00d83451f25369e200e550a3267e8834-800wi.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295310562973714658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4ERUaeZKXvY40YnIX3djL-Xhv_i6Uq10rexNYThUcz-y_S-E80CSYy_TnP3uXDrpR5eh6iCva71AEGwA5Lwwm9rmFXqhLmg-JNPeZih0IiGIMWSomQIycnrVOBt7ezjrh0sC2M4ZizHL/s1600/6a00d83451f25369e200e550a3267e8834-800wi.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>It really does feel like this... the idea of getting up for work, getting dressed, and then not realizing there is no more work to go to...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1998265808079677483.post-58576529171192258582009-01-25T09:26:00.000-08:002009-01-25T11:05:38.861-08:00The pink slip...I have to admit, I was disappointed my layoff notice wasn't pink.<br /><br />I had always thought they came as the third page behind a stark white, deep goldenrod, and institutional green copy... but no pink.<br /><br />I joined the astute cadre of my brothers and sisters in California who have been added to the rising legions of the slowing US economy in 2009. A late 30 something man, a working parent, with a house, a wife, 2 cars, 2 kids, a dog and a cat, and now... no job.<br /><br />It didn't come as a shock, the publishing industry is on a decline, advertising sales have been on the decline, and when you mix those two elements together with the largest automotive enthusiast magazine publisher in America its not good. As the auto industry and economy go, so goes the media that reports on them.<br /><br />But, this isn't about the old job, they had to make a business decision.<br /><br />So, as of Monday, January 26th, 2009 I will have been officially released from my position as a Brand Development and Product Manager with the unnamed publishing company. (I have to say unnamed because of the waiver they want me to sign recieve my 5 weeks of severance.)<br /><br />So, as I'm sure like many of you out there, if you should stumble on this blog, this is just my journey into the abyss of being in the state of Unenployment.<br /><br />I'll take you through my states of accepting whats happened... there is a funny story behind it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0