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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Off Topic Discussion  |  Where are the Jobs? « previous next »
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Author Topic: Where are the Jobs?  (Read 4469 times)
Mortal Envelope
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« on: November 23, 2007, 03:45:12 PM »

I'm not sure if this issue is definitely regional-specific, but my particular State is having some issues with a lack of decent jobs.  Many of my peers (including myself) are having a difficult time obtaining a job worth having...to the point where leaving might be the only option. 

I myself am having a difficult time finding work in my trade (and I have 10+ years experience) ...simply because there's so much competition for the very few jobs that are left.  I'm not too worried about myself really as I am getting calls and sometimes an interview, but it seems I'm going to have to take a cut in pay (again).  It just keeps going down...and for a college-educated person with a decade of experience and student loans, that just doesn't make me feel all that great.  Although I have confidence I will land the right job soon but I feel bad for others who aren't as lucky as I am.

I feel worse for some of my friends and family; a whole group of guys I know are now unemployed since their job up and left for Mexico's cheap labor and lax safety regulations.  And their company isn't the only one.  Everywhere else seems to be laying off, having a hiring and/or wage freeze, or worse, the places are shutting down completely.

At least a few of those guys are doing the right thing by jumping into a secondary school/vocational training program to migrate to different jobs but they're learning real quick via guest speakers that after graduation, they're going to have to take a serious cut in pay, to the point that McDonalds might be competitive.  And there's just something wrong with that I think.  I know a lot of guys are joining the military for lack of any other employment, but that's not really an option for everyone.

I'm not one to play the blame game or anything but this is starting to concern me when the local towns (in my area) are just turning into slums...all the businesses are closing, lots and buildings become vacant and overgrown with weeds, and the culture has seemed to disappear. 

Sorry about the rant but...after months of unemployment (or more accurately months and months of underemployment) ya tend to get a little worried.  Like I said, I'm not so worried about myself in the long run; I'll be fine... I always find a way, but I don't see that as a possibility for everyone in my community...and I guess that's why I'm ranting.

Is anyone else experiencing the same problem in their community? 
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Zapranoth
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« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2007, 02:13:32 PM »

I'm curious, Mortal -- which state are you in?  You're three hours ahead of me, so that's Eastern time somewhere (I'm in Washington state).

Our economy here is reasonably strong, and not beholden to any one industry, and I'm fortunate to work in an industry that has great demand (health care).   But on the other hand, one of my very best friends (known him since I was four) and his wife live in Detroit.   Talk about economic problems!  Many of my childhood friends in Michigan are experiencing what you describe.  The Big Three auto makers are tanking.  (Tanking.  Losing eight to 10 percent in a quarter, several quarters in a row!)  Many of the people in my friend's neighborhood are "upside down" on their home mortgages (ie, owe $150,000 on the mortgage but the house is only worth $100,000, and you can't even sell it for that because everyone else is in the same boat and 30 houses in your square 1/2 mile are for sale). 

They want to leave, in a financial sense, because their jobs (HR work and warehouse management) are auto infrastructure jobs, and no one can get a lateral or even close to lateral move in their job market.  But his wife's family is there, his mother in law has cancer, and they're staying...   So I worry for them.    Not for myself, because I'll have to be honest, I've been blessed with a lot of apparent security.  But people I grew up with are experiencing what you describe.
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flackbait
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« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2007, 09:52:21 PM »

Yeah it's pretty bad in Michigan. Property is high and all the factory jobs are leaving the state so there gos a bunch of jobs right of the bat. I'm still in college so I don't have to worry about anything more than temporary work. But I know plenty of my highschool friends that are having a tough time finding jobs.
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Mortal Envelope
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« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2007, 11:21:09 AM »

Well I didn't want to be too specific about location but let's just say that Detroit isn't all that far away.  Let's just settle with the Great Lakes region.  Yes a great many jobs here rely on the auto industry as well - funny how the ripple effect can nail everyone.  If it weren't for Honda the folks around here wouldn't have anything at all.  And there's almost nothing in the IT field in these parts...not anymore at least.

This economic slump seems to be the case with most people I know - what you describe that is, especially regarding real estate.  I guess in my case I'm lucky I've pretty much stuck to renting, although that definitely has its drawbacks.  Luckily, my family owns their own property without the problems most others are having but they are the lucky few.

I'm figuring I will have to leave if I don't want to compete for minimum wage service sector jobs (not that there's anything wrong with those; it's just the fact that it just won't pay the bills).  And I'm discovering the option of relocating is a real pain in the arse, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Sorry to hear about your friend's family and especially cancer!  I totally understand not just being able to up and leave due to family that depends on ya.  I'm in somewhat of a similar situation.

I'm hoping things will change in my region soon, for the overall community but it's not looking that way.

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Yaddo 42
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« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2007, 11:18:33 PM »

After years of a slump (NAFTA killed us wiping out the textile jobs), the job market in my part of Alabama is picking up. We've gotten a few new factories (a big and expanding tissue plant) and two more, a Japanese owned headlight manufacturing plant and a Canadian owned boxcar facility, are in the process of being built. It does trouble me that these are foreign owned companies locaint her rather than American companies.

It's a mixed bag though, while there are more jobs being created here, the pay is nothing special compared to toher parts of the country. You can live here on less, but these new jobs will not create the huge influx of money that some are promising. Even with the inevitable spinoff jobs and smaller industries, people will not make the kind of money that can be made in Huntsville or Birmingham, or in the foreign auto plants that have come to other parts of the South.

Personally, I'm about ready to try my lot in Huntsville, as people have been suggesting to me for a while. The new jobs here are mostly non-union factory jobs, the boxcar plant will need LOTS of welders, I could probably learn the skills needed if necessary, the local community college really got behind the project due to their training programs, but I think that kind of work would drive me mad. I went to college for something outside that realm, what I've been doing isn't that far from straight factory work (my new job kind of straddles the line), and I'm sick of it. It can be good work, and good people do it, my father did, but he grew tired of it and wanted out, he died before he could. I don't want that for myself. If I had a family to support it my priorities would be different, but I'm not at that place in life yet.

I have no wife and kids, a relationship I had hopes would bloom isn't, I've held myself back for too long (personal mess I'm finally getting a handle on it seems), and my interest and abilities seem at odds with the way this area is headed. It may be time to move on.  Huntsville is growing even more due to high tech industry and civilian contractor jobs as a result of the military's base realignment program. It would be a good place to start, if I can find a good job I'm suited to further away I'll go.
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Torgo
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« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2007, 11:49:05 PM »

I'm doing fairly good and have been at my current job for about 7 1/2 years now. I'll be making about 35k a year after my next raise in March and that is after starting off at only a little under 20k a year when I started.

My only vice is that I've got more credit card debt than I should have now. I'm trying to hold off getting a 2nd job but I'm tired of doing well getting by and want to really get ahead and I think that a 2nd job would be the only way to do that. I would probably only have to do part time though and not another full time job. My house payment is only 621 a month and my car payment is 358 a month though I only just have a little under 2 years left on that.

But my credit card bill is much larger than I would like it to be and I'm trying to figure out a way to take care of it.   
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Zapranoth
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« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2007, 01:29:46 AM »


None of us in my family was ever tied to the auto industry.  We lived near Lansing, my parents both worked in academia, and we farmed some too... so we didn't really have any ups or downs from Big Auto (but we borrowed money in the eighties, and ask a farmer how that was!) 

But I know guys who worked for plants that were closed, guys who work for "drone for the state" type jobs just to keep themselves into some kind of retirement future, and plenty of guys who just moved out. 

I don't know enough about economics to know what the answer is, for Michigan.  I think it starts with the auto industry regaining touch with what consumers want these days, and learning to make that.  But that's a slow thing to turn around, I do know that much.

I did not mean to come across as nosy, Mortal.    I'm grateful, frankly, not to be living near Michigan anymore, simply so that I don't have to find my way through the mess with some of my childhood friends. 

Torgo, had you considered paying the flat fee to transfer to a zero percent card?  When your interest is high enough that trick can pay off, if you can make payments before you acquire an interest rate again.  A friend of mine in college did that for a year.  He called himself "Plastic Man."  ;)  But it did get him out of a lot of interest paid.
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CheezeFlixz
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« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2007, 01:51:56 AM »

Quote
Torgo, had you considered paying the flat fee to transfer to a zero percent card?  When your interest is high enough that trick can pay off, if you can make payments before you acquire an interest rate again.  A friend of mine in college did that for a year.  He called himself "Plastic Man."  ;)  But it did get him out of a lot of interest paid.

The down side to that is every credit inquiry hurts your overall credit score by as much as 20-40 points per, and a low credit score effect your chance of getting a favorable rate on major purchases such as cars and houses, which can cost you more over 30 years than you save doing the rate juggle. It can also trigger the onset of higher rates on other CC your may have. The best thing you can do if you have CC debit is your a home equity loan to pay them off as the interest is tax deductible on those or if you rent then bite the bullet and pay them down as fast as you can. You can also renegotiate for lower rates,  CC companies don't want you to pay them off, so offer to pay off the card and close the account and provided you have a good score and the funds to really do it, they'll often offer a lower rate for you not to do that. Remember everything is negotiable, everything.
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The Burgomaster
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« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2007, 07:49:20 PM »

You can also renegotiate for lower rates. Remember everything is negotiable, everything.

This is 100% accurate.  I recently called 2 credit card companies and told them to cancel my cards.  When they asked why, I told them the interest rates were too high.  Both companies immediately offered to lower the interest rates.  One of them even credited me for my previous 2 months worth of interest.  Seriously, if you just call them, they will lower their rates.
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Zapranoth
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« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2007, 09:10:55 PM »

Quote
Torgo, had you considered paying the flat fee to transfer to a zero percent card?  When your interest is high enough that trick can pay off, if you can make payments before you acquire an interest rate again.  A friend of mine in college did that for a year.  He called himself "Plastic Man."  ;)  But it did get him out of a lot of interest paid.

The down side to that is every credit inquiry hurts your overall credit score by as much as 20-40 points per, and a low credit score effect your chance of getting a favorable rate on major purchases such as cars and houses, which can cost you more over 30 years than you save doing the rate juggle. It can also trigger the onset of higher rates on other CC your may have. The best thing you can do if you have CC debit is your a home equity loan to pay them off as the interest is tax deductible on those or if you rent then bite the bullet and pay them down as fast as you can. You can also renegotiate for lower rates,  CC companies don't want you to pay them off, so offer to pay off the card and close the account and provided you have a good score and the funds to really do it, they'll often offer a lower rate for you not to do that. Remember everything is negotiable, everything.

Don't think my friend the neurosurgeon in residency cares about those points now.  =)  But your point is true and well taken.  Especially the part about the rate being negotiable. 

I would contest the use of a HELOC to pay off credit cards, though, without looking at it carefully.  If you do the math and the interest deducted from taxes, plus the lower rate, plus fees... ...  add up to a savings, yeah, agree there.  But if the rate is variable on the HELOC, would think again.   We paid 10% of our house in a HELOC to avoid mortgage tax (could not manage a 20% down payment) and then the rate on that sucker went up a few points.  Needless to say we paid it off as fast as possible, as it became our highest-interest debt..


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Torgo
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« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2007, 09:24:44 PM »

Well, I found out today that I paid 80k for my house but it's worth about 110k now and I could refinance with almost the same fixed rate as I've got now, consolidate all my debt, close everything out credit card wise and save up the money that I would be saving per month.

I might go that route at some point soon. 
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CheezeFlixz
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« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2007, 09:37:12 PM »

Quote
I would contest the use of a HELOC to pay off credit cards, though, without looking at it carefully.  If you do the math and the interest deducted from taxes, plus the lower rate, plus fees... ...  add up to a savings, yeah, agree there.  But if the rate is variable on the HELOC, would think again.   We paid 10% of our house in a HELOC to avoid mortgage tax (could not manage a 20% down payment) and then the rate on that sucker went up a few points.  Needless to say we paid it off as fast as possible, as it became our highest-interest debt..

If you are going to be in your house less then 5 years you are better getting a variable rate, if longer fixed. It is unwise to refinance unless you can realize a 2% reduction in your APR. HEL depending on the amount, your credit rating and a number of other factors can vary in the rate you can get, on average in my area the average HOL rate is about 8% and on fixed rate 1st, <6%. Again this depends on factors of risk, the lower the risk the bank/lender feels you are the lower the rate.
True if you can not manage 20% down you will either have to take a 2nd or carry mortgage insurance. However, you can in a progressive market which are far and few between right now, get a new appraisal which can reduce your mortgage to <80%, but this does require a refinance but you avoid mort. ins.
It really comes down to how creative you can be, a good banker on your side can do some real magic.
Banks now are going to be far more selective in who they gives loans too in the wake of this latest banking upset to do bad loans and upside down markets in some areas of the country. If you have the money buy right now, pickin's are ripe for deals.
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