Job listings say the unemployed need not apply

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/job-listings-unemployed-not-apply-133143362.html

Job listings say the unemployed need not apply
By Liz Goodwin

National Affairs Reporter

PostsEmailRSSBy Liz Goodwin | The Lookout – Tue, Jul 26, 2011

An unemployed Nebraska man searches for jobs (AP)
Hundreds of job opening listings posted on Monster.com and other jobs sites explicitly state that people who are unemployed would be less attractive applicants, with some telling the long-term unemployed to not even bother with applying.

The New York Times' Catherine Rampell said she found preferences for the already employed or only recently laid off in listings for "hotel concierges, restaurant managers, teachers, I.T. specialists, business analysts, sales directors, account executives, orthopedics device salesmen, auditors and air-conditioning technicians." Even the massive University of Phoenix stated that preference, but removed the listings when the Times started asking questions.

The concerted shunning of unemployed Americans by prospective employers was a common theme that cropped up in the thousands of responses that poured in when we asked Yahoo! readers to share their experiences of unemployment for our "Down But Not Out" series.


Reader Susan W. said she was being treated "as if it were my fault I was unemployed, regardless of the fact that I had put out hundreds of resumes and applications."

Legal experts told the Times that explicitly barring unemployed people from applying does not qualify under the statutory definition of discrimination, since unemployment is not a federally protected status like age or race. But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently set out to establish whether employers were discriminating against certain protected groups because they are overrepresented in the ranks of the unemployed, such as African-American and older workers. (We covered that meeting here.) New Jersey recently passed a law barring employment ads that seek to rule out applications from those who are unemployed.

Even if the practice of weeding out unemployed applicants doesn't fit the legal definition of discrimination, it sure feels unfair for the more than 6.3 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months to be told they are automatically disqualified for the few openings that are out there. "I feel like I am being shunned by our entire society," Kelly Wiedemer, an unemployed information technology specialist, told the Times.

 

Isn't that illegal? Someones gonna get sued

 

Nope. It isn't illegal, because the unemployed are not a "protected class" under the law. :-(

 

God Bless America. She can always find a way to make your life worse.

 

That's so wrong. How are they suppose to find work?

 

Apparently, they're supposed to starve to death if our government's response to high unemployment is any guide.

The idea behind this is if you're long term unemployed, your skills are out of date, or you were cut loose early in the recession because you suck. Employers wont start picking up on those people until the economy turns around, and there's such a low rate of unemployment that workers actually matter to them again. :-(

 

It's a Catch-22...they have a VERY little chance of getting work.

 

starbucks is always hiring...stores are always hiring...restaurants are always hiring...landscaping is a huge summer business...grocery stores are always hiring...etc

there is no damn good reason for people to be unemployed unless they are just not willing to work...at least do something...i think people have gotten lazy...collecting unemployment and thinking that their exact same job at the exact same pay is going to like magic appear for them...it's time to get a reality check on unemployment

lippy is fresh out of sympathy...

 

Wow and what's sad is so many think the way you do. Supermarkets hire people but now a lot of jobs are following the walmart method where they hire you part time to avoid giving benefits. You're better off staying unemployed in hopes of finding another job and getting benefits. Jobs are very tough to come by right now but as this problem continues I guess its easier to blame the unemployed. Smh.

 

Get ready for the crime wave its gonna be a tsunami.

 

And the people we can blame...would be the businesses who simply won't put more effort into hiring people.

 

They don't have to and that's the bottom line. It's fucking sad but will change for free.

 

They hold the damn cards to the future of this country. I DO suspect a lot more foul play than that.

 

I just heard the death rattle for this country. I mean, I knew it intellectually, but this story hit me hard!

 

i see your point but for someone that works for a small business what i see is that for my company to offer us insurance costs them alot of money...they can't afford to bring on too many salried FT employees because they co-pay all of our benefits...so we do hire quite a few employees at just under 30 hours a week...blame it on healthcare in the usa

i will also tell you that i feel like the position i offer is a holdover to those people finding FT work...it sucks for me to constantly be interviewing, hiring, training only to have them be discovered by another company...here is the thing though, because they are working is how they get recruited by other companies...if i can offer them a launch pad to FT employment i am always happy to see people i work with become successful...

there is something to be said for active employment while seeking another position...

 

Except that there are currently 5 people out of work for every job available.

 

http://www.newdeal20.org/2011/07/27/higher-profits-and-lower-wages-are-no-mistake-52933/

Higher Profits and Lower Wages are No Mistake
Wednesday, 07/27/2011 - 2:16 pm by Bryce Covert | 2 Comments
Businesses have found ways to squeeze workers and boost the bottom line.
This week’s credit check: Profit margins for the S&P 500 have increased by 1.3% from 2000-2007. 53% of workers recently reported taking on new roles, while only 7% got a bonus or a raise.
I recently pointed out that the so-called recovery is mostly a corporate recovery, while the average American is actually faring worse in terms of income. It turns out that this is no accident. Corporate profits are up, in many cases, because wages are down.
In its July 11 edition of its Eyes On The Market investor report, JP Morgan reports that profit margins for the S&P 500 have increased by 1.3% from 2000-2007. This is a level “not seen in decades.” How has this amazing feat been accomplished? The report puts it plainly: “reductions in wages and benefits explain the majority of the net improvement in margins.” And as Zaid Jilani notes at ThinkProgress, “[T]he JP Morgan report explains this behavior taking place between 2000 and 2007, meaning that it began long before the Great Recession.” He also points out that this section ends with the statement, “US labor compensation is now at a 50-year low relative to both company sales and US GDP.” USA! USA!
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Another way companies are squeezing workers to boost profits? The Great American Speedup. Catherine Rampell reports in the NYTimes that hours worked have outpaced household income for traditional families. So even though median wages for two-parent families have grown 23% since 1975, the hours they worked over the course of a year have grown by 26%. This is part of the trend Mother Jones spotted just this month: Americans overall are working harder without getting more pay. The article reports, “Americans now put in an average of 122 more hours per year than Brits, and 378 hours (nearly 10 weeks!) more than Germans.” Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal picked up on a recent Spherion Staffing survey that showed workers taking on more tasks during the recession without anything in return. In the survey, 53% of workers reported taking on new roles, while only 7% said they got a bonus or a raise. Even if this practice began before the recession, the dismal job market isn’t giving workers any leverage to protest when companies drop more work into their laps with no compensation.
It comes as no shock, then, that the IMF’s annual assessment of the US economy highlighted how difficult the recovery has been for consumers. On the one hand, it notes, “Financial conditions have improved, particularly for large firms that face favorable bond financing terms… On the bright side, exports and the performance of businesses and the financial sector have improved significantly.” But on the other, “Housing and labor markets have been the weakest links,” and “the current recovery has been held back by significant adverse feedback loops between housing, consumption, and employment.” In other words, Wall Street’s humming along while consumers struggle through.
Despite all of these odds, Americans are trying desperately to get away from credit card debt. Although credit cards have acted as a safety net for families with stagnating wages, in the wake of the credit bubble burst we’re paying more toward our bills than new purchases. A new report out today from TransUnion finds that consumers have spent $72 billion more from 2009-2010 on paying down their credit card debt than buying stuff. Compare that to the fact that between 2004 and 2008, we were spending $2.1 billion more on purchases than on bill payments. This is good news, but these efforts are going to be for naught if wages and employment don’t rise. With income barely coming in, consumers will have no where to turn but debt.
Bryce Covert is Assistant Editor at New Deal 2.0.

 

My favorite quote from a Goldman sach's exec was "we are here to make profits not provide jobs"
it's just sad

 

I'm guessing he didn't mean jobs at GS and the like, just the overall economy?

 

If you read the article I posted, you'll see it not only extends to places like GS, but in fact that's the plan. I can't state which BIG BANK I used to do IT for, but I can tell you that what's going on there is EXACTLY what's described in the article.

The unemployment & the higher corporate profits are not a bug, they're a feature.