Unemployment Rate in Chicago at 7.3% (Atlanta, Ohio: leases, mortgage, home)

[xenourtv]

I was reading a Chicago sun-time article online about the unemployment rate of this city being at 7.3%... and I am not surprised. I love Chicago and I think it is quite arguably the most beautiful city in the USA; however it hurts me to see that there are that many people who are living in the city who don’t have jobs. I can empathize with a lot of the thousands of people waiting in lines just to get a retail job. I have been there and it does not feel good at all. It is a not a good feeling being unemployed especially if you are searching for a job. No matter what your education level is at I think every citizen and legal resident has a right to work and the right to live just as good as the yuppies, dinks, suburbanites and these folks from other towns who are obviously taking advantage of either their looks or wealth. These suburbanites and yuppies are taking jobs away from the thousands of native Chicagoans. The other issue appears to be that these high paying employers in Chicago just seems too biased towards good looks, image; that Abercrombie and Fitch mentality.

Here is an example: Back when I was in college there was a career fair in the Chicago downtown cheesecake factory. They were starting waiters/waitresses, hostesses, front desk clerks, cleaners and cooks at 10 to 12 dollars an hour. I saw many minorities applying yet if they did not fit the image they wanted, the managers just said we will call you. The only types of people who went on to the interview were you know good looking people or I guess folks who fit the “image” they wanted. I know because when they said they wanted to interview me, I was just around attractive looking women and men who probably fit the part.

I think what they need to do is implement some type of rule in the City of Chicago similar to Atlanta’s hiring process, especially since there is a significant black population. I believe I heard something in the City of Atlanta where if your company supervises more than 20 employees, a percentage of that base has to be black. They don’t call the ATL the black Mecca for anything you know. Regardless, there is a problem…I mean the unemployment rate was just 5% last year, and now it seems like we are challenging some of the most economically stricken cities in Michigan and Ohio for the highest unemployment rate in the country. It is sad and people I was right when I ranted about the economic situation last year… do not tell me Chicago has a great economy right now. I still have love for my hometown though.

[Brillemeister]

Actually, white people have been largely shut out of, say, city government in Atlanta thanks to that same hiring policy. And as for MARTA, our transit agency...I have seen maybe five white employees in my more than four years of patronage, and way too many of their employees seem to be of the bottom-barrel sort. (Yes, even the white ones--I was actually sneered at by one lady.)

As for the rest of your rant, I detect an awful lot of blame-shifting and a sharp envy against certain people who, I suppose, have it better than you. Unemployment is rising all over America right now, and it's not just the fault of "yuppies, dinks and suburbanites."

[Drover]

If someone wants to live as good as a yuppie or dink or surbanite or whatever, then they need to put in the amount of work it takes to live that good. I'm not busting my balls getting 5 hours of sleep a night pursuing a doctorate because it's fun. I'm doing it because that's the most practical way to make the kind of money I want to make. And now you want to tell me that any schlub should be able to make that kind of money without putting in the work? Screw that, buddy. If you want it, work for it. If you don't want to work for it, you don't want it.

[60-minutes-II]

^You missed his point. His point was that most employers are very bad at hiring processes. They should be open to diversity of different looking people rather than shunning the majority. My female friend is rather attractive but bitchy, she gets a job offer after job offer. Not because of her work ethic but of her looks, whereas it takes me a lot of effort to find a job.

[Drover]

Or maybe she just interviews well and you don't. (And if she's bitchy, why is she your friend?) I'm no Brad Pitt myself and the longest I've ever been "unintentionally" jobless is 2 months. On two occasions I had to leave the state I was living in to find adequate employment. But that's what I did because that's what it took.

And no, I didn't miss the point. In addition to attractiveness-envy, his post was also laced with class warfare. that was the part in particular that I was responding to.

[MannheimMadman]

the best part of the rant was the claim that everyone has a right to a job.

No.

Educated people get better jobs because they have more demanded skills that not everyone can do. Grocery baggers get minimum wage for a reason.

[coldwine]

My income was in excess of $300,000 and I have to be honest, it just wasn't worth it after a few years. Killing yourself to work 80 hour workweeks with no friends and no regular sleep pattern is just that: it's killing yourself.

Secondly, in Chicago $12/hr is still a lot of money. I mean that's what I made when I was much younger. I had to have a room mate and maybe I didn't go shopping very often, but I made it work?

Last but not least, "big city" turnover is vastly different from turnover anywhere else. There might be unemployment in an environment like Chicago but I would point out that leases end and people move. Most cities have a very commuter-type situation and many of those jobs described above are short-term anyways.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by coldwine

...Secondly, in Chicago $12/hr is still a lot of money. I mean that's what I made when I was much younger. I had to have a room mate and maybe I didn't go shopping very often, but I made it work? ...

$12 an hour a lot of money? Huh? In 1995 maybe you can get ahead with that. Not anymore.

[zz4guy]

Originally Posted by xenourtv

Here is an example: Back when I was in college there was a career fair in the Chicago downtown cheesecake factory. They were starting waiters/waitresses, hostesses, front desk clerks, cleaners and cooks at 10 to 12 dollars an hour. I saw many minorities applying yet if they did not fit the image they wanted, the managers just said we will call you. The only types of people who went on to the interview were you know good looking people or I guess folks who fit the “image” they wanted. I know because when they said they wanted to interview me, I was just around attractive looking women and men who probably fit the part.

Stop complaining and get with it. Affirmative action policies are political activites for HR departments to further their careers and agendas.

It goes both ways, white, black, mexican whatever. Look around sometime and you'll notice that the owner's skin color and creed often match the employees that work there.

As for the low unemployemtn problem, they need to ditch the politians (Daley and other democrats) runnig that town. High taxes, drugs and illegal immigrants are running the city.

[chicagocubs]

Originally Posted by Drover

Or maybe she just interviews well and you don't. (And if she's bitchy, why is she your friend?) I'm no Brad Pitt myself and the longest I've ever been "unintentionally" jobless is 2 months. On two occasions I had to leave the state I was living in to find adequate employment. But that's what I did because that's what it took.

And no, I didn't miss the point. In addition to attractiveness-envy, his post was also laced with class warfare. that was the part in particular that I was responding to.

This is why I am in Charlotte. I did not have a degree, and, back in the late 70's, that was a deal breaker for a decent job. Since that time, I have moved several times, ending up in Charlotte.

I also do not interview well nor am I a match for younger, more attractive competitors. I am possibly facing employment myself due to the uncertainty of the mortgage industry, so, I have taken the proactive approach in starting school for a paralegal degree. I am hoping that having this degree will help me for the next few years to ride the market out.

Figured that was a better alternative to sitting at home being bitter.