[radian360]

If you need to work to survive don't move to Connecticut. Here's why : the "unions" dole out money and benefits to people who don't necessarily deserve them. The teachers and policemen are way overpaid and will never lose their job, while everyone else suffers. Even the grocery store personnel belong to a union and will never quit b/c their benefits and pay are outrageous. I did not know what a terrible situation it is compared to states like texas or utah who do not have any unions or welfare benefits and have strong economies. it is not just the single mothers sponging off society that ruin it for everyone. Its people who are so extremely unfriendly to new business that they don't give anyone a chance. The taxes make it such that I would not even be able to work from home with my old company b/c Connecticut does not comply with tax rules for business. Any other state I would be fine, but here no way. After searching for two years, with a current college degree and experience I was given a "grant" to become a CNA when I am educated to be an R.N. But, there are not enough spots for those that got a"B" in their class, not an "A" Doesn't matter that you met all the qualifiers for entrance, not enough spots so get on a wait list. In the meantime get paid beans when you re-educated yourself for a living wage. BS Don't live in CT.

[cj06117]

CT does cater to the poor and is one of the highest ranking states for welfare benefits. It is not business friendly or ideal for starting or running a small business due to the high costs of living and tax environment. It's a great place if you want to work your entire life at a large corporation making an average salary with a modest lifestyle and spend most of your free time trying to keep up with the Joneses. Some people see that it is a great place to go for education and are obsessive about the school systems if you spend some time on the forums here. I am sure you could obtain a quality education for you and your family at an affordable price somewhere else if you want to start one.

The state isn't to blame for all problems in life and many others have plenty of issues. But yeah, I agree with you the state is in decline and most are in denial.

[mikelizard860]

Originally Posted by radian360

If you need to work to survive don't move to Connecticut. Here's why : the "unions" dole out money and benefits to people who don't necessarily deserve them. The teachers and policemen are way overpaid and will never lose their job, while everyone else suffers. Even the grocery store personnel belong to a union and will never quit b/c their benefits and pay are outrageous. I did not know what a terrible situation it is compared to states like texas or utah who do not have any unions or welfare benefits and have strong economies. it is not just the single mothers sponging off society that ruin it for everyone. Its people who are so extremely unfriendly to new business that they don't give anyone a chance. The taxes make it such that I would not even be able to work from home with my old company b/c Connecticut does not comply with tax rules for business. Any other state I would be fine, but here no way. After searching for two years, with a current college degree and experience I was given a "grant" to become a CNA when I am educated to be an R.N. But, there are not enough spots for those that got a"B" in their class, not an "A" Doesn't matter that you met all the qualifiers for entrance, not enough spots so get on a wait list. In the meantime get paid beans when you re-educated yourself for a living wage. BS Don't live in CT.

This doesn't make any sense at all.
So basically you couldn't handle the extremely competitive admissions process into an RN program so that's somehow Connecticut's fault?

If CT is such a bad place to do business then why are so many businesses here?

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by mikelizard860

This doesn't make any sense at all.
So basically you couldn't handle the extremely competitive admissions process into an RN program so that's somehow Connecticut's fault?

If CT is such a bad place to do business then why are so many businesses here?

Many states probably would not even given the OP a grant to re-educate themselves.

And, aren't most nurses already part of established businesses- hospitals, medical offices, etc?

[BPt111]

Now 3 billion and growing

Current budget deficit growing, next year big trouble | WTNH

Current fiscal year is close to 200 million

CT News Junkie | Nonpartisan Analysts: 2015 Budget Is Running A $191M Deficit

[AnonChick]

I'm not sure what the OP is talking about either. I don't think he/she knows, him/herself. I'm what you might consider a "life-long temporary employee." I was a Kelly Girl for 7 years in Boston - and I've had a myriad of part-time and full-time jobs in Connecticut from the time I was 16 years old to the present. Many were temp jobs, but many were not. Most of them were retail.

Of the over 20 jobs I've had that were -not- through a temp agency - exactly 3 of them were union jobs. One was with a town, as a secretary, and it was a municipal employee union which you would expect in pretty much any municipality in the country. The second was SNET (the phone company). The third was Stop & Shop.

Burger King, McDonald's, Staples, Walmart, Target, in fact almost every retail store in the state - and every fast food joint in the state, and MOST supermarkets in the state - are NOT union. Major national corporations might be - but those would be union shops no matter which state you're in, and that has nothing to do with Connecticut.

Many hospitals have unions - but again - that's not state-specific. Independant doctors' offices typically are NOT union shops.

It sounds also like the OP is only interested in working for a specific set of employers, and they have already ruled him/her out as not qualified for the position. Perhaps widen your horizons and seek beyond that limited scope, and you'll have better luck finding work.

In addition - MOST of the jobs described in the OP as being "overpaid" are not overpaid at all. Teachers - are not overpaid. They are responsible for ensuring that the future generation has at least a minimum of education. They're the ones who educate our future governors, CEOs, city officials, bosses, employees, etc. They, in my opinion, should be earning more than the average football player who does nothing but smack a ball around and beat the crap out of his opposing team for a few months out of the year.

And most retail gigs are minimum wage. If that's overpaid, I need to hire an accountant to find all that lost money so I can afford that world adventure I've always wanted.

Grocery store clerk - the Stop & Shop union took money out of my pay, netting me LESS than minimum wage BEFORE taxes - and gave me ZERO representation for the first 3 months of employment. I had to pay dues 3 months before they would represent me. And when they did represent me what benefits did I get? I got medical benefits that I couldn't use and didn't want, and wasn't qualified for, because my husband's job covers all my medical benefits. But I had to pay for it as an automatic payroll deduction anyway. I got 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours I worked - but they would only guarantee me 12 hours of work per week. So I'd have to work 3.5 WEEKS in order to earn one HOUR of sick time. I'd get a paid vacation week (but no guaranteed time off - just an extra paycheck) after 2 years of work. We had to work holidays, but if we worked on a holiday and that holiday was on a Sunday we'd get time and a half for that day. At minimum wage - at the time - that came to around $11/hour for the overtime. And we would only be allowed to work 5-6 hours. We went on break when they told us to go on break, whether we needed a break at that moment or not - if we needed a break during a time we weren't assigned to take on, we were just SOL. Hold it in. No water at our register - so if we were thirsty, tough.

Not even a company discount on Stop & Shop brand items. The union contract looked like it'd been typed by a 3rd grader, complete with typos, misspellings, grammatical errors, comma faults, poor sentence structure, and some of the sentences were missing verbs entirely.

And for that, we had the privilege of paying a premium, and if we refused to join the union - we weren't allowed to work there. Even though Connecticut is a Right to Work state and it's illegal in this state for any employment situation to force union membership on its employees. Apparently, Stop & Shop hadn't read that memo.

[basehead617]

Originally Posted by mikelizard860

This doesn't make any sense at all.
So basically you couldn't handle the extremely competitive admissions process into an RN program so that's somehow Connecticut's fault?

If CT is such a bad place to do business then why are so many businesses here?

I laughed at that too.

If anything, it's an argument against him/her. There's so many people wanting to live there and get those jobs, they can afford to ONLY take people that were A-students in nursing school.

[STEVEN 1]

Actually teacher salaries are dependent on demographic. Here in rural Virginia Its about 65k where as in Long Island NY its about 130k.

Same job, same academic credentials required, however the northern teachers make twice as much

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by STEVEN 1

Actually teacher salaries are dependent on demographic. Here in rural Virginia Its about 65k where as in Long Island NY its about 130k.

Same job, same academic credentials required, however the northern teachers make twice as much

The cost of living is also twice as high, so it evens out in the end.

[mels]

Originally Posted by mikelizard860

This doesn't make any sense at all.
So basically you couldn't handle the extremely competitive admissions process into an RN program so that's somehow Connecticut's fault?

Ditto this. The OP may have some legitimate gripes against Connecticut, however it seems like the heart of that post is all sour grapes. You couldn't make the cut so you are pissy about it. Many jobs are competitive and the top candidates are chosen...is that really a surprise?

Also, this is anecdotal but a friend of mine in CT who is about 40 years old recently went back to college to switch fields to nursing. She earned her RN, easily found a job (non-union, I might add), continued her education further and is graduating this semester with her BSN. She's had no trouble finding a job.