Media Employment Myth #1 Things are Getting Better  

Improvement in the employment outlook is trumpeted from
every side. The economy is growing, inflation is under
control, the future looks bright. A myth circulates
that the new jobs being created will energize job seekers
and give them hope.

The reality is that it is more emotionally destructive to be
unemployed in a good economy than during a recognized
recession. The stigma carried by the unemployed is that
somehow their plight is their own fault. Workers laid off
after their company downsizes, or after they have trained
foreign workers to take over their jobs and watched as their
livelihood headed overseas, internalize their confusion and
turn it into guilt and self-condemnation.

In the 1930s, no one out of work saw it as their fault. The
problem was clearly economic, national, and beyond
individual control.

In the middle 1980s and early 1990s, there were recognized
recessions and multiple company closures. The pain of lay-
off was as real as always but was acknowledged as an
economic hiccough and unemployment benefits were repeatedly
extended to tide over workers until the labor market
improved.

What is different about 2004?

Politically, the problem is painted as a national economic
non-issue - after all, there were extensive tax cuts and
interest rates continue at historically low levels. "A
chicken in every pot" was transformed into "A house for
everyone with an SUV in the garage." The government insists,
and the media reports, that the job outlook is positive and
the infamous jobless recovery finally over. The fact that
150,000 new jobs have to be created for newcomers to the
labor market every month, just to maintain the status quo,
is neglected. The fact that there are more than 8 million
workers without an income, more than 1 million of them for
over a year, is too painful to think about - so it isn't.
The fact that new jobs are predominantly in poorly paid
service jobs while manufacturing and skilled production work
continues to decline is not worthy of comment.

"Everyone who wants to work will have a job." What a great
political tagline. But what does it imply? That anyone
without a job does not want to work?

The logic is: Let's not blame unsuccessful economic
strategy, or the corporate greed of top executives making
millions while trimming their work force to increase
profits, or repetitively poor political decisions - let's
put the blame on the poor saps out of work who must have
done something wrong to get into that position. And let's
not extend unemployment benefits because that will force
them into taking those awful bottom level jobs which will
make the unemployment rate go down and ourselves look good.
We just have to get the media to buy into the big lie and
we're all set.

Arrogance, dereliction, and disinformation. The big lie,
often enough repeated, apparently works.

Dr. Bola operated a rehabilitation company, developing
innovative job search techniques for disabled workers, for
20 years. A licensed clinical psychologist, she directed
vocational programs for the mentally ill, served as a
Vocational Expert in administrative and civil court, and
pioneered vocational testimony in Workers' Compensation.
Author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival
Manual, she can be found at: http://www.virginiabola.com