Unemployment Myths
Get the Facts About Job Lay-Offs
If you’ve been hanging onto a few dusty old myths about unemployment and being laid-off, it’s time to let them go…
Myth: Only uneducated people get laid-off.
Truth: Do you consider the IT engineers at Microsoft, Google and IBM “uneducated”? Unemployment is cutting deeply across all levels of job and industry. Many college educated Americans have been handed their pink slips. Even Google has been engaging in layoffs.
Myth: Slackers get laid-off.
Truth: Slackers get fired.
Myth: If you’re fired from your job or quit you’re ineligible for unemployment.
Truth: Most states give you the opportunity to make your case for a job firing or when you’ve voluntarily quit, in an official unemployment hearing. If you can prove your separation from your job was founded then you may be eligible to collect unemployment.
Myth: Older workers get laid-off before younger employees.
Truth: There are many workers 55 and over who get laid off, but one of the largest groups of unemployed is teenagers. The numbers of workers age 55 and over who are now unemployed has grown because there are many more 55 and over workers remaining in the workforce than at any time in the past. Remember, the Baby Boomer generation? They are working longer at jobs.
Myth: Blacks and Hispanics get laid off before anyone else.
Truth: Plenty of Blacks and Hispanics get laid off, but so do plenty of whites and Asians, men and women. Unemployment is no longer discriminating against anyone.
Myth: People who do service jobs – blue collar jobs – get the boot more than anyone else.
Truth: Maybe in the past this was a popular notion, but if you ask well-educated IT pros (white collar folks) recently laid off from Google or IBM they’d dispel that myth really quickly. They’re on the “unemployment line” along with everyone else. Other types of skilled workers being laid off en masse include those in construction, manufacturing, transportation, and the auto industry.(BLS)
Myth: Workers in rural communities lose their jobs more than those in cities.
Truth: This most recent economic recession has boosted unemployment in both rural and metro areas. During December 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics measured unemployment hikes in “363 of the 369 metropolitan areas” it recognizes. In 172 of those metro areas, unemployment rates rose above 7%.
Myth: Union workers have it made – they never get laid off.
Truth: Union workers are not immune from job lay-offs. Many end up on the unemployment line when work slows just like everyone else. In some cases, their skills may take them onto new jobs within a relatively short period of time or their union may fit them to special training or apprenticeship programs. Union members usually do not have to file with a state workforce center.
Myth: Men get laid off more than women.
Truth: No sexism here. The volume of unemployed men versus unemployed women is 7.6 % versus 6.2%, respectively.
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