Friday, May 28, 2010

You don't understand a bad job market until you're in it

I felt that my grasp of economics wasn't good enough, so I read articles, took econ class, talked to people, and did general research. I learned all about the history of panics, depressions, boom and bust cycles, laissez faire, Keynesian economics, Reaganomics, and more. I read op-eds blaming the Tea Party movement on the lack of jobs. I was no expert, but I knew about economics and the job market and something of how it all worked.

And then I tried to get a job for the summer. An internship, even. Something to get me on a schedule and out of the house. Make a tiny bit of money. Something to do- anything. My standards dropped lower and lower. I wrote query letters and heard nothing. Went to interviews where I was bluntly told that all the jobs had been filled but they could try to find me a little work to do. Went to interviews where they seemed to like me and never got back to me again.

Yes, I knew something before about economics and the job market. But now I feel what a bad job market means, for me and for my friends and individual citizens.

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