HOW WE GET BY
The unemployed share secrets
Last week R.K. asked me a very important question regarding jobless Americans.
He wondered since the unemployed and underemployed rates in the US appear to be hovering around 20 percent, how do these people survive?
It was such a good, fundamental question that I stated upfront that I did not have a good answer.
Well, Dear John readers had plenty of answers, which I have edited below.
Dear John: In a nutshell, I am getting by because I still have a good credit score (690, I believe). I am a 66-year-old retired civilian federal employee. I was able to retire when I was age 55 after 32 years of service and receive my full pension (currently about $3,600 net monthly). I retired to “pursue other interests,” as the cliche goes.
I wanted to be a legal assistant, and paid $5,000 to a college to successfully take and pass a course for legal assistants. Well, no one would hire a 56-year-old entry-level legal assistant with no prior experience to work in a law office. P.M.
Dear John: Many of those are working for cash only. They don’t report their earnings. Some haircutters, yard personnel, house cleaners, etc., ask for cash only. J.S. Dear John: Here is one man’s struggle to answer your article.
I’m 52, a white male and unemployed or underemployed. I have a bachelor’s degree and am working toward a master’s as I write this.
I worked for a large company for 28 years, and in 2013 my job, a technical support position, left for warmer environs — but not me.
I have a house nearly in foreclosure, maybe a month away, two children, 11 and 15 years old, a wife on disability and a car that may be repossessed soon.
I received a decent package when I left the company, which helped, but that ran out. I have run through $125,000 of my 401(k) and it’s empty. I can now take my company pension of $100,000, but in the end, due to penalties and taxes, I’ll only have about $30,000 remaining.
I work as a real estate photographer, my own business, but it’s slow this time of year and after costs and taxes, I make about $12 an hour.
Well, that is my story, thank you for your article and the chance to share my story. T.S.
Dear John: My answer to you is crime. Forced out of polite society and still needing to eat, we must steal our bread since we are not allowed to work for it. See you in hell. J.T.