My unemployment story has some of the same common elements as many others of the unemployed.

I was a middle-classed, over 50 woman, when I was notified I would be laid off on my return to work from a medical leave.

Possibly, the one thing different for me was that I understood how unemployment benefits worked because I worked for the largest of the large .. unemployment cost control companies. And they put me through the wringer with the usual tactics used by employers to deny unemployment benefits.

While I was collecting they called me back to work, but this time I spent nearly the next three years as a “temp employee” with no health benefits or paid time off while they continued to hire.

Please don’t get me wrong .. I know I was blessed to have a job, but I was resentful because during that nearly three years they just kept hiring people less than half my age and half the pay I made .. despite my pleas to make me a permanent employee again.

They couldn’t do that because my department was to be dissolved. During this time my “deskload” went from eight or so unemployment hearings a week to over three hundred .. and most of them .. weren’t lack of work claims .. they were discharges and quits .. the writing was on the wall ..

Before a layoff .. fire or force as many people to quit as possible to avoid payment of benefits. Just the way it’s always been, only now, the number were bigger.

So what does one over fifty woman do that really needs health insurance?

Find a way to pay for it .. eventually.

I built a website and devoted myself in the evenings to answering questions from those that I worked against everyday.

Four years later, I’m now able to buy my own health insurance .. which is just one more thing that employers hold in their hands and are not ethically opposed to hold over our heads to extort employee loyalty.

There can be no truth in the “American Dream” unless all parties involved in an employment relationship agree to not only play by the rules, but play ethically.

The problem is not the hardworking .. what’s left, of the middle classed ..

The problems always seem to be human greed and ambition at all cost.

But, the fear that stops an individual from taking a righteous stand when these things effect them or others on a personal level and can only complain without hope or effort, is what allows any kind of tyranny, no matter how subtle or insidious to grow to the proportions we are experiencing today.

I was employed with a major insurance company as a Sr. Claims Examiner. I dedicated my time & energy to my former company.  I worked overtime, worked on Saturdays, became a member of the Diversity Committees, assisted in writing our division’s mission statement, and also a committee to help boost morale & working conditions within our office. Then I became pregnant with my second child at age 46. Since my pregnancy was considered high-risk, I reached out to the wellness coordinator to cope with the stress. I was told taking care of my baby & myself were priorities. I requested to work from home 2-3 days a week in order to alleviate the physical & emotional stress I was going through. This was backed up by the wellness coordinator, my OB-GYN & my psychologist. My manager denied it, & my child was born 2 weeks before his due date. When I complained about my treatment to the company’s HR Dept. & then to the EEOC, I was fired in retaliation. It has been 2 years now, & I received my last unemployment check. After hundreds of job applications resulting in only one interview in 2 years, I have pretty much given up looking. I am now attending college part-time, and looking into a home-based business. I thank GOD my husband is still employed, but in this economy, who knows? I have been employed all of my life, from the time I had a paper route at age 8 until 2 years ago. This is the longest stretch I have gone without a job, and it is not easy. Both of our sons have challenges – the baby had developmental delays to overcome, and my oldest has ADHD and emotional issues due to inappropriate abuse at a daycare canter when he was 3 years old. They both receive therapy which is not covered under insurance, and my husband’s income doesn’t qualify us for any state financial assistance. We stretch every penny to make ends meet. But I am optimistic that God will provide, and that things will get better. I have an attorney representing me, and I hope to seek justice, not for the money, but for basic human dignity. Being considered “untrustworthy” and being terminated for “misconduct” I think has tainted my reputation. It has also hindered me from finding another job. I want my name cleared, and an apology from my former company because they know how dedicated an employee I was. But, I choose to move forward & do so with God’s help and my family’s love & support.

As with many others, I am an older worker, 58 now, although I was 56 when the nightmare began. As General Manager of a call center, I was kept in the dark by the owners of their true intentions.

In October 2009, I was discharged from the job I loved, and they closed the company, outsourcing to Mexico. The 150 employees arrived at work to find the doors closed and a notice posted that their checks would be mailed.

Their loyalty has kept me going, even as most of them found other work , at terrible pay. They still stay in touch and won’t let me give up. I guess it is a mark of my leadership that I have given so many references and maintained their friendship.

I have applied to so many places that I have lost count. With transferable skills, I was sure I could find SOMETHING fast. I always had before, right? Wrong.

With every resource tapped out, and only unemployment to live on, I am over income for food stamps and have no medical insurance. Did I mention I had surgery for cancer (I’m fine)the month before they terminated me? Cobra? Nope, that would have taken every penny.

So I still hunt for work, in pretty much any field. There is not one cent in retirement left, nor a penny in savings. I rent, but only by the grace and patience of my landlord. Of every week’s check ( when not in limbo for some government stall or other) 80% goes right to the roof over my head.

As an optimist, I still believe that I will find a job, but it is painful to interview so very rarely ( 6 times) and to see less qualified and sometimes unqualified people get the jobs.

I do think that ageism is rampant, but who wants to file a complaint? We certainly don’t want to endanger the other folks who HAVE jobs.

I’ve been called a leader,and even once or twice a charismatic one, but that doesn’t get you an interview, or put food on the table. Food pantries do that. Let’s face it, carbs are cheap and fill you up, so I get to add the fun of trying to stay looking remotely like the exec I am.

Has anyone else worn out their clothes? I never wore jeans, always business clothes, even casual was a bit dressed up. Now I don’t own anything but, and if I got hired, my tired old business clothes would not do for long, whatis left of them.

I am tired, so very tired of being the one that folks leave out of plans. You know what I mean, even trips to go for a ‘chick’ day, or to the movies are out of the question. I most often say no thanks, rather than ” I just can’t afford it” because it seems like whining, and I don’t want charity. I want my dignity back, and I want a job where I can make a living. Not a fancy living, just an adequate one.

I’m tired, I’m 58, and I’m terrified that I will run out of unemployment, and that the Governor of our state, Maine, who is a lunatic, will pass his law saying that each person can only be helped ONCE by their towns through general assistance.

Then that leaves only one choice, doesn’t it? Homelessness. The end result of that is death by inches.

Me? I am planning to move to Washington DC if that time comes. I’ll sleep on the doorstep of my Senators if I have to do that. I won’t go quietly. I’ll go loud and vocal and telling the media everything I can to stop it from happening to anyone else.

Today, I’m warm and fed. Tomorrow? Heck, who can look that far?

God Bless us every one.

I’ve been unemployed for 4 years. Lost my job because the company I worked for said they were downsizing. Found my job posted on Monster the next day with a Bachelors Degree added to it. “I was pissed”. But there was nothing I could do about it.

I’ve done some temp positions in those 4 years, but nothing that landed me a fulltime position. I’ve been sad, mad, depressed, going thru a divorce now. My life fell apart.

I’ve looked for work myself, gone through agencies and let everyone I know to keep a look out for some kind of work that I can do.

Sometimes I feel like I’ve lost control of my professional destiny. Plus, have 1 adult child living at home and working and another child in high school. Very difficult to support them and myself.

I am a 44 year old white female, have been unemployed since June 2009…have also filled out many applications but am either not contacted at all, which has never happened to me before, or I receive “thank you for your interest” letters saying they have “had more than 700+ applicants for the position”. I worked for an airline, and an automotive manufacturer (foreign) I was laid off from the airline due to the fallout from the attacks on 9/11; I was laid off from the auto manufacturer due to the economic downfall caused by Obama and his administration. I feel that not only am I not being interviewed because I am white, but also because there are 31 Million PLUS unemployed in this country right now and I also know, due to networking, that a lot of people are even applying for jobs out of state just so they can be employed. I blame Obama; I blame illegal immigrants; I blame the Unions; I blame our government; I blame the terrorists. They are all one in the same to me…they are THE PROBLEM.

WHERE IS MY AMERICAN DREAM?

It was almost the end of the 2004 fall season in a Midwest little town. Being self- employed for many years, getting older, I started looking for employment opportunities in a warmer climate. I got an offer from a company related to my business in California.

Here I come! “Golden State”
Started working at the beginning of 2005 as an Account Executive. For little more than three years, I did whatever I had to do in order to “earn” my salary. I performed a little better than expected and did my part to increase the company’s sales and productivity for over 100% in comparison of prior years.

Oh Corporate America! At the beginning of this recession, there were internal talks of the company plans for re-organization. I was asked to resign by the same person who had hired me. Atrocious! I did not accept the proposition. After I endured the usual pressure to make me quit my job I was fired!

I started looking for a new job. After three years, a few job interviews and long periods of waiting for that call, I went on living with the only income of my UI benefits and draining my retirement savings, until my 99 week benefits run off. I was forced to retire early!

I am now, one more 99’er going homeless. Will I find a job somewhere in the country? Will somebody hire 65 years old with a 3 years gap on his employment history? What about those 99’ers that can’t retire yet?

All comments are welcome!

I am 50 years-old. I was a freelance journalist for 17 years, covering municipalities and school districts in York and Lancaster counties in Pennsylvania. About 6 years ago, I decided to go back and finally get my degree. Graduated in May, 2009. Got my first full-time job after working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a case worker for the department of welfare. After I suffered a TIA (minor stroke) as I finished training, the state pushed me out of my job. I have been unemployed since June, 2010. In all of the applications and resumes I’ve sent since then, I only landed two interviews. I really wonder if this will be my plight until 65!

I’m 60 years old. I worked in PR for 10 years and I had difficulty getting another job in PR. I used to work in PR for a casino in New Orleans but my job was eliminated and they hired a younger white woman to run PR. The trend is to have young attractive people doing PR regardless of their skills.

I have also been working in education, teaching English to the economically disadvantaged students who would normally not be able to go to traditional colleges. I have worked with public housing residents and was great at it and the residents loved and trusted me.

Last year I lost my job at a for-profit school because the dean felt I was getting too close to the students. I had recently been diagnosed with lupus and I needed to take more time off because I had a number of health issues that I needed to handle. I am pretty sure that was the real reason I was dismissed.

I have been unemployed for 8 months and I’m ready to go back to work and having no success. I am soon going to leave Chicago and try to move to a less populous area and find some kind of job that won’t regard me as a liability but seeing as how most unemployed my age are having no luck, I’m not optimistic.

I’m a 37 year old White female. I have worked in many industries since I was 18. I have been out of a job since July 2009. I have applied so many places I have lost count. I live in Texas. Never in my life time I would have thought being an American would be shunned on but it’s becoming the norm for jobs in my city. Many places want bilingual and I’ve been told I’m not bilingual enough. If I do receive a response from a company it’s usually the same sentence, We found a more suitable candidate.” Other companies will not respond to my application and requests for interviews. I just want a job so I can survive.

I worked as a production scheduler/purchasing/inventory control supervisor for an automotive oil filter supplier. My job was eliminated due to the automotive industry failing in 2009. I have been unemployed since April 2009 with no potential job in sight. Sadly, I have depleted my savings and 401K account in order to keep my home a float. I don’t feel that I lived beyond my means I had my bills based on an income that I had for 9 consecutive years. Now I will be lucky to find a job making minimum wage…..yet the auto industry was able to get help from the gov’t. I along with 130 others were tossed to the wayside.