BASED ON NATIONAL 10.2% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
Statistically speaking, if the 10.2% national unemployment figures are correct six people would be eager to get your job if it became available. As that percentage of unemployment is probably under the actual number and considering that there are so many areas of the country where unemployment exceeds fifteen percent, for every job available there could certainly be at least ten people wanting them.
Here’s another bit of bad news: Some of those job seekers would be happy to take your position for less money than you earn. The real shocker is that your boss knows it! Many times employees tend to forget that their jobs are strictly at the pleasure of company owners.
If the company you work for is teetering at all it’s a fair bet that every time the boss is signing a payroll check he or she is considering how to bring costs down. No matter how important or vital you think you are to your company, you ultimately are a bottom line expense.
So, am I a fear monger? No! Am I trying to scare you? No, I’m only pointing out the realities of the job market and the fact that nobody is irreplaceable. How you process this information and whether or not you take any action at all is entirely up to you.
I was talking to my neighbor today. Her adult son lives in California (a nearly bankrupt state) and is presently going to insurance school so he can sell insurance. I don’t know about you but I’d think selling something like insurance in a bankrupt state would be a bit chancy if not down right foolish.
As he doesn’t have a family I’d advise him to pull up stakes and move somewhere where his chances of finding gainful employment are better. Now, I realize that I’m falling back on logic here and don’t expect everyone to use it in making their decisions but why in the hell would anyone want to live where they can’t make a living?
I gave my neighbor an example where the job market isn’t all that bad (Texas). She said that his grown children lived in California and that maybe he didn’t want to be far from them. I told her that he would be far more stable in a good job market community and able to help his kids if they needed it. Sorry, more logic!