“I’m looking hard and I will find it!” proclaims Elizabeth Watts, as she pounds away on the keys of a laptop. What is she looking for? A job. The 44-year-old emigrated from Trinidad, where she ran a successful retailing business. Elizabeth is what’s right about America. And even though she’s been out of work for a year, she’s sure that in this country she can’t go wrong.
“It’s a challenge for sure. It’s difficult. But you have to believe.”
It’s harder to believe when you’re 50-something. While 50 may be the new 40, there are plenty of 30 and 20 year olds competing for the same jobs.
“Its tough on us old guys,” says 52-year-old William Perez. The salesperson has been out of work for eight months, but he shows up at a Brooklyn unemployment house in a starched and pressed shirt, his tie in a sharp Windsor knot, ready for any interview that might pop up at the last minute.
“Yea, there are a lot of guys younger than me,” he says, but adds with a sly smile, “but I know a lot more than them!” I didn’t ask William if he read Death of a Salesman, but then again novelists and economists have been counting out the Williams and the Willy Lomans of the world for decades.
Employees are fighting not just recession, but technology. In his classic book Unlimited Wealth, economist Paul Zane Pilzer argued, wealth can be moved from one part of the economy to another. In the 1930s, the U.S. had 30 million farmers that fed 100 million Americans. However, with technological advances, by the 1980s we had only 300,000 farmers feeding 300 million people. Pilzer argues the same thing that happened on the farm is happening today, but, thanks to technology, instead of taking 50 years, it takes five.
So millions, including many white-collar workers, have to learn a new career quickly. Pilzer believes people who are laid off generally will have another job, making more money in just six months.
Elizabeth Watts and William Perez would definitely agree, and are believers in the power of faith.
“I have something upstairs working for me and it’s not just my brain,” Perez said. “I’ll get something.”
“You have to keep on plugging away,” Elizabeth says, her mood as bright as a sunny day in Trinidad. “Better days are coming.” dbfox5news@aol.com
