I think this photo says it all.
The Great Recession is officially over, but unemployment continues at a staggering 9.7% as of the end of December, and that doesn’t count the people that have been unemployed for so long that the Department of Labor doesn’t consider them as part of the equation any longer.
I know how he feels. I have been trying to get a job for the past 5 months…
I think it’s pretty sad the state the economy/job situation is. Without getting too political since it’s not that type of blog, I think it’s funny that the unemployment rate is around the same as it was a year ago when our new President took office. So much for change, hunh? As for the picture, one time when I lived in Atlanta, I saw a guy with a similar sign. His said, “Why lie? I need money for booze.” Hopefully the economy and financial situation for the U.S. does change, we’re already heading towards being a third world country with the way our roads and bridges are crumbling and we still have tons of hungry and homeless people out on the streets. ::Steps off of soapbox:: ?
@Jamie – I was out of work at the end of ’08 and start of ’09. I, too, feel the pain. Good luck finding work! There are jobs out there… finding them is the hard part. :-/
@greenlants Go ahead and get as political as you want. You will find that I share photos from time to time that clearly have social or political commentary. In this case, as with the Yoda photo, I am looking to provoke a reaction. Some guys take a lot of nature shots and are happy with that. Not me.
I got a call on my headset while I was taking these shots, and didn’t realize what was going on until I pulled out of the parking lot. I had heard the panhandler yelling, but I thought someone in a car had said something rude to her. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I noticed she had stashed her sign under her cart and walked over to where I had been shooting. I was behind a big bank of snow, and didn’t think she had seen me, but when I went back and looked at the photos I took, I realized she had seen me, and was mad that I was taking her picture. Every shot I got, she was carefully holding the sign in front of her face.
Keep in mind, this all happened in the span of about twenty seconds. The phone call I got was from the office (I had run to the office supply store on my lunch to grab a couple things for work, and she just happened to be there). The call said the company owner was there and needed a key on my key chain, so I had to go… if I hadn’t received that call, I wonder what she would have said to me?
I’m respectful of people’s privacy, but where do you draw the line? If someone is standing out in the middle of the street with a sign asking people for money, how much privacy do they get? It’s not like I took portraits of her or showed her face, so I’m not sure.
Would you like to see some more of these photos?
If you do stuff in public, how are you then going to ask for privacy? The street is not the place to be private. While I can understand that some people are so embarrassed about having to take such drastic measures and don’t want their pain to be caught on camera, she did have her face hidden so what’s the problem? I guess in future, it’s about asking people first.
Yeah and it doesn’t include me who dropped out of medical school and have been looking for a job for a year. Luckily I have some money coming in from weddings.
HARD TIMES
It’s really tough to see this, especially if you have experienced this before. I have been one of the fortunate ones; however, I work in the automotive industry in Michigan. This state is in utter disbelief as they cannot rebound. I have seen many people loose their jobs and not be able to recover. They pretty much give up on everything and have no where to turn. My current job has had to cut wages twice now and we’ve lost everything else except insurance, which is almost impossible to afford with our wage cuts. I do feel for those who cannot produce any income, there is not much they can do. Hopefully money will start circulating throughout the economy and spending will increase. Consumer spending is worth 66% of the economy; that’s not a good sign yet.
It is sad…hopefully things will begin to turn around soon….
It’s so sad to see people still jobless. However, I have been seeing more signs up in local shops and even at the bank for hire. What do you think is the story with the people who are out on the streets with these signs? Are they homeless or just jobless?