why would unemployed people stop looking for work?

[robbase]

You always hear unemployment stats and they mention unemployed people who "stopped looking for work"..... what does this mean? And if your only job is to find a job, why would you "quit".... I mean how hard is it to at least check websites for jobs available and / or go to the unemployment office / a job fair once a week or something? I know it may be de-moralizing or depressing to repeatedly get turned down / find nothing available....but to just "quit" looking for work when you don't have a job?

[midjd]

It could be referring to people who decide to become stay-at-home spouses after they can't find work, or "involuntarily retire". Otherwise I don't know how you'd support yourself after the 99 weeks was up.

[Deleted]

Jun 24, 2011 8:01:56 GMT -5 midjd said:

It could be referring to people who decide to become stay-at-home spouses after they can't find work, or "involuntarily retire". Otherwise I don't know how you'd support yourself after the 99 weeks was up.

^^ this ^^

I personally know people that have quit looking for work during their two year allowed unemployment. My uncle reached 65 and started drawing on his pension and SS and my neighbors husband got a promotion making a lot more money, so she just decided to stay home with the kids. They were in daycare 3 days a week while she went to the job service center and interviews.

[stats45]

Midwestern is right. Particularly in this recession, a good amount of those not looking for work but out of the labor force are between 50-65. Many still have a working spouse or significant other and have decided to try to make due until retirement.

If this continues (and from current trends it looks like the long-term unemployed at these ages eventually leave the labor market), we will have considerably lower workforce participation rates, but unemployment should move lower in the next few years.

[zibazinski]

I'm waiting to see how my tenant plans to. He doesn't want to work because they are now paying half what he was making and it's the same as his unemployment check. I KNOW he is working under the table and his wife is babysitting but eventually the money will run out. Unemployment did cut their rates by 20% so he thought he could cut his rent by that much. NOT happening. I am willing to let him be late but not to pay less rent.

[Phoenix84]

"Midwestern is right. Particularly in this recession, a good amount of those not looking for work but out of the labor force are between 50-65. Many still have a working spouse or significant other and have decided to try to make due until retirement."

This is essentially what my mom did. Worked until her late 50's, got laid off in 2008, Dad was still working but the kids were done with college so she just decided to "retire." I imagine this scenerio is pretty common among married people in the 50-60 range.

[zibazinski]

Trouble is most of these people never saved a dime. My tenants wife couldn't handle the real world so only babysits because then she doesn't have to deal with reality so she makes very little money and he makes half of what he did and supplements it. They have nothing to fall back on.

[tea4me]

Jun 24, 2011 8:19:56 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Unemployment did cut their rates by 20% so he thought he could cut his rent by that much. /quote]

It is unreal that people actually think like that. Where do they get that from?

[crockpottin]

Like others have mentioned, I'm sure some of it can be chalked up to people who were close to retirement anyway. Age discrimination isn't right, but it happens all the time & if you're in ok financial shape, it just might not be worth it to keep looking for work if you're 60.

On the other hand, I think some people are probably working under the table and may not actually look for "real" work until the UE checks run out. One of my neighbors did that, he works in construction where there always seems to be a lot of off the books work. It doesn't seem right to me but I don't know that there's a way to stop it either.

[8 Bit WWBG]

The same reason anyone quits anything! Because its too hard!

[robbase]

and may not actually look for "real" work until the UE checks run out.

but if you are not looking for real work (or at least faking that you are) you are not eligible for UE

You answered your question when you said it was so demoralizing. Who wants to keep getting g turned down when they start thinking it is a hopeless quest?

umm, when your choice is a guaranteed zero dollars (if you don't have a job you get zero dollars and if you are not trying to (or at least faking that you are trying to) find a job you don't get UE, so again you have zero dollars)-----the choice seems to me: guaranteed zero dollars or a CHANCE to make some money....personally I would pick the "chance" any day (unless I had a high earning spouse, good chunk of change saved or whatever)

[luckyme]

Jun 24, 2011 9:32:21 GMT -5 @horatiolegrand said:

You answered your question when you said it was so demoralizing. Who wants to keep getti g turned down when they start thinking it is a hopeless quest?

Also, it could just be temporary. When DH was laid off about 10 years ago, he was unemployed for about 9 months. He pretty much hit every place within driving distance where he qualified. He often made it to the second or third interview but couldn't get the position. It was very, very frustrating and disheartening. GBH, he stuck it out. But, he hit a point where there were no positions for which to apply.

So, it became a matter of taking periodic breaks until positions became available.

[bean29]

I agree with a lot of what has been posted already. I recently talked to a construction worker who had not worked in a year. He is in his mid fifties, wife has a good job. He decided to retire so he can start drawing his pension. He is a union worker so if he gets a job to supplement his pension it will probably have to be outside of construction.

If the spouse of a fairly highly compensated individual losses their job, I can see where they might decide to stop looking for work and concentrate on managing the household. Both DH and I work, and if I did not work I am sure we could save a lot of money if someone was cooking dinner every night, shopping for the best price on household and grocery items etc. to say nothing of the fact that you could let go of the cleaning lady and the lawn service (we don't have but maybe we should).

[jkscott]

People do not get serious about their job search until about week 94 of unemployment. Do you see a problem with that? Vote.

[shanendoah]

Until you've been looking for work in this current job market, I don't think you understand exactly how demoralizing it is. DH has been out of work for over 2 years now. He has been actively looking for work the whole time. He had 2 interviews. 2 in 2 years.

Last week was the last week DH was eligible for UE. We'll get the final check on Monday. (His UE benefits lasted 25 months because he worked 2 operations for the census last summer.)

We knew this, however, and planned for it. This week, DH started school full time. He will now be one of those unemployed people who is not looking for work - because he has returned to school. (This is pretty common.)

But the truth is, if you are out of UE benefits, and there UE rate remains high (over 9% in our state), and there are no jobs you qualify for, you stop looking, or at least stop actively looking. When the UE rate drops - ie when jobs start coming back - people will come out of the woodwork to apply.
Plus there will be people like my DH who "dropped out" of the UE rate to return to school who are done with school and are once again looking for work.

[midjd]

I would say that the "true" unemployment rate is close to 20%. There may be 9-10% looking for work, but there are at least that many Boomers who have retired early, or people going back to school, or working under the table.

DH voluntarily quit his job to go back to school, I wonder how he'd be counted. And my boss' wife took a severance package when her company was bought out, and is now semi-retired. Is it only "unemployed" if it's involuntary?

[alabamagal]

Agree with shenandoah, unless you have been there, you don't understand how frustrating it can be.

I was laid off, actually before the recent downturn, total time off was about 4 months. I have a highly sought after technical degree with 20 years experience, but wanted something in my georgraphical area. It is very frustrating. You have to apply for a certain # of jobs per week, but after so many no responses, it gets hard. I rarely got any responses to jobs that I was overqualified for. I was actually embarrassed to list my former salary, I wanted to low ball it. I kept busy, applied for jobs, eventually got 2 part time jobs through people I knew, then one went to full time and recently changed jobs.

I really can't imagine being unemployed for over a year. I was totally frustrated even in the short period of time. I can sympathize with those who give up, and just hope soon that there are more opportunities and they get back to the work force.

[shanendoah]

I will also add, that the longer you are out of work, the harder it is to get interviews. Companies that are hiring would much rather hire someone who is currently working at another job (even if it means waiting for 2-4 weeks notice being given) then hire someone who could start tomorrow if they've been out of work for more than a couple months.
DH hasn't had a single call back on a job in over a year, let alone an interview. That's why we came up with the school plan and he started back part time (nights, he was still looking for full time work and could have taken full time work) in January, with the plan to move to full time when the benefits ran out.

I'm actually really hoping that he gets offered work study (its a bit of a long shot because I make decent money). But, that would not only give us a little extra income, but it pretty much guarantees him a job, which then lets him put more recent work experience back on his resume, which then flows in to better chances of getting a job once he graduates.

The job market is a viscious circle, especially right now.

[dragonfly7]

I was laid of at the end of March 2010 (UE benefits ran out at the end of March 2011) and can think of many reasons someone would give up. It's very disheartening to continually receive generic email rejections, if I see anything at all. Perhaps they went back to school. Perhaps the family has learned how to live on only one income. Perhaps there is a new child, so it make more financial sense for one parent to stay home.

Although I was briefly employed in April, my main reason for quitting that job and scaling back my search is new health issues. It's difficult to judge where and even if to apply for jobs when I'm not always physically capable of driving myself there every day. I'm concentrating on places DH and I could carpool to when the school year resumes or are near the train line. Meanwhile, my dad thinks I should give up and get a Master's degree. I'm not so certain that would make any difference, although a Quickbooks class definitely will. I'm hoping it doesn't get canceled again.

[bring in the new year]

But when they're talking about the UE statistics, I don't think they actually mean people who quit looking for work. They mean people who's UE has run out and they don't have another job.

Think about it.

They know how many people are on UE because they have to send them checks.

You have to be looking for work (at least where I live) or you're ineligible for UE. So they presume everyone on UE is looking for work.

If you're hired, they know because you're back on the state withholding list.

So the only people they don't know about are people who are NOT recieving unemployment and who are NOT on the state withholding forms.

They presume these people are no longer looking for work.

But then look at someone like me. I have been unemployed off and on since I was 20 but since I've never taken UE, I've never been counted in the stats. In that time I was certainly looking but I doubt I came up that way. They had no way to track me.

Also people move, people retire early, people stay home with their kids... I think the phrasing is deceptive.

[bean29]

Bridgetc: The # of people looking for work figure is not supposed to have anything to do with UC claims filed. supposedly they take a statistical sample of households to determine the figures.

Your contention that they determine who is working/collecting unemployment by looking at weekly claims and monthly withholding reports can't be true. In WI I do not report SS level or individual level withholding info until I do the year end reporting. UC individual level info is reported quarterly - but the # of people looking for work info comes out monthly I believe.

[bring in the new year]

Ah bean, I didn't know that.

When we hire someone, I'm supposed to send in a form to MD within 15 days (I think). Report of new hire.

You don't do quarterly unemployment forms for your state? Because again in MD, that's where I list all the employees with their SSNs.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Until you've been looking for work in this current job market, I don't think you understand exactly how demoralizing it is. DH has been out of work for over 2 years now. He has been actively looking for work the whole time. He had 2 interviews. 2 in 2 years.

A high school buddy of mine was out of work for about two years. College educated, and masters from Penn State. Ran his own financial printing business in lower NYC for over 20 years. Closed it down due to declining and changing business. Told me it was really brutal out there for 50 somethings.

[doxieluvr]

Because they have no desire to find a job. When I was unemployed a few years back, i set a personal goal to send out my resume to no less then 20 contacts/jobs a day. It took me 5 months or so, but I would say I applied to approx 1000 job listings.

[TheOtherMe]

I don't think it is true that people have no desire to find a job.

My friends are in my age range: around 60 or older. They have a terrible time finding a job. My best friend found a job after looking very hard for 2 years. She has now had this temp position for over 2 years, but it has no benefits. The company where she is temping has told her if they ever lift their hiring freeze, they will hire her. When will that happen?

Younger people often have a family to support and unemployment does not cut it.

[gobermitcheese]

I have been underemployed for almost a year now since I graduated. I still have the job I had during college but it is part-time with no benefits other than a 401k. I have also had 2 seasonal part-time jobs none of which pay well. I agree that finding a full-time job in this economy is extremely difficult. It is easy to try to fit your lifestyle to this lower standard of living and to just get by with part-time work and odd jobs. I don't want to do this so I keep looking but if I had a higher earning spouse or was close to retirement I would probably not waste my time looking for a job because it certainly feels like a waste of time.

[thyme4change]

I've known people who purposely stopped looking, with a plan. One person spent 8 months doing a lot of work on her house - work they had intended to do, but never had time. She said it was a good thing to do because the resumes were just going around and around and there were no new jobs or new applicants. Then, she went back after being done with her house, fresh and ready to go. She hit the job market as a "new" candidate even though she had been out of work. She is pretty slick, so I could see her selling her time away pretty easily. She wasn't collecting UI during her time off.

[kccini9]

I quit looking for work. I was on UE for 11 months. We then got stationed overseas. I looked for a job for a while here, but it's slim pickings. Something like 65% of the jobs have to go to locals, so the other 35% are left for the spouses. It's extremely hard to get work here. I've given up. I look to see what's out there occasionally, but it's usually not worth my time. I now volunteer a few days a week and feel like I'm working. It's something for my resume and gets me around someone other than my 2 year old.