The Obama Administration last week release unemployment data that revealed a drop in the unemployment rate national to under 9%-8.7-8% depends on how you read the percentage. Yet we know that the national unemployment rate is not as vital as the local unemployment rate in ones region and that should be the measuring stick. From this perspective, I bring forth two indicators that the recession continues alive and kicking. The first one is the case of Mr. Ruben Lopez who was first profiled when I started writing these articles and in a recent conversation he informed me that he was still #32 on job placement list for the Plumber's Union. He has been at slot #32 for three weeks which is an indicator of limited economic activities because he primarily works in downtown Los Angeles. Thus when large constructions take place he and others are hired in droves which has not happened in three years. He was laid off as he entered the journeyman's stage after 5 years as an apprentice and plumbing college. In an economic slowdown he is the first to be released because he reached hourly pay rates of mid $30 per hour and was not of any use anymore eventhough his expertise should have been honored. In addition he completed the equivalent of his plumbing college degree which required 5 years only to find himself like those plumbers in La Paz, Bolivia, educated but standing on a corner as a day laborer with a bag that read "plumber". For certain people, this is a 3rd world country regardless of the perceived first world status.
However because Ruben is the ever survivor whose known how to stretch unemployment and grateful to President Obama because he pushed for continuation, he was able through an unemployment program admitted to trucking school where he completed the course and got his Class A which was no small feat. Now that's he entered the truck job market search, he has found himself in the same predicament as in his previous profession, a weak job market that is not hiring, because when they are they don't care if you have a criminal record, are undocumented, look or smell dirty or know how to read or write, they want that labor and right now that labor is not in demand.
On a side note in a conversation with a general contractor, he informed me that one of his clients who has paid off her house in Encino was not willing to spend money on her kitchen as she hoped because she felt the uncertainty of spending was not in her interest. The man saw this as indicative of an economy not rebounding but stagnated with a future unknown. And I can attest to that because I was let go from on my history teaching job which further supports the fact that we are in purgatory and I recently reached that point. Good thing I am on unemployment.
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