Term or word for "work any job, to pay the bills" ?

[pam]

marketable skill beyond driving a car

After seeing how so many of them drive, I question even this.

[Gwen]

Typically yes I agree don't let someone over qualified take the job, he might get something better if he stays job searching. I agree jobs teach kids a lot and it's good for them.

However, when the economy drops such that there are no jobs I do advocated hiring ppl with kids to feed (male or female) before teens just looking for spending cash (yes some teens help with bills but maybe they wouldn't have to if someone would hire dad or mom before the kid).

I used the phrase "a man with a family to feed" because I was talking about the experience of a man. I do not agree with limiting the careers a woman can have because of the fact that they are women. My mom was in that situation, she was a single mother and she was turned down jobs because there was a "man with a family to feed" also applying. Well she was a woman with a family to feed. My point is hire adults with dependents over teens that are getting extra cash.

Again I'm also talking about when times are hard. In a normal economy then I don't have a problem with the practice of not hiring over qualified. When things first started crashing I went to the store and in the back of the parking lot were a dozen very qualified, very skilled ppl that were begging for work. They stood there and gave out business cards and told their story to anyone that would listen. That's how bad things had gotten. They couldn't get "lowly" jobs (not that many were available) because they once owned a successful contracting business. Everything crashed and the business went under. They were reduced to standing at the back of parking lots telling ppl, "I'll do any job, nothing to menial, pay me what you think it's worth." When things get that bad the rules change.

[NeuroTypical]

We moved to CO and I worked in Denver. Then the dot-com bubble burst, and I was out on the streets like everyone else. I heard one estimate that a full 50% of telcom workers were unemployed in downtown Denver.

I had turned down a job here and there because they were less than what I had previously made by $15k or more. I set my goal - good job by 6 months, or take the next best job out there.

6 months came and went. I grabbed an admin/typist job through a temp agency - for half of what I had been making in Denver, but more than unemployment was paying. I 'qualitifed' for the temp work, because I did not tell them about my college degree. I worked my rear end off, and got people in the company to love me. In a year, I finally landed a good job offer elsewhere, and I gave this company a chance to beat it, and they did. A year or two later, I did the same thing - got a job offer elsewhere and gave my current company a chance to beat it.

Lost my job in 2002. It took until 2006 to get back to where I once was.

If you had asked me at the time, it was not fun. Yes, wife and I would search the couch cushions for loose change to go get two McDonalds ice creams - one for our toddler, one for us to share. Yes, wife and I were often at each other's throats - a very common situation for couples living in stressful conditions with no money.

Looking back, I'm pretty sure that my story is a good answer to the OP's question - other than it doesn't fit in one word.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Loudmouth_Mormon

[applepansy]

No. And I said it would be voluntary. No punishment for staying in the workforce but they should be rewarded when they reach 50 and want to retire.

Rewarded by who?

[pam]

Rewarded by who?

Thanks apple..that's the question I'm trying to get answered as well. And why would the use of the word punishment for wanting to stay in the workforce even be mentioned? And I suppose that means we should lower the age for Social Security to 50? Shoot there won't be any left when I'm 65 or 70 let alone paying for anyone to retire at 50.

Edited January 17, 2012 by pam

[annewandering]

What we need is the retirement age dropped to age 50. No one should be forced to retire but they should be offered complete retirement with full healthcare at age 50. That would open up the job market. Also have universal continuous unemployment paid to those not working. I believe some countries in Europe have continuous employment for the unemployed.

One thing is for sure - it's crazy to expect people to work until they drop dead of old age or something else. When people reach 50 it's time to retire and enjoy life. Spread money by traveling and living out your dreams and hobbies.

Problem we are having is one that the think tank people have been debating for some time now. The economy stinks for sure but it is a symptom of a different far reaching problem. Jobs are being made obsolete by better technology. A big potato processing company near here is shutting three plants down temporarily and will modernize one of them. After modernization they will hire back about 250 workers where before they had over a thousand. That leaves a whole lot of people out of work. So where do they go? Every business is doing the same thing or being left in the dust by their competition.

This is just the beginning. People are being done out of jobs by technology and are just plain not needed anymore. So again where do they go? Some new jobs will open up in the new tech but not that many jobs. Even if the laid off workers go back to school they are simply not needed anywhere. It is bad enough for those who have job experience but then there are the ones new to the job market with no experience.

We have to make a place for everyone. One solution is to make the work week shorter.

Not many are going to go for that at the moment but eventually it will have to be part of the solution. Another is to make retirement age younger. Right now we are going backwards with that by making the retirement age higher. A third solution is to require more education for what jobs are available thus delaying the onset of age of entering the work force.

Over all we have to change our attitude about what is a proper work ethic. Is it right to deny a young person the right to a job because another person with experience is living longer, healthy, and has inadequate retirement funds?

I read a book long ago where the premise was that work was a luxury and was doled out to lucky people once a week. Dont remember the name of the book but it was a thought provoking idea who's time may well be closer that we like to think.

Maybe we need to start to realize that what we regard as normal jobs are not the only worthwhile things to spend our time doing.

[Blackmarch]

Desperate?