| Topic Name: |
When side-jobs hurt your chances.. |
| Message Name: |
2 of 2 |
| Date Posted: |
08/25/2004 |
| In Reply To: |
lets not mix political messages with the stats... bush is saying
'everyone' is going back to work / finding jobs... not BLS. i'm
saying that when you look at BLS stats, it is supporting his
claim without telling the whole story. and for the record... BLS
did not support that clinton 'put everyone' to work either, for
it was just as difficult to find a professional job during clinton
as it is today. why bush doesn't say that, escapes me....
onto counting...
think of this as an inventory tracking system, product comes
in, product sits on shelf, product goes out either as sale or
damaged goods. "we" are the product when we rec'v a
SS#. we sit on the shelf as we (work) earn money. no
question that the majority will stay on the shelf for the
duration of their career and leave at retirement / death.
we only want to know about the products (the minority) which
leave the shelf as damaged goods... (lay off or disability) and
how that product returns for future sale.
i've attended 4 universities in my lifetime and all 4 use
SS# as the student ID. if all universities practiced this, we'd
have student data and know whether or not they are in school
full-time/ part-time or less.
that leaves the 'non-students' to measure...
>layoff -- not a choice, and is my greatest concern in the usa.
certainly s/he qualifies for unemployment benefits, that is
tracked for 26 weeks. that person also deserves more
assistance and retraining the others do not - personal
judgment call...
>fired -- really, by choice when you think of it. that employee
won't qualify (depends) for unemployment and as long as
s/he looks for a new job must be counted.
>leave -- by choice. this person decides not to work, and
therefore is not counted in any data, including the 'potential'
workforce.
>retired -- by choice/age, out of the picture.
>"discouraged".... there is no model for this, and i don't
think is should be part of the equation -- life is discouraging,
we can all assume every one of is just plain discouraged
for most of the time.
CONTD |
| Message: |
CONTD from part 1
first, i have better faith in IT systems, having worked at IBM
for 9 years...i know what is possible, and indeed already
working to track far more data than 290 million residents...
we only need to track the workforce: 142 million. you may
not agree, but IBM is the best IT company overall. (how they
treat employees... different issue.) iow, IBM could track the
data i'm suggesting. i say fed bureaucracy prevents
simplicity in the labor department.
second, i have better faith in the federal government based
upon how they now track data (other than unemployed) one
good example is this: USDA tracks movements of +12
"species" of mammals, birds, and fish in order to locate the
origins of a disease outbreak. their goal in place to detect
"disease" within 48 hours, as opposed to 1 week, is mid
year 2005. far more complex than tracking unemployed...
been to "wheresgeorge.com"? they track dollar bills by serial
number... eurobilltracker.com is the counter part across the
pond. these very simple examples are ways in which data
can be captured to show stats 'like' the unemployment rate.
now, i'm gathering you've never been laid off... (?) this was
my first time, so i know how the NYSDOL site works. option
of phone in, or log in each week. this data is tracked, and
i rec'v a weekly check. at week 26, i'll see whether or not
they allow me to continue submitting my SS# even though
i won't rec'v a check. won't know until that first try in oct.
--end--
|
|
