The first Monday of the year 2010 was not the glorious day that my imagination had invented. My two-hour job search led to nothing but frustration and the realization that the only thing that had changed was the calendar year and my perception of what that meant as a job seeker.
The President continually speaks of the jobs that will be created through energy efficient upgrades but so far he has been unable to will it into existence through his words. My home state of California is faced with a 20 billion dollar deficit and a request for federal aid to rescue its failing social services means that there may soon be more government workers trolling for jobs.
We, the recession refugees, are left to wander and click through job sites and wait in various states of economic insecurity as the market stumbles along. I for one have grown weary of the constant talk of job creation and my hope is that as oil prices reach $80 a barrel our society, which is motivated by cash and consumables, will be shocked by scarcity and employers and innovators will get the incentives they need to put the motivated and capable back to work.
Until some form of crisis strikes the pocketbook or the homeland, I expect that I will be perusing job sites into the unforeseeable future. Optimism, the attitude of entry into this year 2010 has been tested in its first week. Yet this is the place I choose to stand. Like the President who believes his rhetoric in the face of enormous opposition, so too must we, the recession refugees believe in ourselves.
Lisa Goddard
