Discouraged Workers and the Long-Term Unemployed: How Do You Weather the Disappointment?

Are you feeling lost, as one of the discouraged workers who simply have dropped out of the job search because you don’t believe you can find meaningful work? If you are, I feel for you. I follow the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), because the discouraged worker stats truly

This week’s roundup contains resources for the long-term unemployed, some of whom might become discouraged workers if their situations do not turn around.

First, let’s examine once again what the definitions are. According to the BLS’s glossary, an unemployed person is counted as someone who has been available for work and searching for work but hasn’t worked in the 4 weeks measured. This is a short-term version of the long-term unemployed, who are experiencing this frustrating cycle of search and not-find over weeks to months to years. On the other hand, discouraged workers, according to the BLS glossary, are:

Persons not in the labor force who want and are available for a job and who have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they held one within the past 12 months), but who are not currently looking because they believe there are no jobs available or there are none for which they would qualify.

In other words, these people are essentially lost to the employment system, because they simply gave up.

This week, the issue of the long-term unemployed has been in the forefront

The article
99ers and the Long-term Unemployed Are the Elephants in the Economic Recovery Room stated that “44,000 jobs were created, but 21,000 additional workers have been unemployed for more than 99 weeks.” Focusing on the extremely long-term unemployed, The Layoff List blog is a great source of news and analysis of the data related to people teetering on the edge of becoming discouraged workers.

More to the point for most workers, however, is the looming question of “What do I do now that I need to find work?”

Here are some great resources for you to jump-start your career search strategy, if you’ve been out of work a while and need to refresh your approach:

In 12 tips for a lengthy job search,Pat Mayfield, president of Pat Mayfield Consulting LLC (San Francisco and Pleasanton, CA) gives a laundry list of 12 good strategies to use to revitalize your job search attitude.

Overcoming Long-Term Unemployment presents some important analyses of the BLS data, but it presents some optimism in terms of the types of new and revamped strategies that work for the long-term unemployed. Of note, “An aggressive job-search strategy often requires you to do something that makes you uncomfortable.” Thus, outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. gives 6 critical strategies that, while they aren’t exactly new, are definitely well described and, in a way, uplifting. Most important of these, I think, is the mandate to “Uncover the hidden market.” Too many job seekers, whether they’ve been looking for a short time or are among the long-term unemployed, think that the newspapers and job boards are the best source of job listings. This key article points out that only about 20% of jobs are filled via these outdated mechanisms. The others, as we all know, are sourced through individuals’ networks—who you know, then, becomes what you do, and in a very critical way.

Last, for advice on any topic related to job search strategy, look to Nick Corcodilos. I think this expert is truly an excellent resource on all things job search-related. This week he turns the issue on its ear in Advice for the long-term unemployed. Fundamentally, he says that if you don’t like the conversation, change the discussion. If you don’t like being unemployed, then start your own enterprise, and use it as a launchpad to catapult you into your next role—even thinking the plan through, he comments, is enough in some cases to show a hiring manager that you understand the business well.

Where Are You in Your Job Search? Post a Question or a Comment

This week’s questions: Are you one of the long-term unemployed? Are you a discouraged worker? Are you afraid you might be getting to that point? What advice would help you the most in your job search?

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