Question

E S NS

WORKERS FEEL SURE

JOBS ARE OUT

THERE!!

Read this article that appeared In the

USA TODAY on February 2001 Then

answer the questions at the bottom of the

next page by following all instructions.

Labor experts who fear

'

Polyannlsh

'

workers w

on't be prepared

i

f

a recession

comes,

say younger

employees

are

coddled by an expanding eco

nomy and

don't realize how dire the employment

situation could become

.

Moreover, they

sa

y a

head

-

i

n

-

the

-

sand

approach

could i

mperil workers who may

continue

spending when they should be

saving. Fifteen percent

employees

say

that

If

they

lost

their

j

ob they could only last

up to one

week before experiencing

signifi

cant financial hardship,

according

to

the

USA/TODAY

POLL.

About

30%

could go only as long as a

month.

"Right now, there

i

s residual optimism from

the longest period of growth in the

economy. It hasn't reached a

panic

yet. says

John

Challenger of a Chicago

-

based

outplacement

firm.

Traditionally American have been

more pessimistic about the nation a

s a

whole than about their own situations.

In re

cent weeks workers have become

i

ncreasingly anxious about the

economy

.

But

about45% of Americans think it'

s very

likely or somewhat likely that If they lost

their

job they could find a position just as

good

as

the one they have now, based on

the poll. It's

a

conviction

driven

by

a

host

of

factors,

including a

new

free

-

agent

mindset

workers have

adopted in today's

competitive

laborforce

CONSIDER the following:

Work

ers

today

arc

plugged

ln

!

Unlike

workers

a decade ago who were mostly

unprepared for mass layoffs, today's

employees are constantly reassessing their

employment options and networking

because

they

know

j

ob

security

no longer

exists.

Now

,

especially

with

the

advent

of

onli

n

e caree

r sites,

the j

ob search i

s

perpetual. More

than

45%

of

American

workers

are

actively or passively looking

for a new

Job,'

according to

a

study

by

the

firm,

Zogby.

For

employees

such

as

Bill

Maxfield,

31,

such networking

can

take

the

edge

off

being

l

aid

off. When

the public relations

manage

r was told just before Christmas

that he was

being let

-

go he knew exactly

who to

call

.

I

connected

with headhunters who'd been

pursuing

me

before,"'

says

Maxfield,

who

started

a new job in

January as a vice

president with strategic marketing

communications i

n San Jose, 'Calif. I

contacted family and friends and wound up

working with people I'd known from before.

I remained upbeat. I knew there was going

to be a promotion and pay raise. I j

ust did

n't

know who was going to give i

t to

me>"

Getting

laid

off

no

lon

ger

carries

a

stigma

.

Job

hopping

has

become

so

common

that

workers

no

longer

fear

exp

laini

ng

career

changes to prospective

employers. Roughly

four

out of 10 workers plan to seek out

j

ob opportunities this year, according

to a

recent study by Career Bui

lder, toppin

g

the number that changed jobs in 2000.

F

ew empl

oyers expect loyalty or

longe

vity among workers anymore

.

.

Called

i

nto

the

office

i

n

December,

Danielle Borel

li

stened

as

teary

-

eyed

supervisor

told

her that she was being let

go. The public relations manage gave her

resume to recruiters

a

nd friends and took

a trip to Paris, where she go

t

engaged,

when

she returned, she had five

employers eager to Interview her. Not

one cared that she'd been laid

off

.

'l

got

Interviews

right

away

says

B

orel,

32 of

Sunnyvale

California.

She

N

ow

works

as

a public relations program

man

a

ger at Mercury Interactive,

a

provider

on i

ntegrated perform

ance

management soluti

on

s. No one asked

why l was being l

et go. I wasn't too

worried

for

some

reason.

I

was

only

without

a job

for

two

days

.

Employees are upgrading

skills to say

comp

etitive. Workers are enrolling i

n

c

olleges c

ourses

l

earning new

computer

skills and regularly i

mproving other skills

rather than waiting for employers to provide

training and forge new career paths for

them.

Some, like Lorie Behling Ande

rson,

38, of

Bear Lake, M

i

nn

.

haven

taken

computer

courses so that they can move

i

nto new

fields and weather a recession if

i

t does come. She

now works part time at

a toba

cco store and health dub.

"

I remain hopeful that by

getting training.

that will help

me" says. B

ehling

-

Anderson,

who

wants to get Into

Public S

peaking f

or

at

-

risk youth and grant writ

ing

consulting.

The skills

I

lack, I'm trying to make up for.

There ls much

talk about how

unemploy

ment

i

s low, but people are

getting nervous. But I'm not

really worried."

A

free

-

agent

mindset

Emplo

yees with skill

s, especially those

with expertise

i

n technology, remain i

n high

demand. Despite the dot.com s

hakeout, the

technology drive

n

Internet economy

'

,

generated an

estimated $839 billion in

revenue i

n

2000

,

according to a study for

Cisco Systems by the University of

Texas.

"It's

not

li

ke

the

early

1990's,

when

downsizing hit the laborforce li

ke

a frei

ght

train"

,

says Bruce Tulgan. "then a lot of

people were afrai

d and wondered

how

to

fend

for

themselves.

Now,

they

have a free

agent mindset.

They k

now job security Is a

myth.

People are nervous, but the biggest

Impact on their optimism Is all the talk and

front

-

page

stories.

Reconsi

dering Careers:

Some employees are making job changes or

reconsidering careers based on the uncertain

economic forecast. Sin

dy Braun, of San

Mateo, Calif. i

s

a

product manager who Is

reconsidering her decision to work without

a

safety net of

a

traditional job. Being a free

agent, she

says, could get risky if dow

nsizi

ng

continues.

With the layoffs happening, i

t

'

s certainly

something I'm thinking about. If the layoffs

continue there will be a lot more

people i

n

consulting.

That'

s for

cing me to think about

getting i

nto a permanent Job now. It's a

concern.

For some,

the shock is just coming now.

Jeremy Puma, 25

, had heard rumors that there

would be layoffs at Amaton.com Even so, the

customer service representative di

d not

suspect he'd be out of a job

.

'We felt betrayed an

d dissatisfied with the

company. Th

ey sh

owed t

hey're a big

corporation in i

t for

the money. "says Puma

of Seattle who learned

i

n January that he was

being let go.'

But the majority of people who

were let go have plenty of skills as far

as the

new economy goes.

l'm not worried

.

"

Question A

:

IN THE

TEXT A

BOVE

:

i)

Put one line under evidence of

Cyclical " Unemployment.

Find

4

and

write

'cyclical

in the

margin

.

ii)

Put double lines under evidence

or

Struc

tural

Unemployment.

Find

4

.

Write 'structural' In

margin.

iii)

Highli

ght

evidence

of Fricti

onal

.

Fi

nd

4

Write 'frictional' In

the

margin