USA Today has an article about a man who grew up in a privileged family, to then go study at Yale and land a job at a prestigious ad agency. 

 

At age 53, however, he got a taste of the hard life when he was let go.  His downward spiral then began: The consulting firm he set up faltered, an affair ruined his marriage and left him with a fifth child, his savings disappeared, insurance became no longer affordable, and a cancer tumor was discovered in his brain.

That's when he took a job at a Starbucks and was forced to open his eyes to the other side of America: low/ middle class multicultural and hard working America.  

 

Michael Gates Gill, that's his name, wrote a book about the story of his life (How Starbucks Saved My Life) and sold that story to Tom Hanks, who will make a movie out of it.

 

Review: A Cup of Coffee with a Large Slice of Humble Pie, USA Today  

The following article is interesting because it brings a new perspective to layoffs.  Being laid off is always difficult.  Yet, we can choose to put things in perspective and look at work as only one aspect of life.  Life is bigger than work.

 

Layoffs are accompanied by periods of uncertainty.  We can let the uncertainty drag us down or we can choose to look at the uncertainty as giving us the opportunity for a new beginning.  "Uncertainty" is about making decisions.  Making decisions requires courage and conviction.

 

Consider a Layoff as a New Beginning, Herald.net

The fallout from the high Canadian dollar continues as Canadian employment figures fell for a third month in a row, pushing unemployment up to 6.5%.  The manufacturing sector was hit hard with the number of factory workers at an eight year low.  Western provinces continue to do better than the rest of the country, however, as hourly wages have increased 8.3% on a year-over-year basis, compared to 3.7% for Canada as a whole.

For many, the idea of being unemployed is hard to sustain - on a monetary level, but also on an emotional level.  In today's society, some people see themselves as a reflection of what they do - the notion of status partly emanates from that perception. 

 

But shouldn't what we do be a reflection of us?  When we look at many of the very successful names out there, they seem to like what they do, and somehow their occupation is associated with their name, and not the other way around. 

 

What does this have to do with unemployment you may wonder?  Sometimes, it is in hardship that we find the strength to follow our true calling.  Periods of unemployment are hard, but they sometimes have a good ending, forcing people to reflect and question what they have been doing up to that point.

The growing disparity of income is a phenomenon that most capitalist societies face, including, it seems, Japan.

 

The Japan Times article starts with the example of a writer and assistant TV director now on welfare after his freelance jobs dried up and four production companies for which he worked for closed.  On the other side of the spectrum, the article mentions two 44 year-old women indulging in a spending spree.

 

This reminds me of the situation in North America where the manufacturing sector has been giving way to the service sector, where lower wages and lesser benefits are the norm.  Owners earn more by shifting their production to developing countries and laid off employees go back down the ladder at their new jobs.

 

The dynamics are difficult to grasp though... indeed, if it costs less to produce something in China, why produce it in the U.S.?  Shifting the production to China will help alleviate poverty there - isn't the capitalist way supposed to allocate resources more efficiently, and isn't that what's happening?  As human beings, shouldn't we all be happy that there is less poverty, no matter where it is?  Isn't this "country vs. country" attitude the source of all the wars throughout history?

 

It seems that world globalization is a zero sum equation however.  If one country gains, another must lose.  In light of all the prosperity in some western countries, look at Africa right now, still struggling with poverty (Africa, yes, not a country, a whole continent!). 

 

What is the solution to the new world dynamic?  Is building a new, more human world possible when greed is at every corner?  Is capitalism the way to go?  Even if we do not think it is, is there a way to stop the immense underlying powers sustaining that ideology?

 

The Emergence of Rich and Poor Rattles Japan, The Japan Times

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has recently commenced a shift in the way it deals with the employment of illegal immigrants.  It now targets their employers.  The logic is simple said Julie Myers, assistant secretary of ICE:

 

"They're doing it for pure greed, so we really need to go after them where it hurts. If you're blatantly violating our worksite enforcement laws, we'll go after your Mercedes and your mansion and your millions. We'll go after everything we can, and we'll charge you criminally."

 

Many illegal immigrants that currently work in the U.S. are being exploited by their employers, earning below minimum wage and living in unacceptable conditions.  As an example, a Japanese restaurant that employed as many as 24 illegal immigrants treated them as follows:

 

"The defendants admitted to harboring as many as 24 illegal immigrants, paying them less than minimum wage and using the profits to buy luxury cars and property. Some workers were housed above Kawasaki's elegant restaurant on Charles Street, where they lived in trash-strewed quarters and slept on bare mattresses."

 

Notwithstanding the above, some immigrant rights supporters argue that aggressive enforcement of worksite rules could actually have a detrimental effect on them by curtailing their ability to find work and make a living.

 

""I think they should go after employers who exploit workers and violate labor laws, but we should not be going after legitimate employers who are trying to maintain a business but cannot find workers otherwise," said Jaime Contreras, a labor leader and chairman of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, the umbrella group that coordinated last week's immigrant rights rally on the Mall. "The reality is that businesses like restaurants and hotels would not be able to survive without undocumented workers.""

 

Close a blind eye and open the other one?  So they argue, because of necessity.

 

Immigration Enforcement's Shift in the Workplace, The Washington Post

Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital will send voice recordings to India to have them typed.  This is only the start; if things go well, they intend to send more work abroad.

 

Will this pose a threat regarding confidentiality issues and safety issues?

 

Hospital's Work to Be Sent Abroad, BBC News

Julie Miller wrote an interesting piece about rejection - job rejection to be more precise. 

 

But no matter what kind of rejection it is, it is what it is...  So she goes on with the five familiar stages of coping with rejection in her own way: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.

 

Everything's good, however, as she wakes up the next morning.

 

Lesson: We all have hard days.  Just let it pass...

  

Julie Miller: Things Happen for a Reason, The Times