2010 – A Word of Hope for the Unemployed

2009 was a difficult year for almost everyone. For the unemployed it was particularly tough.

In the first month alone over 30,000 people lost their jobs. I know what it was like, I was one of them. There was an atmosphere of doom and gloom. Every day the news was of more job losses and lengthening unemployment queues. People from all walks of life were affected: solicitors, estate agents, architects, as well as blue collar workers and construction labourers. Most had never been unemployed before.

No-one was able to offer any hope. It was the same everywhere. Ireland was in the grip of a world-wide recession. Our situation was worse than most though.  We were crashing from the heady days of the Celtic Tiger. Our banks were in freefall; reckless borrowing, greed and corruption their downfall. We were angry, frightened, bewildered.

As we enter the New Year, have things got any better?

The truthful answer is no. The level of unemployment in Ireland is still far too high. The majority of the people who lost their jobs are still unemployed. Job Seekers benefits have been cut. And yet things have settled down. The rate of job losses has stabilised. There are even signs that the economy may be about to show some improvement.

What has happened to all the people who lost their jobs? There have been no mass protests in the streets, no riots, no civil unrest. If we are honest, we are lucky. Ireland treats the unemployed far better than almost anywhere else. We may be getting less than we were before the Budget, but we’re still getting more than they do in Britain, and far more than the Eastern European countries that recently joined the EU. Maybe we should be grateful for small mercies – things could after all be a lot worse.

But unemployment brings other problems, not just financial ones. Boredom, hopelessness, low self-worth, stress and depression are the symptoms of long-term unemployment. To survive joblessness you have to be tough. You have to try to turn it to your advantage. The one positive thing it gives you is time; and time gives you the chance to do things you’ve never been able to do before.

I don’t want to underestimate the difficulties of being unemployed, but I would like to offer encouragement and motivation. I know how hard it is being without work. The worst thing though is to feel sorry for yourself. You have to try to be positive, to see unemployment as an opportunity not a burden. What can you do with the extra time? That’s the trick, to use that time constructively.

There are still jobs out there. There may be fewer than there were, but they are there.  Maybe you need to retrain to get one. If so what’s stopping you? What about your hobbies or those things you’ve always wanted to do? Let’s look at some of the possibilities. Starting a vegetable garden is interesting, physically challenging and rewarding; it can also save you money. Travel needn’t be expensive.  You can get to London by bus for €70. You can join the YHA and stay in a hostel for far less than you’d imagine. If you are creative you can write a book, take up art, or a craft like candle-making, embroidery, cooking. There may even be an opportunity to earn an income from your work.

That brings me on to the other great opportunity that unemployment offers anyone who is in any way enterprising – the chance to start your own small business. Getting into business is far easier than you might imagine. All you really need is the will to do it. There are thousands of different types of business: washing cars, domestic cleaning, door-to-door selling, child-minding, house maintenance, bookkeeping, buying and selling cars, bed and breakfast, repairing electrical equipment or computers, installing burglar alarms, couriers, dog-walking, garden maintenance, dressmaking, window cleaning, massage therapy, ironing, breeding chickens, selling second-hand clothing, party planning, mini-cabbing, furniture restoration, office cleaning, etc, etc ,etc.

If you are thinking of starting a small business, it would be worth talking to the County Enterprise Board. They should be able to help with useful advice and mentoring. You may also be able to apply for financial help under the Back to Work Scheme which allows you to keep your Job Seekers benefits while you are starting up your business.

Another source of income which might be plausible is to rent a spare room in your house. If you choose your tenant carefully it needn’t be as inconvenient as it sounds. Remember too that FAS run lots of training courses offering new skills and experience aimed at getting you back to work.

As we enter 2010 let’s be optimistic and make a New Year’s resolution to use the time unemployment offers us as positively as we can. If you are creative and enterprising you really can improve your situation. It’s up to after all; no-one is going to do it for you.

Copyright © David Jones 2010

YOUR WEALTH IS YOUR HEALTH...

David Jones takes a look at how depression may become a growing problem as more and more people lose their jobs during the recession...

It may be an old saying, but how true it is. Your health really is your wealth. Given the present economic doom and gloom scenario though, you might find it works the other way around; your wealth, or rather lack of it, may have serious consequences for your health. One thing’s certainly on the horizon, a lot of people are going to find they have much more control over their health than they do their wealth.

With the dole queues lengthening and the jobless figures forecast to reach the staggering heights of between 400,000 and 500,000 people; it’s time to focus on one of the consequences of this massive rise in unemployment – depression.

Every day our news bulletins announce yet more job losses; 100 jobs gone here, 50 there, 70 somewhere else. Apart from making depressing listening; the news just comes across as figures, anonymous statistics that don’t really sink in. Yet if we stop and think about it for a moment or two, everyone of those job losses is a living person. A father, a mother, grandfather; a son or a daughter; a friend, a neighbour; someone near to retirement, someone young; a family man with kids, a single man or woman living on their own.What must it be like for them?

Losing your job is one of the most traumatic things that can happen in anyone’s life. It ranks alongside bereavement, divorce and separation. When you first get the news that you’re losing your job, two possible reactions might follow. You might break down and become overwhelmed with emotion; it’s as though the news is just too much to bear. Alternatively, you might just go numb. It might seem strange to think that bad news like that might get no real reaction at first. That’s because the body has a natural defense mechanism to protect itself from the shock. It temporarily shuts down to give you time to adjust.

A day or two after the initial reaction to the news, things might drastically change. The person who initially broke down might feel calmer, as if they are getting used to the idea. The person who was initially calm might become overwhelmed with an extreme sense of sadness, anger or anxiety. As you come to a realisation of what’s happened, it might seem like there’s no way forward, no future, no hope.

Depending on your individual circumstances, the initial weeks after losing your job can be very different. If you were lucky enough to get a lump sum redundancy settlement, you might experience a kind of jobless honeymoon. You’ve suddenly got time to do some of things you always wanted to, and you’ve got some money in the bank to let you do them; for a while at least.

If on the other hand, you get laid off with only a week’s notice and no savings, then things can seem very bleak indeed. Feelings of utter desperation could easily overwhelm you.

One of the big problems about this present recession is that many, perhaps even most, people currently losing their jobs have never been unemployed before. It’s a very daunting experience to have to face the dole queue for the first time. Even worse, given the shortage of vacancies and the difficulty of finding another job, then this current brush with unemployment could be much longer than any of us would like to imagine.

The big danger is depression. I don’t mean the odd blue mood; I’m talking about longer term feelings of despair, hopelessness, even suicide. Recent health projections have forecast that within the next ten years, depression will be the second most common debilitating illness after heart disease. Strange thing is, depression was almost unheard of in the 1940’s.

What is it about today’s lifestyles that makes depression such a common problem. One possibility might be that it is not so socially unacceptable to admit to being depressed as it used to be. A lot of work has been done by groups like AWARE to try to remove the social stigma attached to depression. I don’t think social acceptance of depression is anything like as relaxed as it needs to be though. It’s still far too often seen as a weakness by employers and even family members.

“Pull yourself together,” I hear people saying. “Sure, what have you got to be depressed about?” I hear others asking.

The truth is, we really know little about the causes of depression, Some experts would argue it is a chemical imbalance best treated by drug therapy. Others that it relates to traumatic experiences best treated by counselling or psychotherapy.

Whatever the cause, if you find yourself suffering with any of the following symptoms, seek help:

• Lack of interest in life,
• Loss of, or unusually excessive, appetite
• Anxiety or panic attacks
• Unusual irritability
• No interest in looking after yourself
• Cutting yourself off from family and friends
• Excessive drinking
• Thoughts of self harm
• Thoughts of suicide

In the first instance, I would suggest a visit to your doctor. He or she won’t think you’re silly; they will take you seriously, and they will be able to offer help.

Alternatively you could contact AWARE, which is a wonderful organisation that works in the area of depression. If you are suicidal and need someone to talk to, you can phone the SAMARITANS, who are always there to listen.

Copyright © David Jones, 2009