| General > General Technical Chat |
| Just lost my job thanks to COVID-19, who else ? |
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| nctnico:
There are probably lots of companies still looking for people. And travel restrictions offer all kinds of new opportunities. Over here we have a lot of people from abroad working in agriculture. Now they can't come. However with the cafes & restaurants closed there are plenty of people to work in agriculture. |
| alpher:
--- Quote from: Red Squirrel on March 26, 2020, 11:33:26 pm ---Sorry to hear. Sucks that companies are so greedy. So many people getting laid off over something temporary. The job market has always been crap it probably is even worse now though grocery stores and fast food places might possibly be hiring I guess... Even airlines have been laying off like crazy from what I hear. Lot of pilots are going to be manning drive thrus I think "Welcome to McDonalds this is your capt... err, uhhhh, may I take your order?". As much as I don't like still having to go into the office, I'm lucky I work in something that is essential so there is a rather low risk of me being laid off. The company stock is taking a dive though - all stocks are, I just hope this does not actually trigger layoffs even though it will go back up. --- End quote --- It's not the companies being greedy, it's the government giving them an easy way out. If the government has the power to order the private enterprise to shut down under emergency circumstances, it should be prepared to bear also the legal consequences. I really hope that there is a charter challenge cooking up somewhere. |
| SiliconWizard:
I'm my own employer so not concerned in that way, but I've already noticed that a couple companies I routinely work with have put some projects on hold due to temporary uncertainty, so lack of work will happen if the crisis lasts for more than a month or two more. Anyway, good luck. |
| alpher:
Thanks, people. https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/a2f4db51-075e-407f-95e3-f98ea7933aa1#emXTSnMSS.copy Just sold my roadtrek camper today, so I'll be financially OK. for awhile. 8) |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: Red Squirrel on March 26, 2020, 11:33:26 pm ---Sorry to hear. Sucks that companies are so greedy. So many people getting laid off over something temporary. The job market has always been crap it probably is even worse now though grocery stores and fast food places might possibly be hiring I guess... Even airlines have been laying off like crazy from what I hear. Lot of pilots are going to be manning drive thrus I think "Welcome to McDonalds this is your capt... err, uhhhh, may I take your order?". As much as I don't like still having to go into the office, I'm lucky I work in something that is essential so there is a rather low risk of me being laid off. The company stock is taking a dive though - all stocks are, I just hope this does not actually trigger layoffs even though it will go back up. --- End quote --- I don't think it's greed, a lot of companies have pretty thin margins so if revenue dries up and expenses don't shrink to follow then things can get ugly pretty fast. It might be temporary, I think everyone hopes that it is but due to the nature of these things it could take many years to recover. It took a major world war to pull us out of the Great Depression. Unfortunately you get a positive feedback loop, something happens and people get nervous so they cut expenses. This reduces revenue and companies start laying people off, the layoffs make people more scared and they cut back further which causes more revenue drops and the cycle repeats. This could get really, really ugly and the worst part of it all is the uncertainty. There are several different likely outcomes, none of them good. We could shut down too much too long and cause the whole system to collapse, we are not immune to the sort of total collapse that hit the former Soviet Union. We could lock things down, start to start things up again and have another big outbreak requiring another cycle of lockdown and several cycles of this could lead to a major collapse and/or give the virus a chance to mutate into something worse. The effect is a bit like taking antibiotics just long enough to feel better than stopping before finishing the prescribed doses. As people in the US get laid off, many of them will lose their health insurance, then we'll start seeing large numbers of people who get sick and really do need medical attention deciding to play the odds and hope they recover at home rather than risk being bankrupted by medical bills. I'm still not super worried about getting sick myself, it does no good to worry and odds are good that I'll recover but this thing really is spreading at a scary rate. Efforts to contain it may be helping some but not as much as I'd like to see. Uncertainty over the future is making it harder for me to focus on work and being stuck in my house with no particular end in sight is getting to me as well. I'm an introvert and kind of a homebody so if it's getting to me already then a lot of people are going to start to seriously struggle with their mental health. This will be amplified as the unemployment rate picks up, record 3.3 Million people signed up for unemployment benefits today which is the highest in history. Some new protections kick in at the start of April which are not retroactive so I'm betting on another huge wave of layoffs leading up to that. In the short term, companies well positioned to serve people who are stuck at home will do well, but once enough dominoes fall it's going to pull those down too. The $1200 stimulus checks many people receive isn't going to stimulate anything, it's like handing a single bucket of water to someone whose house is on fire. |
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