Have you ever sat and asked yourself "when are things going to get easier?" or "when will I be able to pay bills on time and not have to worry about where the money's coming from?” I find myself in this position a lot lately so then I start to think what can I do to get out of this rut? I apply and apply and apply to job postings, I receive many interviews but usually I get the same response - I'm over-qualified for the entry level position that I applied for and they decided to hire someone with less education instead. Well don't you think that I realized I am over-qualified to answer phones when I applied and maybe I just don't care because I need a job to support my family? I wasn't asking you to pay me any more than you would pay someone else, I was just asking for a job. (I'm sorry but there are some positions that I just won't apply to, for instance minimum wage brings in less than the unemployment that I currently receive so I won't be flipping burgers or cashiering at Wal-Mart any time soon.) I have a family and need to bring in an income, it's not that I want to be away from my kids but to get by I have to be.
People blame the unemployment rates on the politicians but did they ever stop to look at how many perfectly qualified people are turned away after an interview because they wore brown shoes with white socks and black pants or because they hold degrees that are not applicable to the job or simply because they didn't interview well but they have years of experience doing what they were being interviewed for. Did anyone stop to think that companies are just as much at fault as politicians?
First politicians allow for the low minimum wage, I mean really what family can be supported off $7.25 an hour? That’s roughly $14,000 annually, let’s be realistic here, shouldn’t minimum wage reflect the minimum amount it costs to live and get by with more than Lincoln heads in your pocket? Secondly they allow people to just feed off the system; instead of making them get up and find something they just extend their benefits. Or in the case of my uncle the state will continue to pay him unemployment benefits as long as he goes on to school. When I heard this I wanted to laugh, he’s in his late 40s’ been a factory worker all his life and really doesn’t care about an education but heck he says if the states going to not only pay for the education but also pay him to obtain it he’ll go for it. That is so wrong in so many ways. I have been a student since 2005 and at least 75% of that time I was also working full-time and for 3 years of it I was also a single parent. When I was laid off in order to be able to collect unemployment benefits I had to be available to work full-time even with being a full-time student-not right!
Then companies are at fault for chasing perfectly capable workers away for being out of work too long, not enough experience, for being different or having too many or not enough slips of paper or simply because they want to hire the one they can pay the least to.
I recently accepted an internship position so I am currently working but internships are only temporary with low pay and in 10-12 weeks I will be back in the job market. I didn’t invest over $30,000 into a good education so I was unable to pay the loans back. An education is supposed to help one obtain a good career not hold one back from getting even the simplest job!
The entire “over-qualified” line from a prospective employer is a complete crock, what they’re really saying is that it was nice to meet you but you will cost the company too much money so we’re going to hire someone else for a lot less. Even if an over-qualified candidate applied for a job a bit below their knowledge level maybe they really enjoyed the aspects described of the position they applied for and just maybe the company should give them the chance. For instance years ago I worked for a local gas station, I was there 3 years and absolutely loved it but felt as a single parent at the age of 22 that I needed to do better for my family because $8.50 per hour working 6 days a week and only getting around 30 hours a week was barely keeping diapers on my child’s bottom and food on the table. The entire retail job requirements are a rant for another time though.
Then on the flip side there are all these companies that only want to pay $10 -$12 an hour but require a Bachelor’s degree in a related field along with years of experience. With the average cost of a 4 year degree at a private college running about $30,000 who wants to accept a position averaging around $21,000 annually. Companies need to get real and remind themselves that you get what you pay for!
Then try to getting some sort of state assistance is a joke if one parent is working a mediocre job. WHEAP which is the heating assistance program in Wisconsin has an annual income cap of $46,768 for a family of 4, food share has a cap at $3,726 per month ($44,712 annually), and WIC for families with children 5 and under caps at $42,643 annually. What family can be fully supported, taking into account monthly payments, on such low income amounts? When you first look at it $3,700 per month seems like a lot but once you think about it by the time you subtract mortgage or rent, car payment , insurance payments, gas money to get to the jobs that don’t pay worth a darn, phone bill (if you have kids this is a bit of a necessity), gas/electric bill (which is forever going up), groceries which according to the USDA the average family of four spends $728.20 per month on, and then all the extra handouts for kids and their school fieldtrips, lunch accounts, snacks for snack time at school, it all adds up to well over $3,700 per month. So in the end to receive assistance in Wisconsin a family needs to be dirt poor or move somewhere else.
My husband makes about $50,000 annually and I have had a tough time in the job market but right now I am working as an intern making under $10.00 an hour until the end of the summer. Before I started my internship position I had been unemployed since early January of this year. Luckily I was receiving unemployment which I had to fight tooth and nail for since the company that let me go didn’t want to pay. I mean really you’re going to fire me for bringing my lunch to work and setting it in my locked desk (which they searched) until lunch time and then not want to pay me unemployment? That’s just cold and rude and hopefully someday that company will be introduced to Karma. Unemployment doesn’t pay much; the amount I received was about the equivalent of making $6.00 an hour. It’s really pretty sad but better than nothing.
While I was not working I was able to keep up with the bills for about 3 months, month 4 was harder and well month 5 everything went right down the drain. So now I am sitting here 3 weeks behind on my car payment, phone shut off, not knowing where the money for the cable bill is coming from and trying to put food on the table and diapers on the little one. We are a family of 4 and with 2 kids it’s not like you can feed them Ramen Noodles or PB & J every night and cereal just doesn’t cut it for dinner. I do receive child support for my oldest child but that amount is barely anything to sneeze at (it’s less than $70 a month) and in May the state charged me a $25 custodial parent fee!?! Really, you’re charging me $25 for being a custodial parent and receiving child support from the non-custodial parent? (I don’t know if he receives this charge as well.) That’s just not right of the state to take any amount from a child and line their pockets with it!
With that being said not only can I not count on my state, in which I pay hefty taxes, to help me out when the economy and the job market takes a nose dive but I have to pay them to receive a very small amount of child support that is owed to my child? What is wrong with this picture?
What needs to be figured out is how to help families like mine that are really trying to do it all. If there were fewer families refusing to work because they aren’t being told they have to if they want to continue receiving assistance then there would be some sort of help for families like mine that are really trying to fight and get ahead.
Wisconsin could start by simply requiring a clean drug test to receive any sort of help from the state. I know this has been mentioned again and again on numerous social media platforms but it is only right to require anyone needing state assistance to take a drug test and pass after all most tax payers have to pass one to get the job that’s helping fund these assistance programs. Also Wisconsin should require that anyone receiving FoodShare or any other state funded assistance programs is required to work unless they are legally disabled. There are food pantries and other non-profit groups that can assist those that simply won’t work. My husband and I are taxpayers that are barely keeping our heads above water and we cannot get any help. Yet the parents down the road don’t work, have 4 kids and a new car, there is something wrong here and it needs to be addressed!
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