Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: tired

How Job Loss Frays Communities

This article reveals that involuntary layoffs tend to cause a permanent reduction in people's community involvement.

Lose Your Job, Lose Contact With Your Community
Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune: "Two troubling trends have reshaped the lives of Americans over the past few decades: Our jobs are less secure, and we are less likely to participate in social and community groups. A first-of-its-kind study suggests these phenomena are linked. Analyzing decades of data, sociologist Jennie Brand of the University of California, Los Angeles and Sarah Burgard of the University of Michigan found workers who have been laid off even once are 35 percent less likely to be involved in community or social organizations than workers who have never lost a job under those circumstances. "
Tags: community
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  • 9 comments
dmkraft

dmkraft

October 14 2008, 10:54:41 UTC 12 years ago

Without reading the full article, but speaking from personal experience, I can understand the inclination to pull away from "community" involvement. A corporation is a community. With layoffs, suddenly that community collapses. First, you know it's coming and fear is a constant torment; then the day arrives and you watch as people you greeted every morning and joined in occasional meetings -- people you respect -- are escorted from the building through no fault of their own. If you're not one of those people, you can experience a variety of feelings, from "survivor guilt" to the realization that there is no such thing as "security." And whether you stay or go, there is a tendency to withdraw from things, to pull away. You lose your sense of community. You start to realize that everyone around you could vanish in an instant. You wear your own skin as a security blanket; and like a child afraid of monsters, you hide your face under the covers hoping the monsters will not see you.

It's a frightening time. I'm in the thick of it right now. I still have a job, but I know there is no guarantee I won't lose that job down the road. If senior-engineers who have dedicated 20 years to the company are no longer valued, then how can I be valued? How can anyone?
ysabetwordsmith

Thank you...

ysabetwordsmith

October 14 2008, 15:40:36 UTC 12 years ago

... for sharing such a difficult experience to put a face on it for other folks. I hope you come through this okay.