Please vote in this poll using the sidebar.
Do you think you will lose your job in 2009?
- Yes (22%, 54 Votes)
- No (52%, 129 Votes)
- Uncertain (26%, 63 Votes)
Total Voters: 246
This poll will be active and displayed on the sidebar through 02.21.2009.
Poll: Do you think you will lose your job in 2009?
By The Tim on February 15th, 2009 at 12:05 AM · 22 Comments
This poll will be active and displayed on the sidebar through 02.21.2009.
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The Tim » Feb 15, 2009 at 12:05 am
This is the sequel to the March 2, 2008 poll: Are you concerned about losing your job this year?
Last year’s results were 31% Yes, 62% No, and 7% Uncertain. Meanwhile, some commenters accused me of “fear mongering,” despite the fact that the poll was merely posted as a response to a reader request.
Anyway, I’m just curious how the results will turn out now.
Lake Hills Renter » Feb 15, 2009 at 12:29 am
Broken record: sidebar is still the old poll. =P
softwarengineer » Feb 15, 2009 at 7:14 am
WE’RE ALL ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK NOW
With a 13.9% unemployment rate calculated the same way the 17% was calculated [with giveups and P/T workers] during the 1929 Stock Crash; the momemtum that this depression will get much worse is certain.
I just got off Dr. Roubini’s blog yesteday and we were all in agreement; the banks look very shaky right now and some top economists are seriously hinting that imminent nationalization of the American banks with inadequate FDIC guarentees [I hear we've only got 2% coverage gang] will close the doors of banks for weeks [perhaps months too] during the “nationalization” transition; just like the Great Depression.
I know this blog has a small audience, or I wouldn’t have let this cat out of the bag. Its suppose to occur some time around March.
The Tim » Feb 15, 2009 at 7:44 am
RE: Lake Hills Renter @ 2 – Yeah, for some reason prescheduled polls still don’t work right. It’s on there now.
Ray Pepper » Feb 15, 2009 at 9:09 am
If I lose my job Washington State will be thrown into a spiral of despair and the masses will stand up outside my office and demand my return. This is just my opinion of what would happen. I could be wrong.
See you at The Home Show!
Ira Sacharoff » Feb 15, 2009 at 9:27 am
“If I lose my job Washington State will be thrown into a spiral of despair and the masses will stand up outside my office and demand my return. This is just my opinion of what would happen. I could be wrong.”
You could be wrong, Ray. That might be the bon voyage party.
Lake Hills Renter » Feb 15, 2009 at 9:56 am
By Ray Pepper @ 5:
*laugh* *thumbs up*
DrShort » Feb 15, 2009 at 9:57 am
I think of it this way:
If I lose my job, how confident am I that I could find another one with similar compensation in the Seattle area.
Right now I’m not confident at all.
Ira Sacharoff » Feb 15, 2009 at 10:00 am
If I lose my job, I’ll just attribute it to being a misunderstood genius.
Lake Hills Renter » Feb 15, 2009 at 10:10 am
You can’t lose your job, Ira. I need you to be my agent!
DaveyDave » Feb 15, 2009 at 10:19 am
A fourth button should be added for:
“I currently do not have a job, but would like one.”
Ben » Feb 15, 2009 at 10:21 am
My answer here was no, but the question “If you lost your job, do you think you could find another one in 30 days” would have a different answer.
If only there was a consistent way to measure unemployment. The US government likes to change how things are measured but still make comparisons about them.
Everett_Tom » Feb 15, 2009 at 11:04 am
I think maybe a few more options on this one might be nice, as is reflected in the other comments.
Mine would be, I expect to keep my job, but have a bunch of unpaid furlow days added this year (as we are having next week.. we’re up to about 6 days off without pay this year so far, with at least 4 more possible ).
so something like,
I expect to keep my job but will have my pay / hours cuts back.
Ira Sacharoff » Feb 15, 2009 at 11:55 am
RE: Lake Hills Renter @ 10 –
Don’t worry, Lake Hills Renter. They’ll have to pry my real estate license from my cold, dead hands.
don't get it » Feb 15, 2009 at 12:11 pm
If I lose my job, depending on unemployment, I’m giving myself 6-12 months to find another job in Seattle. If I can’t get one that pays decently, I’m leaving Seattle. I, like many people, came to Seattle for the work, so if the work isn’t here I have no reason to stay.
jcricket » Feb 15, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I’m with DrShort. It’s not just about losing your job, it’s finding the next one (esp. at a comparable salary range). In my long career I’ve been laid off a couple of times. The time it happened because I was at a risky startup, but the economy was good, everything was fine, I wasn’t even worried. Had a job that paid better within a couple of months. The time it happened during the early 90s recession, was much worse. Took me a year, some additional certifications and a ton of false starts before I landed a job.
I think this year, if I lose my job, it would be more like the second situation.
What would really be interesting is to poll people that lost their job and ask them if they “saw it coming”. I think a fair number of people who answered they’re not worried to this poll would be surprised at how precarious their situation is. You don’t really know what being let go like until it happens to you, and then you don’t know what extended unemployment is like until you can’t find a job despite all your trying. People are still in denial about just how bad things are going to get (and I’m not even a doomsday-type, I just think we’ve got a while until we hit bottom, so we’re still in contracting economy phase).
vermillionsky » Feb 15, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I didn’t vote because I know I will be losing my job when I graduate (I’m a research assistant), but I don’t think that really counts for this survey. My husband and I are graduating this spring/summer and have begun looking for jobs. We’d like to move to the Seattle area (that’s where he’s from and all his family and friends are there.. also why I have been following the Seattle real estate market for a year or two), but things are not looking very good so far. It seems that most places that are hiring in our disciplines are east-coast defense contractors. Other people I know who are graduating this year agree the market is not good, in general.
Objectivity » Feb 15, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Its a tough market out there.
I’m a solo attorney that practices Bankruptcy, but I know LOTS of other lawyers that are either unemployed or on the chopping block. (some of you may think that’s great news!..haha)
shawn » Feb 15, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I voted no. I survived many lay offs, two a year, for four years at my previous employer.
If anyone is worried, I suggest you do some research to learn how to avoid being the one cut. It is similar to a job interview. Here are my top tips:
1) If you sit in the corner everyday eating lunch alone, then you are prime for getting cut. The loners are the first to go. It is easier for bosses to fire the people they never get to know, than it is to fire someone that they eat lunch with regularly. That is human nature.
2) The obvious, do you whine or make people happy? Network, schmooze, make them smile when they see you coming.
3) Do you barely do your job or do extra? Are people coming to you for help? I hope so.
You want to survive you gotta fight for it and thank God there are always more than enough lazy people around that it is not that hard to shine.
Note: if you have passion for what you do, then all of this comes naturally :)
Dave Lincoln » Feb 15, 2009 at 7:22 pm
What do I put if I don’t have a job? I need better instructions, The Tim?. Would that go with the “No”’s? If so, that kinda skews the data away from the spirit of the question.
Waiting for your answer on this ( don’t worry, I got time …)
;-)
Snigliastic » Feb 15, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Oddly enough, I have a good friend who has been fired five times in the past two years, each time for insuboordination. Took him two weeks to find another job. 90k+.
AndySeattle » Feb 16, 2009 at 11:53 am
I don’t think I will… I recently moved groups from one that was in risk of trimmings to one that if people are trimmed it means the business overall is failing. I just don’t see that happening.
On the other hand, my wife recently lost her job so maybe I should vote twice?