"Unemployed People Need Not Apply"

The Huffington Post recently published an article reporting about job advertisements that explicitly state, "The Unemployed Will Not Be Considered."

Still waiting for a response to the 300 resumés you sent out last month? Bad news: Some companies are ignoring all unemployed applicants.

In a current job posting on The People Place, a job recruiting website for the telecommunications, aerospace/defense and engineering industries, an anonymous electronics company in Angleton, Texas, advertises for a "Quality Engineer." Qualifications for the job are the usual: computer skills, oral and written communication skills, light to moderate lifting. But red print at the bottom of the ad says, "Client will not consider/review anyone NOT currently employed regardless of the reason."

Obviously, I find this absolutely outrageous even though this policy is probably nothing new other than its being mentioned explicitly. The only good thing about these types of ads is that they provide yet more evidence that our current free market system does not work. It reeks of class stratification and immobility whereas a free market is supposed to be about opportunity and meritocracy. It also suggests that having a college education is not a guarantor of vocational success because if you have a college degree and you are unemployed you are automatically disqualified from consideration for these types of jobs.

This form of "classism" almost reminds me of racial discrimination--a person could not possibly be qualified for a job simply because they are unemployed and thus necessarily lack the ability to perform the job. It seems almost Orwellian. Applicants will not be considered for a job because they need a job.

If the hiring personnel who decided that being unemployed should automatically disqualify one from a job lose their heads to the guillotine I won't feel badly for them. I'll say, "Good riddance to bad rubbish."

Edit--the company that placed the ad at The People Place is allegedly Benchmark Electronics. According to the HuffPo article, Sony Ericsson is also supposed to have placed a similar ad but later retracted it and claimed that that is not their policy. (Wanna bet that it actually is for the position that was advertised?)

Sony Ericsson, a global phone manufacturer that recently announced that it would be bringing 180 new jobs to the Buckhead, Ga. area, also recently posted an ad for a marketing position on The People Place. The add specified: "NO UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES WILL BE CONSIDERED AT ALL." When asked about the ad, a spokeswoman said, "This was a mistake, and once it was noticed it was removed."

Is the Housing Crash Over?

The Economic Collapse Blog has published a list of 12 Reasons Why the U.S. Housing Crash is Far From Over.

I have been following the housing bubble crisis for years, and I have long believed that housing prices are overpriced relative to Americans' incomes. I still think housing prices are too high and that they will continue to decrease. The My Budget 360 blog has a great article showing that housing prices are still high relative to people's income. I wonder, how will a nation of student loan-indebted people who work low-wage service jobs be able to afford all of those houses valued at over $150,000?

The Economic Collapse blog's article needs to add a thirteenth reason for a continued plunge. As Baby Boomers age they will start selling their houses, adding houses to the market, in the hopes of downsizing to smaller condos and eventually to nursing homes (and ultimately to cemetery plots). However, a great many people in the generations behind them who didn't do as well financially don't have the income needed to purchase all of these houses at current prices. (The people who have the money will be leaving the market.)

Call for Article Links Related to the Education Arms Race

I am in the process of putting together a list of links to articles and other resources related to the Education Arms Race and the legal job market. My goal is to create a resource where people can find links to the evidence--news articles and documentaries, etc.--that higher education is often a scam.

If you know of some good articles, videos, or studies that I am missing, please send me an email or post a comment with the link.