Douglas Becker ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
:
: So you have to know that we here in the Pacific Northwet are doing
: our part to add to unemployment, dilute or elimnate technical expertise
: and add to the homeless in America.
:

Dallas, Texas, is doing its part...

   http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1674385
   HoustonChronicle.com - Downfall of Dallas telecoms lays scores low

  "...Throughout the Dallas area, charities are reporting budget-breaking
   demands from a clientele that is increasingly different from the usual
   down-and-outers or chronically impoverished underclass. Showing up at
   the door now are families who lived in middle-class comfort or
   upper-middle-class luxury at this time last year.

   "We're seeing more people who are not used to asking for help," says
   Teddie Story, the interim director of Irving Cares, which dispenses
   food and cash to the needy. "It's basically frightening."

   The bust in the technology sector -- dot-coms and telecoms that bet
   billions on e-commerce and lost -- is not as obvious in Dallas as the
   real estate and S&L wreckage of the 1980s, but to those caught up in
   it, it is every bit as devastating.

   One reason for that, some experts say, is that the laid-off telecom
   workers often feel targeted for misfortune they had never imagined and
   were unprepared for.

   "People we're providing services to now are quite different than in
   the past," says Howard Dahlka, director of the 58-bed Samaritan Inn.
   "We used to see people with marital problems or alcohol problems, that
   sort of thing. We have no people here now with those issues."

   Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are an activity the inn provided in the
   past. Two years ago, 15 to 20 residents participated, Dahlka says. But
   a recent attempt to organize AA meetings failed because there were no
   alcoholics at the inn.

   "The number of degreed people is increasing," he says. "We had a
   couple in their 50s who were here for four months. He had a master's
   in physics and a Ph.D. He finally found a job teaching school. We had
   another guy with a bachelor's degree who took a job at Wal-Mart. It's
   a hard transition for a lot of them."

   For some, Dahlka says, the fall is grim and methodical.

   "People are actually planning for becoming homeless," he says. "One
   week I had 25 calls from people wanting to know what services we
   provide. They didn't need anything immediately, but they assumed they
   were going to lose their homes, and they were preparing for that."

   While the recession has not been limited to the telecom industry --
   layoffs at such major employers as American Airlines have also rippled
   through the Dallas-Fort Worth area -- the technology workers have
   taken a disproportionate hit..."

The rest of the country is helping out too:

   http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/1495251
   Harsh Fall: High-Tech Layoffs Soar In October

  "Dramatic layoffs in the high-tech sector helped push the total of U.S.
   job cuts last month to heights reminiscent of the economic fall in
   2001.

   After falling to a 22-month low in September, job cuts announced by
   U.S. companies in October jumped to 176,010 -- 151% higher than
   September's 70,057, according to figures released by Challenger, Gray
   & Christmas, Inc., which tracks job cuts daily. While September's
   numbers were the lowest monthly total since September 2000, October's
   rate is equal to 7,600 job cuts per business day..."

As is the government:

   http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20021118S0023
   EE Times - H-1Bs now can stay longer

  "QUAN_MARGARET Sometimes it seems like lawmakers have their heads in
   the sand. Do they grasp what's happening in the high-tech job market?
   Have they seen the reports about rising unemployment among EEs or
   noticed the jobless rate of 7.9 percent in Silicon Valley during the
   month of October?

   I ask because a Justice Department Appropriations Authorization bill
   signed by President Bush on Nov. 2 has a provision that could affect
   the job picture for engineers. A section of that legislation extends
   the current six-year term for H-1B visa holders, who now essentially
   may stay in the United States indefinitely until they receive a green
   card, as long as they remain employed..."


--Jerry Leslie   (my opinions are strictly my own)
  Note: [log in to unmask] is invalid for email

  "We don't have a democracy, we have an auction." - anon

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