statistics and stories

Every day the headlines announce new statistics on job loss. Yesterday January 24, 2009, the SF Chronicle boldly announces that the STATE JOBLESS RATES HITS 9.3%-a 15 YEAR HIGH. There were 78,000 jobs cut in California in the month of December.  My husband says it is fear mongering, a way to sell papers. But he also tells me how he sees more and more people who look just like him, white, middle class middle age men out on the streets in the afternoon.  And I continue to wonder about the stories not being told in these numbers of the 1.7 million Californian's who want a job but cannot find one. Who exactly are these people? 

 Last night at a party I was talking to a friend whose husband is also struggling. Her take was that the hit now is predominantly being taken by men. Perhaps because women were never as highly paid and are working in service sectors of health and education.  Many in the private sectors with the assumption of higher paychecks are more vulnerable. 

Yes, you may be right, I say to my friend,  but I want to know more.  Why aren't they telling us their stories? Are they feeling too proud and too ashamed  to talk ? It's not just about the older less competent brains. We women are loosing some of those cells too. But what about the women, the wives who are carrying now the burdens of  both the emotional and financial support of their home economies? 

 At the same party, last night, a man  tells me he just narrowly missed the last round of layoffs two days before from his job in tech support for a major bank. He's been there 20 years. Just turned 60. Not ready or able to retire yet, although he would have been if it wasn't for the loss of his 401K because he had no other pension plan with this job.

 I want  to start carrying around a small tape recorder. The numbers are making me numb.  I need the  insight,  healing and strength that  comes  through this telling and sharing of stories. So if you are reading this and know someone who has a story to tell please feel free to respond to this post.