Pearl District News

[urbanlife]

I have been living on college loans since basically November....business has not been that good in the hospitality industry.

I think many of Portland's restaurants have been doing okay is because they are still affordable...or you have people like me who have the free time and still a little bit of cash from working once or twice a week to pay for a breakfast here and there.

[JordanL]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

i keep reading all this sky-is-falling / capitalism-as-we-know-it-is-over business, and then last sunday, my wife and i are out wandering around NW and the stepping stone has the longest line of people waiting to be seated for breakfast that i've ever seen there, st honore is, as usual packed, besaw's is packed: wtf? ok, that's only 3 restaurants in a 4-block radius; maybe i should get out off the city, check out beaverton, but here... i'm just not seeing it. i know of a one or two people who've been laid off, but that's it. has anyone here been laid off? foreclosed? or, heaven forbig, cut back on their lattes?

Me, my father, all four of my room mates, and two of my friends have been laid off.

The last job I applied for had over 500 applications submitted.

My cell phone has been turned off because I couldn't pay the bill and for the last three months I've been living off of charity, because Unemployment Insurance told me they couldn't help me.

I spend eight hours a day looking for a job... :/ I've even started looking within a 300 mile radius with the intent of moving...

[asher519]

I was laid-off due to budget cuts early in the recession (depression?), and was forced to move back east a couple months ago. A year of unemployment certainly does take its toll. Of course, it's tough everywhere so I've given up the job hunt for now--it was becoming a very unhealthy compulsion--and start grad school this summer. (Nonetheless, I miss Portland.)

[Downtown_Gal]

My husband was out of work for 3 months which was tough and I lost one of my writing positions when LivePDX decided to reorganize (aka stop adding any new content) but I'm not sure if that was an economic thing or just FOX scrapping the LivePDX idea. A few of my friends have lost their jobs and only one of them has been able to find a new one.

I've really noticed the amount of jobs, even just small gigs, on Craigslist (at least in the writing/editing category) have decreased a ton. Last year, in addition of my long-term writing contracts, I was finding smaller freelance jobs all year on Craigslist but this year there have only been a couple that I've even felt like I had a shot at… and I never heard back from any of them, no doubt because I'm sure they had hundreds of applicants.

I guess fluffy writing isn't quite as crucial as some other professions.

[brandonpdx]

Fortunately things are going well at my work (software industry). Only one of my friends has been laid off and I think he might of been laid off in any economic climate because he didn't care for the work he was doing.

I just wanted to shine a light and let people know it's not all doom and gloom as the media would suggest.

[Okstate]

Yes. My wife ( a recent accounting degree graduate) found it very hard to jump into the Portland job market even though she had experience working in Eugene. When she did get a job, which was luckily & surprisingly an awesome position at a local banking company they told her they were receiving 400 applications a day. They received applicants who were former CFO's, CEO's, and several attorneys.

As for me; I'm not too worried b/c I am going to start another grad. program this fall HOWEVER I have been poking around trying to find something as well & have not even received a nibble. I've got an excellent college GPA, a great deal of applicable experience (for the jobs i've applied), & amazing references & still... nothing..nada.

[MarkDaMan]

I work in the non-profit/educational world. We spent the last 8 years living the educational funding drought so it isn't hitting us so hard...In fact, the new administration promises to help us grow above 200 employees again.

Personally though, I've cut back and decided to more quickly pay back some debt. I also passed on my new flat screen I was going to get myself for Christmas, instead keeping the perfectly fine TV I already have, at least until next Christmas...

[JordanL]

Wow... looks like bvp got quite the response...

Things are bad. Just because they aren't bad for you, doesn't mean they aren't bad for many.

EDIT:

brandon: I work in programming... web development and administration. There's probably 100 times as many people looking for work as there are jobs in my field...

[RED_PDXer]

It's kinda bad out there.. I have at least five friends who have been laid off already while others are expecting the pink slip any day now. My work has had a hiring freeze and wage freeze put in for a while now and will likely lay off people soon. The unemployment rate has doubled in the past year to around 11 percent now. That's pretty bad. The unemployment rate during the Great Depression was beyond 25%, so it would need to be a lot worse to match that. There's still 75-90% of people who are employed, which means you'll see plenty of people out and about and dropping cash on a breakfast or other small thing.

[JordanL]

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

It's kinda bad out there.. I have at least five friends who have been laid off already while others are expecting the pink slip any day now. My work has had a hiring freeze and wage freeze put in for a while now and will likely lay off people soon. The unemployment rate has doubled in the past year to around 11 percent now. That's pretty bad. The unemployment rate during the Great Depression was beyond 25%, so it would need to be a lot worse to match that. There's still 75-90% of people who are employed, which means you'll see plenty of people out and about and dropping cash on a breakfast or other small thing.

Clinton changed the way unemployment is measured (which surprise, lowered the unemployment).

Using the criteria they used in the 30s to measure unemployment, we're somewhere inbetween 15% and 18%.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by JordanL

Things are bad. Just because they aren't bad for you, doesn't mean they aren't bad for many.

You misunderstood. My point was not, as you appear to imply, to gloat. My point was simply that some places around here seem busier than ever; given the hysterics in the media, I wanted another perspective. It is, I think, reasonable to wonder, given the seeming contradiction. I am lucky in that I'm probably pretty safe, but even so, we've cut back on our spending as much as possible. So - I suppose - either those people lining up at the Stepping Stone are 1) overconfident, 2) justifiably confident, 3) in denial, 4) splurging a last time before it all comes crashing down.

[Okstate]

^ I see what you're saying. For me, the day you can get a parking spot on a first try around the 23rd street area (which is supposed to have been hit nearly the hardest) that's the day I'll start worrying.

[bvpcvm]

^ We just drove down 21st about an hour ago. There were about 20 people waiting outside Marrakesh, and that row of three expensive restaurants between Johnson and Kearney were fully packed. The cheaper places (Ling Garden, Beau Thai, the Mexican place next to Coffee Time) had some people, but not many. But then those places are always pretty empty.

[philopdx]

I can understand why some people might think the media really trumps things up, since that is generally what they are paid to do. Hyperbole sells! But there are definitely some serious, systemic issues writhing their way through our economy.

That being said, there's still a ton of money being made out there and portions of the economy are humming along nicely. So while most people still have jobs, its in the margins where you see the chinks in the armor. Over-extended leverage, corpulent inventory, torpid sales, bloated payrolls, and business models based on freewheeling discretionary income are all minor sins in a robust environment; but when the fringe growth evaporates, those quirks threaten to snuff out the whole concern.

And even though in some ways the media oversells a story, in some crucial ways they have no clue how close we came to absolute catastrophe back in October. I mean money funds were breaking the buck - for a few days all credit flows stopped. With no liquidity to fund lines of credit, there is no such thing as payroll, no such thing as accounts payable or receivable and no payment of supplies or equipment. Most people still don't grasp it, much less the glib yet articulate personalities who flunked the LSAT and settled for a career in broadcasting.

[zilfondel]

I'd say close to 80-90% of the people I know have been laid off, from my father, myself, everyone I know who has graduated college within 2 years (barring one), as well as some other relatives.

Its... pretty tough out there.

[holladay]

I'll throw myself into the pile of complaints about the local economy and admit that I, too, have been laid off for 3 months. Half of the people I know are in the same boad (I'm in my 20s and most of my friends are close in age). I even had to move to Vancouver to find a much less expensive apartment. I just hope I find something before my unemployment benefits expire.

[bvpcvm]

Well, I certainly hope everyone can find something soon. Hopefully, the Obama administration is correct when they say they expect recovery to begin early next year. Looking for a job sucks, and it's something I'm terrible at even when the economy is good. Personally, if I was unemployed and in my 20's, I would probably sign up for the Peace Corps and ride out the recession in Tanzania or whatever.

[NewUrbanist]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

Well, I certainly hope everyone can find something soon. Hopefully, the Obama administration is correct when they say they expect recovery to begin early next year. Looking for a job sucks, and it's something I'm terrible at even when the economy is good. Personally, if I was unemployed and in my 20's, I would probably sign up for the Peace Corps and ride out the recession in Tanzania or whatever.

Good luck on the peace corps. That is one competitive program. I forget the totals now, but very few applicants are accepted to the program. I opted for grad school instead and will leave two weeks after my contract ends at my current job. Perfect timing.

[bvpcvm]

I did it about ten years ago. It wasn't too hard, you just need to say the right things.

[WestCoast]

long time no update.

drove up lovejoy today and looked like it was getting buttoned up here.

anyone got snaps looking south?