The future of work in Springfield

73,500 (63 percent) of people working in Springfield earn less than $15 per hour before payroll deductions, This represents a gross economic distribution of over two billion dollars, more than half of which has already been captured by landlords.

It's common knowledge that the workforce in Springfield, Illinois is mostly state, county, municipal and the health care industry. The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has specific data up to May 2017.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) has a database of Workforce Availability for Sangamon County (Total Population: 198,639). Springfield proper has around 115,715 (according to Google), The BLS shows the population of Springfield with jobs at 106,710, Leaving approximately 9005 people unemployed. This doesn't include children, the infirm or the elderly because we're looking at the eligible workforce according to IDES, so who are these 9005 people who are apparently not working?

The "official" unemployment rate reported is 5.5%, Where is the other 4 to 5 percent? They fell through the cracks. It gets worse.

Around seven to ten percent of the population in Springfield are out of work. That seems like a relatively small number. but the uncounted here are the unemployed within Sangamon County, outside the limits of Springfield, as well as people whose unemployment benefits have expired while still out of work..

• Retail cashiers and sales people face the possibility of elimination due to local automation and online sales.
• Retail stores closing across the country.
• January 2016: Numerous Downtown Springfield Businesses Close in Recent Months. 
• September 2017: Retail scorecard: Springfield store closings reflect national trends. 
• April 2018: Bergner’s parent company planning to close all stores, including Springfield. 

If this doesn't make things worse, according to Rent Jungle, the average rent increased by 5.19% from last year in Springfield.

Local entrepreneurs will have a problem serving the upper class if they can't find employees who are willing to work while homeless.

Let me repeat the first paragraph: 73,500 (63 percent) of people in Springfield earn less than $15 per hour before payroll deductions, This represents a gross economic distribution of over two billion dollars, more than half of which has already been captured by landlords.

Rumors and Speculation about Layoffs? Go Here:

Just added to the jobs list on the left column is https://www.thelayoff.com/ which I have only just discovered. I haven't gone through it yet, but I just wanted to share this as quickly as possible.

Employment sites linking to other employment sites and personal data mining job ads.

There was a job posted on Monster that linked to Beyond. Of course Beyond wants you to also fill out all of your information and start an account with them too. Is this fair? Is this legal?

Many sites get your information so they can sell it to someone else.

What's worse is I applied for a local job shortly after moving here and now suddenly I'm receiving junk mail from a local church. How did they get my mailing address?

I'm beginning to suspect that a lot of jobs posted online or in the newspaper are fake, designed to just get your information which they then sell to mass mailing marketers.

New job sites added

I just added three new job sites in the left column. Career Bliss, ZipRecruiter and US.jobs.

The jobs listing sites

The list (on the left) keep growing and growing, and I know most of them simply refer to each-other, but it would be a hard slog to find out which ones do this in order to make themselves appear legit.

Probably all of them just collect and sell user information, although it doesn't do them much good knowing that most of the users are unemployed anyway, so the data would be risky to any prospective buyer.

Some news for older workers

• Older Unemployed Struggle to Rejoin the Work Force - The New York ...
• Great Jobs for Workers Over 50 - Job Hunting - AARP
• 10 Jobs Hiring Older Workers | Retirement | US News
• The Suddenly Hot Job Market for Workers Over 50 | MONEY - Time
• Jobs for Boomers and Seniors and the Over-50 Workforce
• Some tech workers over 50 are literally working ... - Business Insider

I'm looking for a day job.

I'm in a pretty good position right now so I can take my time to look for a better job, which I'm sad to say is not the same for most people around here.

There is a lot of anger and frustration. I can see it in other peoples faces as well as their driving habits. Most people tend to follow too close and drive too fast and recklessly around here.

Having been in Seattle for the last four years with at least ten times the amount of traffic, I was surprised at how kind other drivers were.

They kept at least a car and a half distance in front of them at all times, everyone assumes that someone will need to merge into their lane close in front of them, so instead of leaning on the horn and yelling at a driver who merges in front of them, they just slow down and don't care, because everyone needs to get somewhere.

Now back to JOBS!

When you use sites like Monster, or other jobs websites, do you notice that they always find exactly the job you're looking for but it's hundreds if not thousands of miles away?

Did you actually move to that area only to find that the job either did not exist or was filled long before you applied?

Did you then go online to the jobs site to look again, only to find your dream job again, but this time it's all the way on the other side of the continent, again?

Maybe jobs are just jobs. Maybe we need to decide which is more valuable, the community or the job. Helping a community sustain itself requires sacrifice, and every job that helps sustain a community deserves every bit as much respect as every other profession. So take a job that helps sustain your community and spread respect.