Meet the Unemployable Man

[Alphawolf55]

Seriously guys living in NYC isn't that hard on a moderate income, you just aren't going to be living in Manhattan.

[Alferd Packer]

I must agree. There are no less than three distinct commuter train networks serving the metro NY area, to say nothing of the NYC subway system(which serves the five boroughs itself) or the various bus networks. If you really want, you can live up to ninety-five miles away from Manhattan(where rents, surely, are low), and still commute via mass transit. It's gonna be a long-ass train ride, but it's certainly doable.

[Alphawolf55]

Especially since alot of times you aren't going to be spending around 400 a month on vehicles and gas. You're going to spend usually 90 bucks a month for a simple unlimited metrocard.

[AMT]

Why the hell would someone try to live in NYC on a moderate income?

Not really a hard choice to make if you were born there and can't afford to move anywhere else.

If your rent is absurdly high, then you can't afford not to move somewhere else. And given the fact that so many people commute to NYC from outside the city, you can't say that you're forced to live there because of work.

Indeed. At least for NYC the sheer urban concentration should allow one to commute cheaply with mass transit.

[Temujin]

While I'm probably moving back to DC, which is also expensive, I've considered NYC as well for pretty much the same reason; while the cost of living is indeed higher, there are far more job opportunities and far more diverse ones at that. And as others have pointed out, commuting can help a lot with the living expenses.

[Rye]

You don't actually even NEED any education to be a home care provider and again a lot of the staffing agencies that organize that also do LNAs.

I think that's going to have to be the case here for the forseeable future, what with the conservatives in (sort of) power with Cameron's "big society" stuff where he removes government care in favour of volunteers from the community.

A Ph.D. in history is not going to be kind to me in this job market.

Don't under-sell yourself. My girlfriend has a degree in History and used it to get a job with the police records office, since she argued it shows attention to detail, a grasp of facts and sources that's critical to the job. There will be vacancies that need to be filled, and as the thread shows, some degree will be better than none.

[Jalinth]

Don't under-sell yourself. My girlfriend has a degree in History and used it to get a job with the police records office, since she argued it shows attention to detail, a grasp of facts and sources that's critical to the job. There will be vacancies that need to be filled, and as the thread shows, some degree will be better than none.

For non-technical degrees (history), this is exactly what you need to do. Show how your background and "work", whether school, volunteer, or paid, fits the requirements. Once you have the entry job, then you can learn other skills. One big skill set is "project management". Hardest thing I had to learn in my current position even though I had the "technical" aspects easily covered and then some. I took a 1 day course that was amazingly helpful.

[The Yosemite Bear]

damn this may explain my sudden frequent listening to Rage Against the Machine, Springsteen, Pete Seager, and Woodie Guthrie a lot latel....

[JBG]

damn this may explain my sudden frequent listening to Rage Against the Machine, Springsteen, Pete Seager, and Woodie Guthrie a lot latel....

There may not be a lot that modern science can do for you, unfortunately. Lots of fluids, bed rest .... Motorhead perhaps ...

Back to thread, the original article makes a good point. Education is such a great advantage. At the least it provides options. When in western countries we are outsourcing so much manufacture, with the warehouse and transport sectors accordingly affected, it is harder and harder for someone with basic School Certificate qualifications at best to get well paying jobs.

Simple clerical positions now (as they should) require at least basic literary and numeracy skills, much more than drop-outs have, speaking from experience. If you are in a place with a robust public service, then look elsewhere for jobs now as we are swamped for choice and those who cannot put together a simple sentence without spelling or grammatical mistakes are out. Simpliciter.