I don't deal well with unemployment; but then, who does? In his book Man's Search for Meaning, philosopher (and concentration camp survivor) Viktor E. Frankl described the phenomenon of "unemployment anxiety", in which an out-of-work individual develops an increasing sense of detachment from their own life. This is because in our modern world, the ego (here used in the psychological sense of what makes you you) for most people is defined by one's occupation. What one does with their time is a critical factor in how we as humans evaluate each other, both consciously and unconsciously, and more importantly, how we self-evaluate. I venture that this is still more the case with men than with women, as men tend to define themselves (and other men) more by occupation than anything else.
This is especially acute in the United States, a nation built on individualism, entrepreneurship, and can-do attitudes, where long-term unemployment is often regarded as the result of laziness or some other character defect. Everyone sympathizes with the downsized worker, but if that same person is still out of work after a year or so, it's obviously because he's a lazy bum who's not working hard enough to find a new occupation, etc. While such an attitude may contain kernels of truth, such broad generalizations can be very destructive to both individuals and society during times of economic depression.
Hence, prolonged periods of unemployment can lead to increasing feelings of worthlessness. Even more ominously, recent studies indicate that the psychological scars resulting from long period of unemployment remain even if one is later employed in the long-term. Such formerly unemployed people have higher levels of overall anxiety and statistically earn significantly less than those who have never been unemployed for long periods of time.
I bring this topic up not so much to comment on my own situation (or lack of situation, in the Dickensian sense), but rather because it has interesting sociological ramifications. More and more jobs are being outsourced to other countries; it used to be the factory jobs, but now outsourcing is increasingly shifting to information technology jobs (remember the "information economy"?). Barring a massive societal shift, it's reasonable to predict that, regardless of the business cycle, our nation will see increasing numbers of well-educated but unemployed people.
Just this morning, I read an article about how ever-increasing numbers of new college graduates are finding themselves overqualified and under-experienced for most available positions. The total percentage of jobs requiring a college degree has not increased all that much in the past few decades, while the percentage of Americans holding college degrees continues to inch upwards (along with overall student debt). Businesses can (and do) respond/benefit from this by imposing increased educational requirements to positions that formerly did not require such credentials, but this can only go so far before it drifts into the realm of absurdity (e.g. requiring entry-level lab assistants to have Ph.D.s).
I have no solutions to the socioeconomic issues that this problem engenders, but Frankl does offer ways to counteract the malaise and depression caused by unemployment anxiety. He suggests filling in one's time with meaningful activities. What this means differs from person to person; an outgoing person may become involved in volunteering or politics, while others may immerse themselves in intellectual pursuits or personal projects.
So what am I doing with my time? Being an introverted soul, it would be far to easy to fall into the trap of distracting myself with the endless entertainments available to me; if I wanted to, I could simply ignore my problems by immersing myself in games, novels, movies, television, and so forth. I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible. So, between scouring job boards and listservs and following up on leads, here are some things that I've been up to:
- Learning to play the electric guitar and keyboard
- Reading through a chemistry textbook and actually doing all the exercises
- Experimenting with digital photography and image editing
- Learning American Sign Language
- Expanding my culinary horizons by trying new foods and recipes
- Listening to different kinds of music and new artists than what I normally listen to
- Exploring new places near where I live by walking and driving (sadly, cycling near my apartment is tantamount to having a death wish)
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