LA Times: For the 'funemployed,' unemployment is welcome

[marmar]

For the 'funemployed,' unemployment is welcome
These jobless folks, usually singles in their 20s and 30s, find that life without work agrees with them. Instead of punching the clock, they're hitting the beach.

By Kimi Yoshino
June 4, 2009


Week one: "I thought, 'OK . . . I need to send out resumes, send some e-mails, need to do networking."

Week two: "A little less."

Every week since: "I'm going to go to the beach and enjoy some margaritas."

What most people would call unemployment, Van Gorkom embraced as "funemployment."

While millions of Americans struggle to find work as they face foreclosures and bankruptcy, others have found a silver lining in the economic meltdown. These happily jobless tend to be single and in their 20s and 30s. Some were laid off. Some quit voluntarily, lured by generous buyouts.

Buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks or their parents, the funemployed do not spend their days poring over job listings. They travel on the cheap for weeks. They head back to school or volunteer at the neighborhood soup kitchen. And at least till the bank account dries up, they're content living for today.

"I feel like I've been given a gift of time and clarity," said Aubrey Howell, 29, of Franklin, Tenn., who was laid off from her job as a tea shop manager in April. After sleeping in late and visiting family in Florida, she recently mused on Twitter: "Unemployment or funemployment?" ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-funemployment4-2009jun04,0,7581684.story

[WI_DEM]

1. Aubrey Howell sounds like a twit. Must be nice having mommy and daddy to depend on.

[nxylas]

23. A future Republican president in the making

Does spending all your time on the ranch clearing brush count as "funemployment"?

[JHB]

2. Nice (un)work, if you can get it...

...and assuming they'll eventually get work they can support themselves on. That may be a very risky assumption.

[tech3149]

18. I've been "funemployed" since 2002

I wouldn't mind going back to work but I won't be a wage slave again. Twenty something years of preventing an employer from committing financial suicide is about a year too many for me. Of course there are my 88 y/o parents to consider. I'm more than willing to sit back and let those younger that are full of piss and vinegar to get paid for doing my job. I wouldn't mind offering a helping hand to get them through the hurdles that it takes to make your bones in any profession.

One thing I would truly miss is the freedom to listen to Steph, Hartmann, Kincaid, and Malloy. Then again, the weekends have a lot to offer with "This is Hell" and "Background Briefing"

[Qot]

22. I think they call this being a bum

[tech3149]

31. Being a bum suggests that you don't pay your own way

I've paid for every day since I quit working for pay. You can think what you like but I'm happy with my choices and unashamed of where I stand in the world. If you don't like it FOAD!

[dkf]

3. If I had enough money I'd be funemployed too.

Unfortunately I'm waaaay off from enough money.

[Cleita]

4. If you are young, single and in good health, it's not that hard to do, however,

I don't know if anyone with spouse, children and medical conditions could be so care free about being out of work.

[phantom power]

6. Exactly.

Things are very goddamned different when you have a family to support. And it may be easier when you are young, healthy and single, but you know, eventually even beach bums have to eat.

I'm sure it will be less than 48 hours before we hear the rush limbaughs of the world using this article to reassure their dittoheads that all this unemployment stuff is overblown -- look, it's "funemployment!"

You know, just like Guantanamo is a beach resort, just with a little barbed wire.
:eyes:

[Skittles]

7. actually, us normal single folk do feel real unemployment angst

I suspect these folks rely more on their parents than the article indicates, and are used to getting a free ride

[RadicalTexan]

27. I am 29, single, no kids, healthy, and I find your statement offensive

I also cannot be so carefree about being out of work.

I don't have a double income, don't earn enough (and can't save enough) to even get a mortgage, am smart enough not to have kids I can't afford, and work my ass off in a wage slave job five days a week to break even. Just like everyone else. It would be hard for ME to do.

This article is about being part of the privileged class, not about being young or single.

[tech3149]

32. Agree with you

If I were still married or had kids I'd be breaking my neck to make a living. As it stands, I'm not young, not in good health and my only responsibilities are my 87 y/o parents. As long as I can take care of them for the rest of their lives, I'll be happy.

[YOY]

5. Talk about living in a state of obliviousness.

I wish I had a mommy and daddy to pay for visits to family in Florida should I lose my job.

[Kaleva]

8. I know people who consider unemployment as paid vacations

They don't get serious about looking for work till it's getting close to the time their unemployment benefits run out.

[JDPriestly]

9. Typical irrelevant, annoying "news" from the L.A. Times.

It's my paper, but I can't stand it.

They should, of course, be writing articles about the retirements of the CEOs who walked off with millions. Guess the ex-CEOs are more discreet.

That article should not be read much less cited on DU. It is a waste of trees.

[Speck Tater]

10. We'll see how fun it is when the free-ride money runs out and starvation sets in. nt.

[spanone]

11. i guess if you have no responsibilities....it could be fun

[bluestateguy]

12. I guess if you have a pile of money saved up, or a trust fund

But that's only a small number of unemployed people.

[MindPilot]

13. just the word makes me want to

:puke:

edirt to correctt tipos

[Raineyb]

14. In other words

Let's find a bunch of people who can be made to look as if they're just screwing around so as to better demonize those who are not spending all their time doing the busy work of trying to find a job in a market where there aren't any.

And there's accusations of there being a liberal bias in the media? Bullshit!

I gave up doing the busy work of looking for a job when I can't get my resume past the gatekeepers and went back to school. Am I supposed to feel bad about not hitting the pavement?

[backscatter712]

16. Same thing here.

I spent a while pounding the pavement, making phone calls, emailing resumes, etc. etc. etc. and was getting nowhere.

Are we really expected to keep banging our heads against a brick wall over and over?

I'm going back to school this fall. At least with student loans, I'll have an easier time riding out the depression.

[tabbycat31]

21. same here

I worked in an industry only alive because of a bailout by the government. I knew that I could not find a job in that industry, so I went back to school instead. I'll be done in December.

[Mike Daniels]

15. The article does seem to imply that the "funemployed" have funds to draw on...

Buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks or their parents....

However, unless these people are living in group houses or at home with mommy and daddy the rent usually drains the bank account pretty quick if nothing is coming in to replace it.

I have a feeling that the funemployed are a pretty insignificant percentage of those who are unemployed.

[Retrograde]

17. because unemployment payments are so generous

Severance? The last company I worked for was going to offer one week's pay to the regular workers (and two weeks' to management) until someone (me) raised a stink and got it raised to two weeks for everyone. Maximum unemployment check in California is $450 a week, which doesn't go far here, where average house prices are in excess of $300K and rent for a 1-bedroom apartment can start at $1000 a month. Savings helps, if you have enough to live off the interest. So that leaves parents: I suspect a lot of these people are either living in a very cheap part of the country, or have moved in room and board free with family.

BTW, if they're being honest with the unemployment people, they don't collect for when they're off visiting family or lying on the beach, unless they can show there was actual job hunting going on.

[alarimer]

29. I guess Mommy and Daddy are probably footing the bill for these losers.

They will have to learn the hard way I guess to take care of themselves.

[tech3149]

35. You can't be "funemployed" unless you have some funds

I busted my butt for 40 years to be able to kick back and relax a bit. I wouldn't mind going back to work and might even do it for free so long as it provided some positive social gain. I feel for the 20 or 30 somethings that have to do the same just to pay the bills and student loans. Getting old isn't for pussies, but you couldn't pay me enough to go back to being a 19 y/o today.

I think you're right, the "funemployed" are a small percentage of the population but we've been paying the bills for ourselves and our parents for decades. If we find the need to take a break for a few years, I think we should have that option.

[montanto]

19. As usual the LA Times has nothing to say.

[LadyHawkAZ]

20. Tomorrow's story will be

about some Cadillac-driving woman in Chicago who's used 14 aliases to defraud the welfare system of $150,000.

[dugaresa]

24. nothing funny about unemployment when you have kids and a mortgage

I find these articles just horrible.

my spouse is finally going back to work after a layoff. he may finally get a night's rest.

[RadicalTexan]

28. Nothing funny about it when you're a single, childfree renter with no savings, either

nt

[RadicalTexan]

25. I am 29

These folks must have rich parents.

I would LOVE to not have a job. But I'm afraid I have to eat. Oh, and pay off the $50,000 of debt I went into to get two degrees (which, so far, have landed me a secretarial job - a good one, with benefits, mind you, and a decent salary - but a secretarial job nonetheless).

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. another new 2009 depression era word... like 'Staycation'

[Greyhound]

30. You do get that this kind of thing is what the RWAs will use as an excuse to screw

people out of their benefits, don't you?

[johnfunk]

33. It's called "Going Galt" -- these twerps are unproductive and un-American

Sign 'em all up for AmeriCorps.

Mandatory civilian draft for 18-to-35ers who are "out of work" and subsidized by a trust fund.

[ProgressIn2008]

34. Our overlords really want to keep us docile, don't they? As more of us lose our jobs

the crazier the pacification will get. Look for the celebs and reality shows pimping it next.

[undeterred]

36. Well if you have no responsibilities at all-

no rent or utilities or car payments- no dependents or pets- no worries about having to explain long gaps in your employment history- plenty of money to spend on entertainment... well its hard for me to believe there are that many people in this category who aren't living in their parents basements.

[noamnety]

37. Amazing new insight from the news media:

people who can afford not to work enjoy not working. :eyes:

With all the newspapers going out of business, if this reporter gets laid off, I hope they will remember two things:

1) that it's fun fun fun to not have a job, and
2) it's exactly because of crap like this masquerading as news that the papers are failing.