Unemployed Nation: America's Shrinking Payroll

Nov. 7, 2008— -- Carol Steinbrecher is a 55-year-old mother of three who, like many Americans, has spent most of her life working hard to provide the best for her family.

But today she is part of another group of Americans, one that is growing larger every day: the unemployed.

In the first ten months of this year, the nation's employers have cut nearly 1.2 million jobs and the unemployment rate is now at 6.5 percent, the highest it has been since March 1994. The Department of Labor released new data this morning showing that October was the tenth straight month of job losses, with another 240,000 lost just last month.

Fidelity and Mattel were some of the latest to announce layoffs, coming out yesterday with 1,300 and 1,000 job cuts, respectively. And this morning Ford said it would cut its North American salaried workforce by an additional 10 percent.

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Steinbrecher spent 17 years working for Xerox, most recently as a customer service manager. Then, one day in June, she was part of an 800-person layoff.

Immediately she thought: "How was I going to keep my kid in college? How could I make tuition payments?"

Now, five months later, the Pennsylvania mother is still looking for a job. Job postings seem to disappear just as quickly as they go up. Steinbrecher has managed to get just two interviews, neither of which led to an offer. One would have involved a three-hour roundtrip commute.

"I just can't believe it. I feel like a prisoner in my house," Steinbrecher said. "Why aren't I employed? I've been working since I was 16 years old. This is crazy."

Steinbrecher's old job had paid her $50,000 to $70,000 a year. Now she gets about a third that through unemployment, and the family relies on her husband's lower salary as a supervisor in a welfare office.

"I was the major breadwinner," she said, before joking that at least the bad economy is giving her husband job security. Then she noted that states are cutting back because of lower tax collections and that even he might not be safe from recessionary cuts.

"It's not very encouraging. There are not too many companies hiring right now," Steinbrecher said. "I'm trying to go for more recession-proof industries, like colleges, universities, health care." But she is finding that her experience doesn't fit with what they are looking for.