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Recent Jobs Reports Are Hiding The Truth. It Still Sucks Out There.

January 8, 2018 by J. Parks 1 Comment

Recent Jobs Reports Are Hiding The Truth. It Still Sucks Out There.

Recent employment numbers (Nov, 2017) would seem to suggest that the job market in the U.S. has never been better. According to proponents of the report, the 4.1 total unemployment percentage means that America’s economy is booming and that it’s a worker’s market out there. If you watch any of the major news shows, they’ll mostly tell you that too. Here’s a quick clip of such a show.

 

 

Alright America. We Did It !! Shut it all down. Can’t get better than this! Right?…. Right? I mean, watching that clip, why not be exuberant and victorious? Well, because that clip is masking the truth and is wildly misleading. And why is that clip misleading? After all, we are close to full employment, meaning anyone who wants a job can find one. And that’s great, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The truth is, there are a lot of ways to fool the American people, and a jobs report like November’s is one such way.

So, how are these impressive employment numbers fooling people? Well, what’s missing is any context behind those numbers. What those numbers really mean, and why? Here’s some important information regarding the November jobs report. The following tells you how the report counts unemployed and employed people.

“Any individual who has been actively looking for a job within the past four weeks and is capable of taking on a job is considered unemployed. In contrast, you’re considered employed if you have a job. Even if you’re only working temporarily or you’re not working because you’re on maternity leave or you’re sick, you’re still counted as one of the employed people in the labor force.”

So people working temporarily, as well as part-time workers, are both included. Also, people who have given up looking for work are not included as unemployed. That number is around 1.5 million. Another problem with this report is that it doesn’t delve into underemployment as part of the employment numbers. Underemployed people who work part time, but want to work full time are considered fully employed. The number of underemployed people in the U.S. is estimated to be 22 million. Again, these are people who are currently part of that rosy employment number. Do you think these workers would think everything is great in the job market?

Here are more stark signs that the employment numbers grossly exaggerate the current job market’s success. If the job market is so great, why haven’t worker’s wages gone up? (only 0.2% per year, which is negligible growth). Are the jobs being created mostly well paying or at least have stability?(No, they are mostly low paying service sector jobs where hours and even employment can wildly fluctuate. This was seen in the CNN clip)

One of the unfortunate side effects of a good jobs report is that people who can’t find good work may think it’s their fault, and people at large, who only see the “great” employment numbers, but not the meaning behind them, may think people without jobs are lazy or not looking hard enough.

The truth is, most people won’t take a job if they can’t survive on the pay and hours. That makes sense. Why would anyone work just to pay half their bills? Earnest job searchers are disheartened when they discover the truth we’ve known here at The Underemployed Life for years: landing a stable job, with a living wage, has never been harder.

Filed Under: Underemployment In The Media

Our Review Of The Month: The Nano Towel

July 28, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

 Our Review Of The Month: The Nano Towel

Our Review Of The Month: The Nano Towel

Here at The Underemployed Life’s Home Office we use a lot of paper towels. We probably go through four or more rolls a week. We use paper towels after we wash our hands at the kitchen sink. To wipe up the kitchen counter. We use them to wipe down appliances, the bathroom mirror, and on spills. Most homes go through at least four rolls of paper towels a week. If you have kids, you definitely go through more.

We kind of hate buying paper towels. For a lot of reasons. You can’t fit them in your grocery bag, they take up a lot of kitchen space, and they’re not cheap. Even if you get the cheap ones, you end up needing so many rolls of them it’s like buying the expensive ones. Besides costing a lot of money, they’re also terrible for the environment. That, we didn’t know. We found out when we went looking for decent alternatives.

The U.S uses more than 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year. Producing that much consumes lots of resources, including 110 million trees per year, and 130 billion gallons of water. It also causes carbon dioxide to be let loose into the atmosphere. After a single use, most of it ends up in landfills, and decomposes, which produces and releases methane gas, a large contributor to global warming.

So we went looking for something better, cheaper, and not an environmental hazard. After about a month of trial and error we found something we liked, called the Nano Towel. We want to make it clear that we are not paid by Water Liberty, the company who makes the Nano Towel, to promote, endorse, or say positive things abut their product. We do however, get a small commission if you buy the NanoTowel through any links we provide.

Now, we’ve never done a video product test before. You can check our site for that fact. We ran it through some rigorous tests to really test if it was good as their website said it was. We truly didn’t know what to expect. Below are the results.

So here are the things we like about it.

PROS

    • Great absorbency- you see this on the video.
    • Cleans virtually anything with just water.
    • Environmentally friendly. No Toxins
    • Doesn’t take up all the storage space of paper towels.Our Review Of The Month : The Nano Towel
    • It can replace most of your paper towel use.  It will save you money as a result. A lot.
    • Has a 30-Day 100% Risk Free Trial Offer
    • You can use them for dusting, washing counter-tops, floors, bathrooms, glass, stainless steel, spills. Our video showed us using the Nano towel successfully for these uses.
    • Each towel can last 2-3 years, or 300-400 washes.

You can get it here!

Here are the things we didn’t like so much.

CONS

    • Not ideal for using for using to clean your fingers after a barbecue meal
    • Not ideal for using to clean mechanical gunk that may get on you if you’re doing auto repairs or any mechanized repairs.
    • Does not Sanitize
    • It’s not colorfast

OUR TWO CENTS

We like them, and we use them now. It’s as simple that. There is still a use for paper towels though. To soak grease from food, and to use if for messy foods among them. (Anything with barbecue sauce for sure.) Paper towels are great if you run out of coffee filters- (Yes, we’ve done it before)

However, if you’re tired of spending money every week on paper towels, this is a much better option. First, it’s truly better than paper towels at doing what paper towels are suppose to do. Second, depending on how much you spend each week on paper towels, you’ll save a lot of money and cabinet space. We didn’t know how much space our paper towels were taking up until we got rid of most of them. Also, it’s better for the environment. Lastly, if it doesn’t meet your standards, you can send it back, and get a full refund.

WHERE YOU CAN GET IT

Our Review Of The Month : The Nano TowelThe product is cheapest at their home website. Yes, even cheaper than Amazon. About 20% cheaper. You can see for yourselves. Their website currently has limited time specials on three different packages for purchase. Their Four Pack is only $19.95, while two Four Packs is priced at $34.95, and three Four Packs is priced at $44.95.

This is good since the website offers a free money back trial for anyone dissatisfied with their purchase. They also offer a one year warranty.

You can get it here!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Three Day Only, Incredible Electronics Deals

July 25, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

Limited Time Incredible Electronics Deals: See Inside for Details

The Underemployed Life has a partnership with a few companies where we get exclusive discounts not available to the general public. Today, we have a discount good for all of World Famous, Banggood’s electronics. If you buy any electronics today from Banggood you will get an additional 10% off any items (except for on 3D printers). You even get this discount off of electronics products that already have an advertised discount.

The discount is only not applicable to specific Banggood promotions which are clearly identified. We’re not paid in any way by Banggood by the way, to promote their company. We do however get a small commission if you buy anything using any links we provide. This allows us to continue to run our website so we truly appreciate it.

We’re pulling our ad in three days, so if you were ever looking to get any new electronics, now is the time. They have almost everything you want too. The code for your discount is: Elec. We also have another limited time discount code if you find something you like from a different department. That is a 7% OFF for ALL categories (normal price only). That code is: bgaff7. Now what are you waiting for? Go get the stuff you know you want and need, and without hurting your budget.

Click on this link to take you straight to Banggood’s Electronics Section.

These are a few of our favorite products.

Limited Time Incredible Electronics Deals: See Inside for Details

 

 

KOTION EACH G2200 USB 7.1 Surround Sound Vibration Gaming Headphone Headset with Mic LED LightLimited Time Incredible Electronics Deals: See Inside for Details

 

 

 

WEISRE PGX58 Omni-directional Wireless Microphone System Dual Mic for Karaoke Party KTV

 

Limited Time Incredible Electronics Deals: See Inside for Details

 

 

LP/Vinyl Tape To PC Record Music USB Cassette To MP3 Converter Capture

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Our Review Of The Month: The Nano Towel

July 8, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

 Our Review Of The Month: The Nano Towel

Our Review Of The Month: The Nano Towel

Here at The Underemployed Life’s home office we use a lot of paper towels. We probably go through four or more rolls a week. We use paper towels after we wash our hands at the kitchen sink. To wipe up the kitchen counter. We use them to wipe down appliances, the bathroom mirror, and on all kinds of spills. Most homes go through at least four rolls of paper towels a week. If you have kids, you definitely go through more.

We kind of hate buying paper towels. For a lot of reasons. You can’t fit them in your grocery bag, they take up a lot of kitchen space, and they’re not cheap. Even if you get the cheap ones, you end up needing so many rolls of them it’s like buying the expensive ones. Besides costing a lot of money, they’re also terrible for the environment. That, we didn’t know. We found out when we went looking for decent alternatives.

FACTS

The U.S uses more than 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year. Producing that much consumes lots of resources, including 110 million trees per year, and 130 billion gallons of water. It also causes carbon dioxide to be let loose into the atmosphere. After a single use, most of it ends up in landfills, and decomposes, which produces and releases methane gas, a large contributor to global warming.

So we went looking for something better, cheaper, and not an environmental hazard. After about a month of trial and error we found something we liked called the Nano Towel. The Nano Towel is a nontoxic replacement for paper towels. It is made of Nanolon Fiber, a fabric technology that is hundreds of times finer than one human hair.

Now, we’ve never done a product test before. You can check our site for that fact. We wanted to see if it was as good as the company said it was. We truly didn’t know what to expect. We also want to make it clear that we are not paid by Water Liberty, the company who makes the Nano Towel, to promote, endorse, or say positive things abut their product. We do however get a small commission if you buy the Nano Towel through any links we provide.

Below are the results and a few photos from our field test.

Our Review Of The Month : The Nano Towel

So here are the things we like about it.

PROS

    • Great absorbency. Probably the biggest takeaway for us was how absorbent it was.
    • Cleans about everything we threw at it using only water.
    • Environmentally friendly. No Toxins
    • Doesn’t take up all the storage space of paper towels.Our Review Of The Month : The Nano Towel
    • If you have a Swiffer you can use them on it instead of buying replacement pads. We tried it and it worked great.
    • It can replace most, but not all of your paper towel use. You’ll definitely save money
    • They have  a 30-Day 100% Risk Free Trial Offer
    • You can use them for dusting, washing counter-tops, floors, bathrooms, glass, stainless steel, spills. We used it successfully for everything on that list.
    • Each towel can last 2-3 years, or 300-400 washes.

You can get it here!

Here are the things we didn’t like so much.

CONS

    • Not ideal for using for using to clean your fingers after a barbecue meal
    • Not ideal for using to clean mechanical gunk that may get on you if you’re doing auto repairs or any mechanized repairs.
    • Does not Sanitize
    • It’s not colorfast

OUR TWO CENTS

We like them, and we use them now. It’s as simple that. There is still a use for paper towels though. To soak grease from food, and to use if for messy foods among them. (Anything with barbecue sauce for sure.) Paper towels are great if you run out of coffee filters- (Yes, we’ve done it before)

However, if you’re tired of spending money every week on paper towels, this is a much better option. First, it’s truly better than paper towels at doing what paper towels are suppose to do. You’ll probably be as surprised as us at its absorbency. Second, depending on how much you spend each week on paper towels, you’ll save a lot of money and cabinet space. We didn’t know how much space our paper towels were taking up until we got rid of most of them. Also, it’s better for the environment. Lastly, if it doesn’t meet your standards, you can send it back, and get a full refund. We give it a full recommendation.

WHERE YOU CAN GET IT

Our Review Of The Month : The Nano TowelThe product is cheapest at their home website. Yes, even cheaper than Amazon. About 20% cheaper. You can see for yourselves. Their website currently has limited time specials on three different packages for purchase. Their Four Pack is only $19.95, while two Four Packs is priced at $34.95, and three Four Packs is priced at $44.95.

You can get it here!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

It’s Our One Year Anniversary Giveaway Sweepstakes !!!

April 28, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

Hey!!! We got a giveaway sweepstakes. We’re celebrating our first year being up and running by giving away some pretty cool merchandise from our Cafe Press Store. Check it out. There’s great stuff there. Golf balls, t-shirts, laptop skins, pajamas, tote bags and a wide array of things we thought you’d like.

So, here’s how you enter and qualify for free stuff. We have a 100% spam free newsletter. We send it to subscribers when a new piece goes up or if we have something specific we want you to know about. Join our newsletter list, and you are automatically entered in the giveaway.

Subscribe here!

So, what’s in it for you, besides a shot at free swag? Well, we plan on getting special discounts for things you want or need. We’ll occasionally ask you what you want to see on the site. Our goal is for the The Underemployed Life to reflect our readers. Finally, we’re going to have occasional fun contests and giveaways for subscribers only. Just to do it.

Rules and Information for the Sweepstakes

Who is eligible? Anyone living in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

It’s Our One Year Anniversary Giveaway Sweepstakes !!!

April 28, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

Hey!!! We got a giveaway sweepstakes. We’re celebrating our first year being up and running by giving away some pretty cool merchandise from our Cafe Press Store. Check it out. There’s great stuff there. Golf balls, t-shirts, laptop skins, pajamas, tote bags and a wide array of things we thought you’d like.

So, here’s how you enter and qualify for free stuff. We have a 100% spam free newsletter. We send it to subscribers when a new piece goes up or if we have something specific we want you to know about. Join our newsletter list, and you are automatically entered in the giveaway.

Subscribe here!

So, what’s in it for you, besides a shot at free swag? Well, we plan on getting special discounts for things you want or need. We’ll occasionally ask you what you want to see on the site. Our goal is for the The Underemployed Life to reflect our readers. Finally, we’re going to have occasional fun contests and giveaways for subscribers only. Just to do it.

Rules and Information for the Sweepstakes

Who is eligible? Anyone living in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

Naughty Naughty: Corporate Misbehaving – A True Or False Quiz

April 7, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

Lately, corporate regulations are being rolled back at record speeds. (What, you want to dump all your coal ash in our natural rivers? Yes. Of course. Come on in, the water’s fine.) It’s our belief that as bad as these rollbacks are, regulations never really stopped big corporations from misbehaving. In fact, most corporations seem to get a weird kick out of acting like sociopaths and shitheads (Little known fact, Sociopaths And Shitheads was the original name for Little Debbie Snackcakes)

Though some corporations face real consequences for criminal actions, many more don’t. Most get away with being bad citizens (They are people after all, right Mitt?), and know there will never be serious prosecution or heaven forbid, jail time for any of their terrible or deliberate misdeeds – Unless you consider huge tax cuts punishment. Take that miscreant corporations! Let’s face it, corporate America is getting away with murder. Think we’re kidding? Check out our fun quiz as The Underemployed Life presents another true or false quiz on awful corporate behavior. See if you can guess them all correctly. Good luck, we’re all counting on you.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

Yale Strom On His New Documentary, American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs

March 24, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

Yale Strom is an accomplished writer, violinist, composer, writer, and more. He is also the director of five award winning documentaries. His newest documentary, American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs, is now playing at select theaters across the country.

Strom’s documentary subject, Eugene V, Debs, was instrumental in organizing the first labor unions in the U.S., fought vigilantly for worker’s rights, and was a vocal critic of World War I – which landed him in jail. Debs was also a founding member of the Socialist Party of America. We had the chance to ask Strom about his reasons for making the documentary, what he appreciated about Debs, and much more in an interview we conducted via email. (This interview has been lightly edited for clarity)

The Underemployed Life: What motivated you to make a documentary on Eugene V. Debs? Why him?

Yale Strom: When I was about 13-14yrs, I saw my dad had a biography on Debs in his library in our home. The photo of Debs and the orange background caught my attention. At that time, I loved to read biographies. I began to read it and found some of it quite fascinating.

TUL: What surprised you most about Debs? What do you most admire about his life?

YS: I was surprised to see Debs always “walk the walk,” where so many labor organizers, politicians just “talk the talk.” He was willing to go to prison two times for his political beliefs and values – always standing up for the worker – those who built the nation’s industries for the 1% super wealthy and greedy. Going to prison the second time when he was in his late 60s, and when he was not in good health meant he was taking a chance on his life for a principle.

What I admire most about Debs is he was able, in his folksy manner, to describe simply and directly what and why socialism was a better economic system to live under than capitalism. He reached farmers, immigrants (many who spoke little to no English), tenant workers, factory workers, as well as well educated professionals and clergy – all in his sincere direct folksy manner – never talking down to his constituents.

TUL: In researching Debs’ life, did you discover anything about our country’s history you were unaware of?

YS: I was not aware to the extent the Palmer Raids really disrupted and even ruined people’s lives and how many immigrants were deported back to Europe. It was also interesting to find out that J. Edgar Hoover got his start in 1924 while working under Attorney General J. Mitchell Palmer.

TUL: How did most Americans react to a Socialist candidate in the 1900s?

YS: Well Debs never won the presidency but he did get 6% of the vote – a million votes, and when he supported LaFollete in his run for President in 1925, the Progressive and Socialist Parties together got 17% of the vote – so there was national interest in Debsian socialism. Also, from 1900-through the 1903s, there were many socialist candidates who held office, from city council, mayor, state assembly, to the House of Representatives, like Victor Berger from Wisconsin.

TUL: We currently have socialist policies in place like Medicare and Social Security, yet the word ‘Socialism’ is routinely derided and misunderstood. Why do you think the country has such a problem with the word, Socialism?

YS: The red baiters. Beginning with the Palmer Raids, right after WWI ended, through the McCarthy Era and the Cold War era of the 1960s to early 80s – these right-wing politicians acquainted socialism with the dictatorship in the USSR – and many, if not most Americans who did not read, did not understand the differences of what Debs and other socialists were preaching, so the right-wing activists just lumped socialism with Soviet communism.

TUL: Debs was aggressively pro union and worker’s rights. What do you think he would make of the way Unions have lost power?

YS: He would be surprised and dismayed to see how Unions have lost so much power in America. He would also see that many workers in America, because they do not read, are not well informed or are misled easily by right-wing talk radio, often vote against their own interests. Debs saw this clearly in his times. But he would see that certain unions are beginning to gain more and more strength particularly in the SEIU (Service Employees International Union).

TUL: Do you see Debs’ influence on the American labor force at work today? Do you think a renaissance of his philosophies and political views are possible in this country?

YS: Most definitely. I see much of what Debs spoke about resonating with the American public today. This is one of the reasons why I made this film. Sen.(Bernie) Sanders did not garner millions of votes and many delegates during his 2016 run for the presidency because of a fluke. The left is no longer willing to just let the middle of the road Democrats run things or let them say we have to compromise with the other side.

After the recession of 2007-09, people are angry at what Wall Street and the banks did to the American public. They are realizing that run away greed among corporate CEO’s is plainly despicable and just not right. The health care issue is one of these issues. More and more Americans realize that big “Pharma” is running this show, along with many greedy insurance companies. If we are the greatest nation on earthy (hardly), then why do we not have the best medical care and greatest longevity in the world?

TUL: What do you think Debs would make of today’s political landscape in the U.S.?

YS: He would say – what is so special about the number 2? Why only two major political parties? There needs to be more, so all the people are represented. The founding fathers had more than two political parties up through the early part of the 19th century.

Really, the party running the country the last 50 years has been the Corporate Capitalist Party. The 1% is doing extremely well and the rest of us (middle class and working poor) squabble among ourselves for the crumbs. Debs would say cooperation, not competition, is a much more social way of living on this incredibly small planet. And in his folksy manner, speaking to the farmers, he said this: “Cain was the author of the competitive theory while Jesus stands as its eternal denial.”

TUL: Where can people see the documentary?

YS: People can see the next public screening at the Boston International Film Festival April 14 at 6pm and April 17 at 11:30am. Both times at the Broadway Picture Entertainment (theatre) in Boston, located at 9A Hamilton Place

For more information on Yale Strom or his documentary, American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs, visit these links http://www.yalestrom.com/  http://www.ratedsrfilms.org/
You can also read a current review of the film, here.

Important Update**04/14/2018- The movie opens in LA May 4, San Diego May 11 and so far Cleveland June 12 and Hudson, NY April 27.  

Filed Under: Interviews

Our Theory Of Underemployment

March 17, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

Image by DonkeyHotey (License CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

A lot of people ask: “What exactly is The Underemployed Life? Who are you guys? What are you about? Also, where are my pants?” These are all good questions, especially the one about your pants. Your pants are on the closet floor where you threw them last week. Now the question about who we are – that is not as simple to answer.

I can see where a cursory look at our website would inspire questions about what our main focus is. After all, we have a variety of material on our pages. On one day you can read about dealing with an abusive boss. On another day, you can check out a tongue in cheek story about getting along with your robot co-workers. On Mondays you can read Kay Smythe’s columns which are about anything and everything.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

The Top Five Hardest Things About Being Underemployed

February 10, 2017 by J. Parks Leave a Comment

Image by Stannered (License CC BY-SA 3.0)

                                                                           1.  Knowing You’re Underemployed

Number one is easy. Being underemployed in and of itself is hard. Working a job you know isn’t utilizing your skills or knowledge is psychologically rough. Many of us berate ourselves because we’re stuck in a job we’d rather not be doing. We know we’re capable of more. We curse our lack of drive, ambition, or whatever else we think caused us to end up where we are now.

Here’s some good news. You shouldn’t beat yourself up. The truth is, the job market sucks. Yes, maybe there are more opening for jobs, but the majority of those jobs are for low paying service jobs or part time work only. There’s only one group of people who wins when the job market is rough for workers, and that’s employers. Employers who see it as a race to the bottom to give as little as possible in money, benefits, and respect to their employees.

When the job market is bad, people are often told to “Be happy. At least you have a job.” My response to that is an elegant, precise, “please shut the fuck up, you’re only making me feel worse.” It’s hard enough to get up in the morning, but when you have to get up to go to a job that has nothing but a paycheck in it for you, it’s extra tough.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogs

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