Changed by pandemic, many workers won’t return to old jobs

[SaysWho?]

Glad to see this perspective tackled by news organizations.

 

Changed by pandemic, many workers won't return to old jobs

APNEWS.COM

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There’s a wild card in the push to return to pre-pandemic life: Many workers don’t want to go back to the jobs they once had. Layoffs and lockdowns, combined with enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, gave many Americans the time and the financial cushion to rethink their careers.

 

 

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Nate Mullins quit his job as a bartender last November after clashing with managers over mask rules and worrying that he would spread the coronavirus to his immune-compromised sister.
 

Mullins’ unemployment checks don’t match what he was making at his Oak Harbor, Washington bar, but they’re enough to get by while he looks for jobs that would provide health care and retirement benefits.

 

“This opportunity to take a step back and really think about what you’re doing really changed my mind,” said Mullins, 36. “(It) made me think long-term for the first time.”

 

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But Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist who researches low- and middle-income workers with the Economic Policy Institute, said health concerns and child care responsibilities seem to be the main reasons holding workers back.

 

In April, she said, at least 25% of U.S. schools weren’t offering in-person learning, forcing many parents to stay home. And health concerns could gain new urgency for some workers now that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said fully vaccinated people can stop wearing masks in most settings.

 

Shierholz added that unemployment benefits are designed to give workers the time to find jobs that are better suited to their abilities.

 

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“Something just kind of broke, where I thought about how hard I was working for this job that paid about $32,000 a year,” Weitzel said.

 

Weitzel, 31, got accepted to Rung for Women, a St. Louis program that offers career coaching and training for jobs in high demand, including banking, health care, customer service and technology. In the fall, when her oldest daughter starts preschool, Weitzel hopes to get part-time work in a new career.

 

Mark Smithivas drove for Uber and Lyft for four years before he abruptly quit last spring out of concern for his health. He has spent the last year taking technology classes in a federal worker training program.

 

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Shelly Ortiz, 25, used to love her career as a restaurant server. But things changed last June, when her Phoenix restaurant reopened its dining room. She wore two masks and glasses to protect herself, but still felt anxiety in a restaurant full of unmasked diners.

 

Sexual harassment also got worse, she said. Patrons would ask her to pull down her mask so they could see how cute she was before tipping her.

 

Ortiz quit in July after she learned that the restaurant didn’t deep-clean the bar after a bartender was potentially exposed. She and her partner, a teacher, curtailed their spending, and Ortiz returned to school full time. This month, she is graduating from Glendale Community College with a degree in film and a certificate in documentary directing.

 

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In a tight labor market, some workers are also finding that if they hold out, they might get a better job than the one they left.

 

[Ghost_MH]

My wife was a in home therapist and the pandemic pretty much broke that. Between clients that refused remote services and others that refused to wear masks in their own home, it was just too much. She quit, worked on getting her teaching licenses and does that now because our local district was fully remote. There's no going back. She'll never work in the career she was pushing toward pre-pandemic. Amusingly, her sister is now doing the in home therapist thing because for her, that was less stressful than working in a hospital.

 

It's very easy to believe that a lot of people didn't just sit on their asses during quarantine eating Cheetos and playing Animal Crossing.

[marioandsonic]

People don't want to work shitty jobs that provide shitty pay and shitty benefits, all the while dealing with shitty customers and shitty management?

 

shockedpikachu.gif

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

My wife is probably going to leave teaching outside after the baby because teaching this year is the straw that broke the camel's back. 

[Ghost_MH]

1 minute ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

My wife is probably going to leave teaching outside after the baby because teaching this year is the straw that broke the camel's back. 

 

Ha, it really does roll downhill.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

I just want her to keep a position with the state because she gets a pension but something outside of teaching would be good. Teaching is too much fucking work.

[SuperSpreader]

2 hours ago, marioandsonic said:

People don't want to work shitty jobs that provide shitty pay and shitty benefits, all the while dealing with shitty customers and shitty management?

 

shockedpikachu.gif

Open the wall! 

[cusideabelincoln]

These perspectives aren't going to change the minds of people who believe the unemployed are lazy, not unless Fox covers it (haha).

[Keyser_Soze]

The pandemic didn't change my mind about my job it just made it easier to leave.

[SaysWho?]

56 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

These perspectives aren't going to change the minds of people who believe the unemployed are lazy, not unless Fox covers it (haha).

 

Not everyone who thinks this watches Fox.

 

People's minds change over time. It's how gay marriage was legalized, it's how marijuana is being legalized state by state, it's how Medicaid has expanded even to Republican states.

 

The non-Fox news media has a tendency to cover businesses complaining about people "not wanting to work" because it's easier to get a business opinion than find a normal person for a number of logistical reasons. Non-Fox media covering these perspectives is important.

[johnny]

4 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

I just want her to keep a position with the state because she gets a pension but something outside of teaching would be good. Teaching is too much fucking work.

what is the teachers union like where you live? 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

29 minutes ago, johnny said:

what is the teachers union like where you live? 

A teachers what

 

Recently legalized

[johnny]

13 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

A teachers what

 

Recently legalized

fuck teaching without a union. people like to complain about teachers unions but all these states that don’t have them treat teachers horribly. 

[CitizenVectron]

36 minutes ago, johnny said:

fuck teaching without a union. people like to complain about teachers unions but all these states that don’t have them treat teachers horribly. 

 

Teachers union where I live is for the entire province. They have massive bargaining power, and as a result they have good pay. I think starting is around $50k, and goes as high as $95k depending on time, education, etc (teachers require a bachelor's degree, but can be paid more with a master's and PHD).

[Guest]

Our school district is non-union and first year teachers make $58k. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Mind you Virginia is one of the absolute worst states, if not the worst state, for teacher pay in the country.

 

 

My wife is 8 years in and looking around at jobs she could get paid the same as an entry level college graduate private sector job. She wouldn't "get summer off" but she also might get maternity leave or get a greater choice in when she takes vacation, to say nothing of better pay, career opportunities, and advancement.

[Brian]

Not surprised by the NJ rating.  NJ teacher union learned quite a bit from Uncle Tony

[gamer.tv]

On 5/19/2021 at 2:22 PM, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

My wife is probably going to leave teaching outside after the baby because teaching this year is the straw that broke the camel's back. 

I felt lucky that the UK has schools ‘open’ across all the UL lockdowns and as a teacher, I was in school for the majority (and when I wasn’t we had to deliver videos and content of learning - not remote face to face) which was more sustainable. Now everything is back to normal and it continues to be a great job.