The Social Legacies of Joblessness

The Atlantic recently featured an article about the impact of the recession on American society. In How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America, author Don Peck writes that the sustained high rate of unemployment, particularly among men, will have a lasting effect on politics, culture and the character of our society:

If it persists much longer, this era of high joblessness will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults—and quite possibly those of the children behind them as well… It may already be plunging many inner cities into a kind of despair and dysfunction not seen for decades.

The worst effects of pervasive joblessness—on family, politics, society—take time to incubate, and they show themselves only slowly. But ultimately, they leave deep marks that endure long after boom times have returned. Some of these marks are just now becoming visible, and even if the economy magically and fully recovers tomorrow, new ones will continue to appear. The longer our economic slump lasts, the deeper they’ll be.

The author interviewed William Julius Wilson, a Harvard sociologist, whose 1996 book When Work Disappears described the connection between the loss of jobs in urban neighborhoods i n the 1970s and social problems such as crime, family instability and low levels of social organization:

Wilson, age 74, is a careful scholar, who chooses his words precisely and does not seem given to overstatement. But he sounded forlorn when describing the “very bleak” future he sees for the neighborhoods that he’s spent a lifetime studying. There is “no way,” he told me, “that the extremely high jobless rates we’re seeing won’t have profound consequences for the social organization of inner-city neighborhoods.” Neighborhood-specific statistics on drug addiction, family dysfunction, gang violence, and the like take time to compile. But Wilson believes that once we start getting detailed data on the conditions of inner-city life since the crash, “we’re going to see some horror stories”—and in many cases a relapse into the depths of decades past. “The point I want to emphasize,” Wilson said, “is that we should brace ourselves.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

In Community Service

by Frank Jimenez

Frank is Outreach Coordinator at our Community Service Program. He works with the most vulnerable of Sunset Park’s residents, connecting them with  emergency food, advocacy, financial and legal assistance, and other vital supports. We asked him to share his thoughts about what community service means to him.

It’s hard when people find themselves struggling to be heard because they are in need of the things in life, to sustain themselves and their families. In these days of economic crisis people need to be able to turn to one another and give each other information regarding all things available to help them and their loved ones. As we at the Community Service Program (CSP) of Center for Family Life continue the arduous work ahead of us, we cannot waiver or lose our perspective. We must remain focused and steadfast so that many do not fall through the cracks on our watch. With so many responsibilities in the workplace we tend to try and find the time to go inside, to find a peaceful place where we can be grounded and in touch with our inner selves during the work day.

The stressful times when we don’t have enough food to give to the needy, enough time to give individuals all the information needed for them to move forward, enough people to continue this mission that we have been given. In this time is when as a team we can share the minutes so that we can separate ourselves from the things that drain us and go inside to a tranquil place, whatever our mind’s eye chooses, perhaps a beach, a forest, the sea, a moonlit sky, etc. So that we may have a peace of mind and regenerate our ways of thinking through meditation and inward observance. In this way we can remain focused in the world and in touch with ourselves (inner self). Because it is said in order to clean up someone’s house we should clean our own, outwardly and inwardly. So these are important tools and ways to continue the fight and the many struggles we have in front of us in the community at large.