Are you feeling the recession (yet)?

[sufi]

i did a training day where 3/7 people were re-training after redundancy, but apart from that not really, personally. (In fact the training was for a new job i got, so i am actually contributing to national joblessness by moonlighting... sorry about that)

i assume this is because the finance crisis has so far only affected amounts of money with wild lines of zeroes after them, that are abstract apart from to a few bankers and politicians, and that us peasants will feel it when the state passes on the pain by unnecessarily chopping our public services & so on in order to 'structurally re-adjust' the loss off of the fat cats who created it & onto the peeple...

am i right? are you feeeling it???

 

[Brother Randy Hickey]

fuck yeh, for my sins I worked in market research and I got made redundant (along with dozens of others) in Feb 09. Whilst in hospital waiting to see if they'd amputate my leg or not

MR is one of the first "industries" (ahem) to go under at times like this, when companies realise that they have no spare cash for such pointless, unscientific toss.

And now I'm moving to the north east mid-recession, an area Cameron is going to bang the granny out of, cuts-wise, because nobody votes Tory up there anyway. Smart move, Randy

 

[luka]

no becasue australia isnt in recession.

 

[john eden]

My partner is freelance and has had all of her work for the summer ditched because the funding has been withdrawn.

My work is partly dependent on public sector stuff, so that is looking a bit shaky also - but the worst is yet to come.

So yes.

 

[paolo]

Not yet

I work for the civil service though...

 

[jenks]

Indirectly.

Staff not being replaced meaning covering the same number of kids with fewer teachers, i.e. increase in workload.

Staff being made redundant from nearby sixth form college as 'small depts' are forced to close - no Spanish, French or German being offered at A level there next year.

New, promised, buildings being scrapped.

 

[IdleRich]

Left Borders 'cause I could see it was going down the tubes thanks to the recession (and being a shit company run by morons - oh, and 'casue of Amazon and Tesco I guess). Sure enough it did of course - since then I've only worked for three weeks - oh and a few days doing temporary market research (counting people walking along the street - thank God for that maths degree) strangely enough.

 

[IdleRich]

So yes in other words. VAT rise also makes an immediate difference and that's 'cause of the recession..

 

[droid]

Yeah. The whole country is fucked. 30% decrease in income in my house through pay cuts alone.

 

[4linehaiku]

I've just graduated and nobody's given me a job yet. Not sure the recession is entirely to blame though. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Dr Awesome]

The recession didn't really hit my line of work that badly (praise Allah). I was semi-deliberately unemployed for the first bit of this year, and was planning on travelling over-seas, however events conspired and not going now means I've saved up a bit more of a nest egg which is pleasant. I also had the option of going back to study more if I couldn't find work.
Consumer confidence seems pretty high round these parts again now too, the business I interact with seem to be hiring staff and buying things.
Gotta hand it to my mother though, working for the Catholics she's in the most recession-proof fortress imaginable.

 

[Sectionfive]

Deficit almost 20%, the highest in the developed world
Food and drink, electricity prices nearly the highest in EU.
Untold amount of young family's in serious negative equity and mortgage arrears.

And thats only today's news.....

On a personal level, most of my close friends have left the country.
The college grant I was supposed to get in September is gone in the last budget.
Half of the family are out of work for the first time in their lives.

We are shagged beyond believe for years to come, this is only the thin end.

 

[Dr Awesome]

On a personal level, most of my close friends have left the country.
The college grant I was supposed to get in September is gone in the last budget.
Half of the family are out of work for the first time in their lives.

We are shagged beyond believe for years to come, this is only the thin end.

I don't know what your situation is, but have you looked at getting out too?

 

[Sectionfive]

No point in leaving till I have some sort of degree/qualification.
Its going to be case of go and stay gone. So I want to have the best chance etc.

 

[crackerjack]

Most of my friends (and I) work in music and media so this recession is old news, people. We were way ahead of the curve.

That said the last 6 months have been great, relative to the last 2/3 years at least. But that's just about to dry up again.

 

[Sick Boy]

Other than the transit system in Toronto reaching near-extortionate fees (which has more to do with their greedy, overpaid unions) and the inflation caused by the newly implemented harmonized sales tax, I haven't really noticed many notably harsh effects of the recession. My jobs have remained keeping the tenuous lack of stability they've always had, and have been roughly as easy to land as they always have been. That being said, perhaps it would effect me more if I ever had real jobs, or if I didn't live in Canada.

I did read this week that tenured positions in Universities have been dramatically decreasing, a trend bringing with it all kinds of negative implications...

 

[nomos]

I did read this week that tenured positions in Universities have been dramatically decreasing, a trend bringing with it all kinds of negative implications...

Me: lingering in a PhD program = no money. But, finishing = poor prospects for work. Fewer jobs available = increased competition for postdocs. The long-predicted wave of retirements isn't happening because everyone's pensions tanked in the crash. They're either staying on or not being replaced. Lots of new, stimulus-funded buildings on campus though. No idea how they'll hire enough people to teach in them unless they go the rumoured route of bypassing tenure and outsourcing to a low-paying academic temp agency/IP pirate, which would/should = bitter labour struggles. Somehow they've managed to find the cash to put flat screens in every other hall and foyer.

 

[nomos]

That said, Canada has weathered this better than most. But, by the time the crash came, our Tory minority had already killed off the surplus that we suffered for in the mid-90s. Now we've got a big new deficit and these guys are itching to roll out the austerity measures as soon as they can win a majority.

 

[Kate Mossad]

I'm alright (Jack) but a noticeable number of people higher up the food-chain than me have left to "pursue freelance opportunities" :slanted:

 

[Sick Boy]

Me: lingering in a PhD program = no money.

I can't really believe I haven't asked this yet, but: what are you pursuing a PhD in?