Un(der)employment: why this ain't recess

Un(der)employment:

What does it mean today to be un(der)employed?

Does it matter where you live?

Or what gender you might be (or identify as)?

Does it give you the freedom to follow your bliss, or will it lead to my earning less in my lifetime than my employed compatriots?

My friend Ryan and I have spent the better part of a month (2? maybe 3.) pondering these questions through our electronic communication and we thought we might expand the discussion and our insights to the larger wired community—He living in San Francisco and me holding down the fort in our town of exalted learning, Oxford, England. We’re doing it mostly because we have a lot of free time to think about such things and the ‘luxury’ to write them down and share them with the handful of friends that might fancy a scan.

For my part I hope that it doesn’t turn into us moaning about the soul-sucking, self-esteem pounding, dismal, anxiety-producing, sleepless-night making, poverty-stricken, debt-creating, sea of self-doubt that is un(der)employment. And might just explore some of the silly, fun, artistic, quietude that hopefully blesses those of us who choose (read: are forced) to take a bit of time off (read: can’t land a good job to save our pathetic little lives).

As a dear friend referred to her un(der)employment, we are taking the first steps to leading joy-filled lives—even if it does lead to financial ruin. But in all seriousness, we, as well-educated, Westerners from middle/upper-middle class (US not UK interpretation of this label) backgrounds will likely come out of this experience a bit war-torn, a bit haggard, with slightly scruffy haircuts and threadbare clothing, but will eventually find jobs that are within our chosen careers, that are fairly well paid, and basically meaningful-- at least to us. Our experience will be unlike the millions of working people in the developing world, and the (non)-working poor in the developed who will be pushed back several degrees in their long-term economic prosperity and wealth accumulation. We on the other hand are relatively okay.

That moment of worldly-consciousness will hopefully not be a mere trifle in the coming entries. But I do hope to find some whimsy too. Let us first consider what un(der)employment means. I’ll give my two cents and leave Ryan the space and autonomy to define it in his own terms.