Couples losing both incomes

People who can stand to work together will have a certain sort of relationship. Hopefully that type of relationship will be strong enough not only to weather being in the same job, but also the financial difficulties coming from unemployment (and competing with each other for the few similar jobs of their type.)

It's interesting working with a spouse. I met and worked with the man I married for 6 years. Then I went on to get an alt ed teaching job. Truthfully, I still miss working with him. It's just fun to work on a project with him. (I am kind of fond of the man.)

These are the sort of articles that have been a Detroit Free Press staple since early 2001. I've grown numb to them. Things are so bad and have been awful for so long, it's just because the way things are in Michigan. So far, I've been lucky. Two of my jobs are education-- when the economy is down, education does well (esp. high school completion and job training =) But all around me are signs of the economy's tumble. Even my house, which was a foreclosure. Main Street, where half the store fronts are empty, for rent, for lease. I'm just numb from all the bad news.

With the current state of the economy, I'm strongly considering graduate school, just so I can sort of weather the storm and come back out in a few years when the job market might be recovering a bit. In my case, jobs are still available as an engineer, but it's a bit tougher to get hired as a n00b. There's a massive glut of experienced folks coming out of the auto industry because of layoffs, and they're now competing with this year's crop of freshly graduating engineers for the same jobs.

If you think the economy is bad where you're at Clair you should live in the UP. We've had 10% or higher unemployment for decades since the copper mines closed in the 60's. Unfortunately the people with money up here are refusing to allow industry to move in(mostly your restaurant owners, and other touristy places), and the state refuses to invest in any infrastructure projects here(only significant chunk of 4 lane is I-75) which keeps businesses away as it's hard to transport things across the UP(all 2 lane roads). Everyone downstate is just getting to where the UP has been economically for over 30 years.

I don't really see any economic light at the end of the michigan tunnel, and I think 50 years from now, there will probably be a lot less people living in the state than there are now.

I say put those couples to work in the same place, and start a reality show. Or perhaps they can write a book about their mutual experiences.

SHBueche said:

I say put those couples to work in the same place, and start a reality show.

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