Daily News - Higher Gas Prices at the Pump -- Another Sting for the Unemployed (ContributorNetwork) Daily Business News
With all the unrest happening in the Middle East -- the conflict in Libya, protests in Syria and Egypt and so on -- the price of oil went up again to more than a hundred dollars per barrel. Personally, I feel the sting of high gas prices every time when I go to put gas in my car and the problem is I cannot take public transportation because there is none here where I moved.
I recently moved from the Northeast because I was getting sick and tired of the long and cold winters, so I decided to move south to a better climate and cheaper cost of living.
I can't stand the cold Northern climate anymore and I'm sick of the huge snowstorms in New England. This winter we got at least three major snowstorms and the bad weather caused a lot of damages like roof collapses, fallen trees, highway accidents and so on. Even today -- April 1 -- there was another big snowstorm in Maine, New England although winter is considered to be over and spring is officially here.
I think it will probably snow even in June there, I'm not kidding at all. And the cost of living is so much higher in Massachusetts that combined with the cold weather and the lack of a job is a real turn off for me to keep living in that state.
So last week I packed my bags and moved south to a better warmer climate and much cheaper cost of living. Right now I'm enjoying the nice sunny weather in Texas and I can hardly believe that I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt and flip-flops and I'm sitting under a palm tree by the swimming pool.
Considering the fact I'm long-term unemployed, it helps a lot to pay less for rent every month but since they don't have a subway system here like in Boston, now I cannot take public transportation anymore and the only way to get around here is by car. So the higher gas prices have really huge impact on my lifestyle at the moment.
And the slight drop in the unemployment rate to 8.8 percent is probably because they don't count people like me who have been cut off from unemployment benefits because they have already exhausted all their extensions.
So in my opinion and I'm most likely right, the slight drop in the unemployment rate from 9 percent to 8.8 percent is not because of more hiring being done by employers but because of the ending of unemployment benefits for so many people who have exhausted all of their extensions on their unemployment claims. I submitted a new claim few weeks ago but I'm still waiting to hear from the Department of Workforce Development and who knows if they will approve it or not.
But as long as I'm sitting under the palm tree next to the pool and enjoying the nice warm weather I think I will be alright and things will somehow work out for the best in the end.
After all, without hope nothing can be achieved and having hope is essential in the job searching process.
Although it is really hard sometimes to keep your hopes high when you apply for so many positions and you don't hear anything back. I had my hopes high when I landed an interview but afterwards I was disappointed again when my phone kept silent for weeks and I never got that call from the HR manager that says that they like to offer me the position. I even got a referral from a friend who said that I can put his name as a referral on the online application and I was really excited about getting this job. But although I had a referral and I have a degree in this field, I didn't hear anything back at all.
So the only reasonable and sound solution for me was to move to another place and start over again.
News Story Links and Sources
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Oil-tops-108-a-barrel-as-apf-4141046625.html?x=0
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/New-England-snowstorm/ss/events/us/040111mainesnowstorm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110331/wl_afp/mideastlivereport_16
Comments :
Post a Comment