Dan

Calabrese

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February 3, 2009

Economy Down, Alcohol Consumption Up: Why Johnny Lush Can’t Find a Job

With the latest decline in the size of the economy, the unemployment rate inched close to 7 percent. That’s still lower than it was the year Ronald Reagan won 49 states on the way to re-election, but it’s not as good as it was during the booming George W. Bush years, and not a day goes by without the media telling us it’s new Great Depression.

Just so you know, not everyone who is part of that inauspicious 7 percent joins the club by way of hard luck. There are lots of ways you can react when you suffer from economic tough times, but one is particularly popular:

Drink!

That’ll get you back on the road to prosperity in no time. The Detroit Free Press reports:

With Michigan experiencing the highest unemployment rate in the country, a continually slumping economy and having one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, experts say much of the increased drinking may be related to people trying to drown their sorrows – at home.

Alcohol consumption historically climbs in bad times.

"It's reasonably well-documented that in other economic downturns, people drank more," said Robert Pandina, a professor at the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University. "What's interesting about this is that this happens at a time when you see a decrease in revenues from restaurants and bars. People go out less but drink more at home because it costs less . . . It's stressful out there. It's a comfort. You drink more, and you may not be as conscious of it as you would be at a restaurant or bar.”

Good grief. It’s stressful out there, so people need the “comfort” of alcohol. Drink up, Johnny! You’re wasting your life away anyway, so you might as well.

Let’s tell the truth: Some people deserve to be unemployed. They are irresponsible and have bad habits. Many of them do manage to hold jobs during good economic times, because when we’re at or near full employment, employers have to take whomever they can get.

But when the economy turns downward and employers can’t afford employees who are less than productive or less than reliable, Johnny Lush is the first to go. And if he responds to his misfortune in the manner described above, he can pretty much count on staying out of work in perpetuity.

If you lose your job, there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with it. It happened to me once, and I’ll share my experience. I was fired from my job in September 1992. It was right in the middle of “the worst economy in 50 years,” according to then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton. I had never been unemployed before. It was weird.

I decided what kind of work I wanted to look for and how far I’d be willing to move to find it. This was before the Internet. Each day, I set my alarm for 7:15 a.m., shaved, showered and got dressed, then drove to the local library to look through out-of-town phone books. By 10 a.m. or so, I was back home, typing letters to the prospective employers I found and making phone calls to learn the names of the people I would need to contact.

I never took a day off. I never slept in. I never drank any alcohol. Until I had a job, I made finding a job my full-time job. I probably worked harder during those two months than at any actual job I’ve ever had. I didn’t see how it could be otherwise. I didn’t have a lot of savings, so I needed to find a job and time was of the essence. If ever I needed my A-game, this was the time.

Bottom line: If you’re unemployed in this economy, and you’re not doing at least that much, you deserve to be unemployed. And if you’re the type of person who takes “comfort” in alcohol during trying times, well, I sure as hell wouldn’t hire you.

No matter what the state of America’s economy, there is always a core unemployment rate of at least 5 percent that never goes away. Perhaps it’s not hard to see why. If there is a subset of America that responds to tough times by increasing its alcohol intake, you have to recognize that society will always have to carry these people.

Sober up and start working at it. This is no time not to be at your best.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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