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UNEMPLOYMENT Willingness to work may not be enough

It’s so easy for certain people who are employed to stereotype or cast aspersions upon the unemployed. Such is the case with local business consultant Terry Larkin (”Hard luck and hard times, or hard work?” Business Forum, Nov. 21).

He wrote: “I am faulting the 14 million unemployed Americans who daily walk past the roof, restaurant and rose-bush jobs.”

Later, he demeaned the unemployed for not being willing to drive a cab, join the military or work as support staff in health care. By the way, all this comes from a man who has a white-collar job that isn’t nearly as dangerous as those just listed.

My suggestion is that he study the lives of individuals who are unemployed. He would find that many cannot physically do the tasks he suggests.

Some who had jobs that paid well and used to be secure have had children, and now they can’t afford to take employment that won’t cover the cost of day care.

Others can’t move to another state where work may exist, because their mortgage is underwater and they can’t sell their current home. They also know how risky renting that home can be.

Besides, they still have genuine hope a job will open where they have established roots.

Some of the unemployed did move, but had to return. Witness those who left families behind to work the oil fields in North Dakota or Oklahoma, but had to come back early because of difficulties at home.

Other people are actually working in school, learning new skills that hopefully will lead to careers good enough to support a family. Let’s not forget recent college graduates who work for free as interns with those same dreams.

Then there’s always the concern that if people take low-paying jobs that don’t match their best skills, the time spent that way cannot be used searching for a satisfactory career.

All those reasons and more are precisely why we’ve become more civilized since the Great Depression and have the unemployment insurance the writer also criticizes.

Of course there are people who are lazy and take advantage of the system, but they are certainly not the majority.

Most of the jobs that Larkin cited are not, in fact, nonskilled. Today, companies with openings for roofers, landscapers, cab drivers, meatpackers, nurse’s aides, etc., are looking for people who already have experience, or at least training, in those fields.

They don’t need to consider people who are trying to switch fields. The well-dressed people attending the New York job fair in the photograph that accompanied the article are not going to be hired as roofers.

I have no problem with the claim that hard work is necessary to get a job, but I dispute the claim that it is always sufficient.

I’m 27 years old. Like many of the 99 percent, I have a mountain of student debt that I have slowly been chipping away at for five years. However, I don’t believe that my college education automatically qualifies me for a paycheck.

A paycheck is not an entitlement, and no one owes me a job. I work hard for a living, and my paycheck is determined by the value I bring to my employer. Apparently that means I’m part of the other 1 percent.

THE SUPERCOMMITTEE There’s still a way out of the gridlock

Why not binding arbitration? If our elected representatives would quit representing their political parties first and the citizenry second, some progress might be made on the debt/deficit issues.

Speculation is that the 2012 election will not likely result in changes to resolve the impasse.

Would our Congress have the courage to adopt a resolution asking the Supreme Court to appoint a three- or five-member arbitration panel composed of respected, nonpolitical, competent and fully informed persons to hear arguments from senators and representatives on the most troublesome and divisive issues?

The resolution would stipulate that Congress would be required to implement the panel’s rulings.

Binding arbitration has been a workable tool in the legal profession and business world for years and has been utilized to resolve some major disputes.

Workable? While not a desirable method for Congress to conduct business, it is one plausible method to move toward resolving gridlock while saving political face with constituents.

PAUL E. ROCKNE, ZUMBROTA, MINN.

BIKE LANES Safe routes encourage this type of commuting

Jon Tevlin’s recent column about bike lanes in Minneapolis (”New bike lanes bring confusion and criticism,” Nov. 20) leaves out an important point concerning the recent increase in commuting by bicycle in the Twin Cities.

Referring to an anti-bike-lane group, he writes, “They raise some logical questions about how much of our roads, and money, we should devote to the 4 percent of people who commute by bike.”

I live five miles from work and began commuting only when I realized there were good and safe bike lanes available for much of my route. A primary impediment for people considering biking to work or anywhere is the lack of a safe route.

Here’s the missing point: Until we have enough bike lanes going where we need to go, we will see the percentage of bike commuters increasing only slowly.

More bike lanes are needed to encourage more of us to use this elegant and practical way to travel. Thanks to all who are willing to share the roads.

Source: http://www.startribune.com