Joe

Joe, 56, worked as a crane operator for 40 years. He never worried about getting jobs, but two years ago the work slowed down so drastically, he had to seek another occupation. Currently, he is training to be a bus driver—a job that will pay half what he was making as a crane operator.

My Story
I was making a good living as a crane operator for over 40 years. But in the last two years, I’ve seen such a harsh decline in available work I was left with no option but to abandon my occupation. Most recently, I waited for five straight months for a job to come through. Now, at age 56, I’m retraining for a job that will pay me half the money I was making before.

My savings have been completely wiped out paying the bills. I’m receiving unemployment, but it’s not even enough to cover my mortgage. Recently I was forced to file Chapter 13 to prevent losing my house. Simply providing the necessities has been my biggest struggle in this experience—I’m just barely scraping by—and things won’t be much easier even when I’m done with my training.

My relationship with my wife is suffering from this experience as well. We can no longer afford luxuries like eating out, going to see movies or going on vacation. Our social life is essentially gone. She has to work a 12-hour day as an assistant teacher to help with the bills. The stress we’ve incurred through this experience has put a real strain on our marriage of 37 years.

I see similar situations throughout my community. I’m not hopeless; I’m a very optimistic person and believe we can get out of this mess. But Bush’s priorities are completely out of order. Let’s get some jobs here. Let’s invest some money in our country to help our citizens.