Laboring Search : Erica Washington’s Long Quest for a Job Has Been a Lesson in Life, and in Politics

I spent nine months in 1993 searching for employment. The job I found, in a large downtown department store, was considered “seasonal” and thus only lasted six weeks. Being a recipient of Aid to Families with Dependent Children, I was hoping the job would be permanent so I could be rid of public aid. But, alas, it was not to be. Not this time, anyway. So, since January, I have been in search of ever-elusive permanent employment.

Since I tend to spend four to six hours a day riding buses from interview to interview, I have plenty of time to think. Most of my musings concern welfare politics, public opinion and how these things have affected my life. And of course, there is always a healthy dose of reality that injects itself into my thoughts, not only to keep things even, but also to bolster my ever waning sense of humor.

Actually, I used to make fun of people on welfare. I just thought they were all a bunch of lazy, irresponsible women who were content to live off the government. Then, in a couple of ironic twists of fate, I became one of the women I found so humorously pathetic. I had been working at a video-rental company, but at the time the relationship with the baby’s father had gotten so abusive it carried over into my work life. So much so that it forced me either to resign or be fired from my job. So I resigned and have since been unable to find steady work.

It was only then, when I had to go on welfare, that I found that a lot of the things that I heard and read were not all true. This is where welfare politics and public opinion come in.

Politicians base their entire campaigns and sometimes entire political careers on public opinion. Public opinion, of course, is shaped by the media (which is where I got my ideas about what welfare was and the people who accepted it). So, if those who want to govern can make those who are on welfare look worse than they really are, they in turn can talk big about “policy” and look tough: Public opinion is turned, and they get elected.

But ahh, the sweet intrusion: reality. There are a lot of women on welfare who are serious about getting off the rolls. They have searched long and hard for inexpensive child care (or bargained, traded or begged for it), dusted off their business attire, put together as professional a resume as possible, and stepped bravely into the world, praying every day that they won’t come home empty-handed. There is also a recession on, and everyone from multi-degreed executives to middle managers to regular clerks are out of work as well as welfare recipients. And since jobs are scarce, and applicants plentiful, employers know they are free to pick and choose at will.

So it’s not as if the jobs are not out there. I know. I have given out enough resumes to wallpaper a house. And it’s not as if no one is hiring. They are. They’re just not hiring me. Not right now, anyway. But I have hope. Things will change. But they won’t change overnight. And therein lies the problem.

There is a segment of the general population that wishes women would get off welfare yesterday. I know, I’m one of them. But since there are so many people out of work, we cannot reasonably expect to jump over everyone else and land jobs. As the economy picks up, so will employment. But it’s going to take time.

That means that politicians, the voting, tax-paying public and ever-searching recipients are going to have to learn to be patient. It could be a long wait.