If you can do so, hold onto your job until you can safely, conveniently, make a transition to a better paying job, if you can find a better paying job out there.  Before doing anything rash, put yourself in touch with the job marketplace. Here are just some of the “conversational” facts you should be aware of.

  1. Almost 100 million Americans are out of the labor force.  Did you get this? Approximately 1 in 3 Americans are NO LONGER LOOKING FOR JOBS. Why is that? And, no, they are not all baby boomers retiring.
  2. YES there is a recession in America. In fact, it is worse. A number of pundits even call it a depression.
  3. Almost 50 million Americans are living thanks to food stamps. Why is that?  And no, they are not lazy. In fact, desperate, yes, and eager to work…if they could only find a job.
  4. Company costs are rising.  That is putting pressure on profits. Profits always come before the welfare of employees. If your company’s profits are declining, you’d better brace yourself for the worst and get your resume out there. [If you need resume tips, check out Job-Toolkit or just ask.]
  5. It is becoming more difficult for revenues, (sales), on average to increase.  That is an early warning indicator of trouble ahead for a company. Revenues level off. Cost cut programs go into play. When saving the proverbial staples and paper clips fail to ignite a turnaround of the bottom line, people have to be let go. If you are a “people” you’d better be watching for the early warning signs.
  6. TPP is coming soon. That top secret negotiations will cost America many more good jobs which will be shipped to the have-not, low-wage countries…at your expense. Do you recall that many millions of jobs evaporated in America and suddenly appeared in China when China was elevated to preferred partnership status? And you elect and then pay politicians for decisions like that! Shake your head.
  7. Your health costs are on the rise. Lots of reasons for that. The solution? You had better hope your employer continues to offer you an awesome benefits package to cover your rising health care costs. The last thing you want to experience is an illness when you are between jobs.
  8. Are you in debt? Have a mortgage? Owe money on car or boat or travel or school loans? Be aware that because of all the money printing by your not really a “Federal”, Federal  Reserve , sooner or later you will have to pay the price through higher interest rates on bank loans. Don’t count on borrowing more money to get you over a period of unemployment. Don’t plan to use your credit cards to bridge that gap. It’ll be a disaster in the making.
  9. Think you can depend on selling your stocks to carry you over a period of adjustment? Be aware that the stock market is at all-time highs because the not really a “Federal”, Federal Reserve, printed so much money and fed it to the banks at nearly no cost, that the banks stuffed it into real-estate and the stock market. That’s called creating a bubble. All bubbles burst. The stock market is destined to violently burst.
  10. If Russia, China, and Iran continue to work together, and if the G-20 follow through on their threats, they just may displace the USA dollar with the Yuan or Ruble, or even GOLD, as the global currency of trade. If that happens, you can expect INFLATION here in America to sky rocket more so than the unofficial 9% to 10% that it currently is. If you are unemployed you’ll suffer greatly. If you are employed you will have a harder time making ends meet. But of the two scenarios, having a job is the much better one.
  11. I offer you one more sobering thought. If you are unemployed, it may not be possible to think straight. You may end up making life-altering, but bad decisions. Keep your job and keep your head on straight.

So, unless you have a great, secure job to move to, hold onto your current job even if you hate it. Be aware that life out there in the job searching field is far from a bed of roses. Some job seekers are going 18 to 24 months and still not finding a job. And, if you are one of the unlucky ones to be unemployed, don’t try to hold off taking a decent job just because it doesn’t tweak your ego. If unemployed, take almost any job, if you can get one. It’s only going to get much worse out there.