Via Virginia Postrel, I discovered an article in the LA Times about “funemployment:”
While millions of Americans struggle to find work as they face foreclosures and bankruptcy, others have found a silver lining in the economic meltdown. These happily jobless tend to be single and in their 20s and 30s. Some were laid off. Some quit voluntarily, lured by generous buyouts.
Buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks or their parents, the funemployed do not spend their days poring over job listings. They travel on the cheap for weeks. They head back to school or volunteer at the neighborhood soup kitchen. And at least till the bank account dries up, they’re content living for today.
A couple of thoughts:
- A comment made later in the article refers to people choosing to opt out of a (corporate) system that isn’t working for them. What happens when the services associated with those systems run out of funds because people have opted out, but still expect a provided service?
- I know from firsthand experience why it feels so good to do work that fulfills you versus just provides a paycheck. However, what happens when the money runs out? If you haven’t been engaged in meaningful or measurable activity (e.g., school, volunteering, etc. vs traveling on the cheap) between jobs, will it be harder to get any job let alone a dream job?
- If funds run out, and your only option is to move in with the parents, is that really fair to the parents? At what point, do we accept responsibility for our individual existences and expenses?
I’ve gone through the unemployment cycle before, back during the dot com blow out in 2001. It was horrible on many levels, but there was a certain amount of pleasure at feeling justified in not working.
I don’t begrudge people the chance to make up for all those hours of overtime and extra travel, but I do expect an honest discussion about when play time is done. In order to recover from economic catastrophe, people have to be willing to work. It may not be in the same ways or in the same industries, but work is required. Funemployment looks like a slippery slope for even the most dedicated of individuals. What say you?
