Downturn leaves men in recession depression

http://www.charlesprimas.com/
http://www.detroitbusinesstoday.net

Downturn leaves men in recession depression

Inability to work and support family becomes a health issue

Published Thursday, January 7, 2010 7:02 am

by Michaela L. Duckett, For The Charlotte Post

http://www.thecharlottepost.com/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=News&refno=2282

FILE PHOTO

Urban League of Central Carolinas CEO Patrick Graham leads the organization’s job development program, which helps clients build competitive workforce skills.

Dontavious Clyburn said being without a job made him feel like less than a man. “I was a high school dropout with no skills. I was tired of struggling, begging for help and facing my children without feeling any pride about myself,” he said.

Clyburn’s experience isn’t uncommon among African American men. According to a study conducted by the Urban League, 30 percent of black men are unemployed, and for many the effects are emotionally devastating.

Urban League of Central Carolinas CEO Patrick Graham said being unable to provide for a family is “psychologically damaging” to a man.
“You begin to view yourself as less than human when you are not able to provide for your family,” he said.

For many men, the stress leads to depression. An estimated 6 million men are living with depression. Many experts believe those numbers are much higher because it is so underreported, especially in men. Men are less likely to talk about it or ask for help.

“There is a very strong aversion or apprehension for men to speak about depression,” said Dr. Steven Gilchrist of Blakeney Family Physicians Steelecroft.

Gilchrist said men often internalize their feelings, which is one reason why suicide rates for men are nearly three times higher than for women.

“With the African American population, particularly in Charlotte, there is a high rate of depression among men, and again most of it goes undiagnosed,” he said. “Sometimes there is even more of a stigmatism among African American men as far as going to the doctor’s office versus any other race. And they are typically more chronically and severely depressed by the time they reach our doors.” he said.

Gilchrist said extensive studies have linked unemployment to increased levels of stress and depression.

“If you break that down into communities certainly the African American men will rate pretty high on that totem poll,” he said. “Within the (black) community there is a strong stigmatism against not being able to provide for the family.”

Clyburn sought help through improving his situation. He enrolled in the Urban League’s Youth and Professional Empowerment Program, earned a GED, and became a certified technician with GTI Communications. He also married the mother of his two sons.

“I got my dignity back,” he said.

Men and women experience depression differently. Common symptoms include crying spells, feelings of hopelessness, change in mood, loss of interest in daily activities, weight loss or gain, or decreased communication between loved ones. Sometimes there are even physical ailments and pain.

“The number one symptom that you will probably see in men is insomnia or a lack of sleep or sleep disturbances, where they may go to sleep but there are frequent awakenings throughout the night,” Gilchrist said.

“Fatigue is another huge symptom, and sometimes instead of lack of appetite, you will see an increase in binging or overeating.”

“The things you have to recognize are a change in behavior. Especially if the change is long term, for four weeks or greater,” he said.

Gilchrist said that if a man experiences these symptoms he should talk to a doctor, but the misconception that depression has to be treated with prescription medication deters many from seeking help.

“That is not the only treatment,” he said. “Most of our job is therapeutic. One thing that is highly important is for the spouse or at least one member of the family to contact the physician and actually go in and talk with the physician to help facilitate what the real problems and issues are. That shows a strong sense of support. It also gives the person a confidence level that they can open up.

“Another thing I recommend for families is that exercise and diet are so important during a very stressful period of your life,” he said.

Gilchrist said there are a lot of resources online about depression.

“It is important to recognize the signs and symptoms, and once those signs are recognized, even if it’s not true depression, it’s probably a good idea to contact a physician at that point,” he said.

“Other things that I find to be helpful include talking to someone that you trust such a friend or a pastor to provide some type of support. It is important for people who are depressed to have a good support system. That is one of the ways that we initiate therapeutic treatment. The more people that show compassion, the better the outcomes are for most patients.”

Is it just stress?
Stress and depression have similar symptoms, but they have very clear distinctions. Knowing how to determine the difference is key in treating the problem successfully.

“Stress and depression sort of overlap many times. But you really want to make a distinction,” said Gilchrist. “Most of the time with stress, people are able to handle it and it does not affect their daily routine. This is typically a temporary situation. But with depression it is typically always going to be greater than four weeks. Typically it will affect the lifestyle of that individual whether it that’s the workplace environment, whether it’s the home environment or whether that’s the person’s health in general. So if that stressful situation or stress is present throughout an extended period of time and it starts to affect other facets of that person’s life, certainly this needs to be evaluated further for depression and I recommend that be done by a medical profession.”

America's Workforce Blues

http://www.charlesprimas.com/

http://www.detroitbusinesstoday.net/

Off Shore
America's Workforce Blues
Robyn Meredith, 01.06.10, 12:01 AM ET

HONG KONG -
The good news is that the global economy seems to have stabilized, stock markets worldwide have been on a tear and the U.S. unemployment rate has dropped.

The bad news is that the jobless rate remains in double digits--one in 10 Americans is unemployed. Most of those who still have jobs have experienced years of sluggish income growth at best. And many people fear that the economic comeback won't bring back nearly as many jobs as America needs.

While the explosion of the Great Recession was set off by Wall Street, it came at a time when a number of powerful forces were in the midst of reshaping the global economy. Populous poor countries--India and China--embraced globalization. Technology connected low-paid Asian workers to the West even as globalization created demand in those nations for some highly skilled U.S. workers. Increased automation, immigration and the decline of America's unions weakened the hourly pay rates in the U.S. for lower-skilled workers.

All of those factors and more have produced widening income inequality.

McKinsey & Company's internal think tank, the McKinsey Global Institute, has delved into the question of why there is such a vast and growing gulf between America's top earners and its poor and middle-class earners, and the results are sobering--for all Americans.

"Seventy-one percent of U.S. workers are in jobs for which there is low demand from employers, an oversupply of eligible workers, or both," McKinsey warned in a June 2009 report, "Changing the fortunes of America's workforce: A human capital challenge."

In other words, nearly three-quarters of American workers could find themselves with stagnant or declining incomes going forward, unless they drastically improve their competitiveness. The root cause, McKinsey concluded, is that "too few have the skills for attractive jobs and, as a consequence, too many workers are employed in industries and occupations where demand has been falling, incomes have stood still, or both."

The silver lining, McKinsey found, is that globalization has helped many workers. Those at the top of the food chain thrived as the global economy transformed. "Incomes and employment for the top-earning 22% of workers grew fast, mostly because new technologies and new opportunities in global markets ramped up demand for advanced skills."

So how can the United States funnel more of its workers into the group that can hold its own in today's global labor market? With better education and training. Not just for Kindergarten through 12th grades--although that is deeply in need of improvement.

McKinsey said those already in the workforce need retraining. Companies and community colleges and other adult training programs will be crucial to building the skills of Americans who are no longer competitive. "U.S. labor market policy coming out of the recession would do well to focus on redeveloping America's human capital, not only for students in schools and colleges but across the current workforce."

Rather than fight to keep jobs at failing companies, or in sectors that are shrinking, the U.S. needs to focus on giving uncompetitive workers the skills they'll need in sectors with job growth.

As the U.S. economy pulls out of the recession, the nation's standard of living is at stake. American labor policy must "upgrade the skills of the U.S. workforce as rapidly as possible," McKinsey concludes.

Robyn Meredith is Hong Kong bureau chief for Forbes and the author of The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us. She writes a biweekly column.

Detroit's youth look to the open road

http://www.charlesprimas.com/
http://www.detroitbusinesstoday.net

Detroit's youth look to the open road

By Jennifer Agiesta and Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 2, 2010; 9:01 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/02/AR2010010201983_pf.html

The weight of Detroit's economic downturn is particularly heavy on the area's young adults, with those under 30 suffering job losses, cuts in pay or hours and difficulties trying to find new jobs in greater numbers than their elders. More than four in 10 area residents aged 18 to 29 say they plan to seek their fortunes elsewhere, according to the new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard University Detroit poll.

Two-thirds of young adults in the area have been hit by the sagging job market, compared with less than half of older adults. About half say they or someone in their household has lost a job or had a cut in work hours or pay in the past year, and nearly three in 10 say they or someone they live with has given up looking for work because of a lack of good jobs. About one in five live in households experiencing all three setbacks.

Looking ahead, young Detroiters in the labor market express concern about their ability to succeed in the job market; more than four in 10 say they lack the skills or education to compete and more than six in 10 worry about finding a good job.

Brandy Murdoch, a 19-year-old Macomb County resident interviewed for the poll, said she's become more discouraged about her future in the region.

"You have to go to school for a long, long time if you want to find a decent career and stay in Michigan," she said. "There are no opportunities here."

While a broad majority of young adults, like those ages 30 and up, are optimistic about the future of the Detroit area, their take on Detroit's current state is less rosy. Just 6 percent of young Detroiters use a positive word when asked to describe the area, compared with 15 percent among older residents. And a scant one in eight says they are completely satisfied with their lives, a figure that stands at two in 10 among older Detroiters.

Murdoch and a friend plan to move to Georgia this fall in search of good jobs. She says her mother approves: "My mom says to me, 'Hey if I was 19, I would move in a heartbeat, too."

Jenae Chinn, a 26-year-old customer service representative who lives in Wayne County, has a similar outlook: "I just don't see things getting better here in metro Detroit. There aren't any real, good, long-term opportunities here that seem stable."

Overall, 43 percent of Detroit's younger residents say they plan to leave the area amid a widespread sense that the region is not a good place to raise a family and the area's neighborhoods are declining.

Just 39 percent of young Detroiters call the area a "very good" or "good" place to raise a family, with about a quarter calling it "not good at all." A third say their neighborhood has become a worse place to live in the past five years.

The region's economic difficulties strike the young more emotionally and in their wallets. Almost three-quarters say they are stressed by the economic situation, and many report having trouble keeping up with basic expenses in the past year; About a third had trouble paying credit card debt or medical bills; a quarter struggled with housing costs and two in 10 had a hard time affording food. All told, more than half of those under 30 have had financial difficulties in the past year, far outpacing the rate among those aged 30 and up.

Some, but not all, of these differences stem from the fact that young adults just starting out in careers typically have lower incomes than those with more years in the workforce.

Housing is a particular concern for the young in the Detroit area. About a quarter say they fell behind on their rent or mortgage, a similar proportion had to change their living arrangements as a result of the downturn and nearly half worry about being able to find or afford a decent place to live.

Despite these concerns, younger Detroiters are an optimistic group, especially when it comes to their own lives. Nearly all expect their personal standard of living to rise over the next decade, and nearly six in 10 say the best years for America's workers are yet to come.

Katrina Robinson, an 18-year-old college student from Macomb County who also responded to the survey, said she is "very, very frustrated" with the auto industry and Michigan economy after watching her parents struggle to make ends meet. "I'm a freshman in college now," the aspiring teacher said, "so I hope things are going to pick up by the time I graduate."

More than three-quarters of young adults say they think the auto industry will recover, but nearly a third say the region's economy can recover even if this doesn't happen.

Agiesta reported from Washington, Hedgpeth from Detroit. Polling director Jon Cohen in Washington contributed to this report.