I live in Michigan as well and I am going to say smething here that Iknow will piss a lot of people off but it is simple truth. Yes we have lost a lot of jobs overseas; however, if more people were willing to work a job that was offered, then there would not be such a high unemployment rate.
I am currently looking for work through the state work program, and I can testify that the majority of the people in this rogram (most of which are cash aid recipients) literally turn down jobs flipping burgers and whatnot because they think it is beneath them to do it.
for those willing to work any job offered I heartily congratulate you. But for those of you whyo turn your nose up at a job offer, simply because it doesnt pay what you want, you need to close your mouths and quit complaining.

Yes it is terrible that yuor job was downsized or sold to another country and thus you are nw uemployed. however that does not give you the right to continue making the same salary yuo did while working your former job. You have to accept what you are offered. And in places like michigan where jobs ARE more scarce than other places, teenagers should not be allwoed to work, unless they can provide proof of need to have that job. And need is described as bringing income into your families house to help cover bills and groceries, NOT so the teenager can go out and have designer clothing or parties on weekends.

Not only that but in the past few years more jobs went unfilled then were actually lost. The problem is that Michiganders have relied too much on factory jobs, so the jobs that need a college education to be filled went empty. Its a shame.

Im just thankful I have a good paying job...as I live in MI

Hey everybody.....c'mere....I wanna tell ya'll a secret.....
I fixin' to go to Michigan really soon....

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO...

I don't care what job it is, I'll be the happiest hamburger turner in the history of the business. I can't wait to go back to work.

but to be fair there is gross abuse on some employers too. I have seen some restaraunts (buffet style) that require their dishwashers to have an associates degree AND two years experience. That is nonsense.

Another one I ran across today, it is titled entry-level yet they required a bachelors degree and two years experience.

heeeeeeeelllllllloooooooooo

divorce was financial suicide ....

for a time i worked at a HD in the garden department..... for birdseed....but it helped me get through the rough spot....and guess what....i got a job offer from a patron.....

if you work ..people will hire you...if don't.......

Outside of things like paper-routes (when I was in school) the day after graduating high school I started working maintenance at a fast food place. That experience helps me every day because I have something to compare what I have now against what I did not have then. I was up and at work at 4:30 AM back then (which was an insulting to me in every way because I did not want to be up that early) and daily I listened to a chain smoking 78 year old man named Mel who told me how to clean a grease fryer. Then out to the parking lot to empty trash (full of liquid trash bags will always break right before you get them to the dumpster) and clean up the lot. Again, it helps me each day.

Not the money or the job itself but remembering that no work is beneath me and that listening to people (even when they are old chain smoking men who don't smile--ever) is how a work ethic is developed.

Compared to some my first job was a breeze. I mention it not to throw out a woe is me comment but because it matters. That job taught me I did not want to do that forever and so I advanced, and then advanced again, and then found work doing different things so that today I am quite happy in a good paying job that I enjoy.

I might be here today without the fast food experience but I know that I would not appreciate what I have today without the fast food gig. I also know that I'll never starve because I know I can always clean a grease fryer and I can take direction.

I wish that people would stop looking at entry level as a life sentence. It's not. Work isn't about starting where you want, it's about ending where you want. Take the steps and whatever gig you can land and work. And good luck to those looking for work. I mean that.

-Drew

damn good attitude Drew, I am very glad to see I am nto the only one with that thought process