Technology depersonalizes unemployment in U.S.

The New York Times had a decent article about how various factors have made the current unemployment crisis in America not become a sociological fire-starter. They include:

• Greater dispersal of the unemployed;
• Greater suburbanization of the unemployed;
• Lower voting rates of the unemployed, and, related,
• The unemployed coming from lower-voting demographics, and
• Unions struggling for survival to the point of not having time/money/energy to focus on organizing the unemployed. (The story ignores 30 years of GOP antipathy to unions since the last great recession and 20 years of Democratic indifference.)

That said, the story buried one factor on page 2.

Today, though, many unemployment offices have closed. Jobless benefits are often handled by phone or online rather than in person. An unemployment call center near (community organizer) Barney Oursler, for instance, now sits behind two sets of locked doors and frosted windows.

I add "U.S." to the header, because the story goes on to note that unions in Europe have successful used the Web as an organizing tool whereas here, it's just to help people hunt for jobs and file for benefits.

Why this is, I don't know. But, most American unions probably need to address this.

Meanwhile, as the story notes, with a warning for President Barack Obama, historian Nelson Lichtenstein notes that after a year or two of him in office, many Depression unemployed started to sour on FDR:

Mr. Lichtenstein, the historian, notes that it took awhile for the poor to mobilize in the Great Depression. Many initially saw President Roosevelt as an ally and only later became disillusioned. As Langston Hughes wrote in a 1934 poem, “The Ballad of Roosevelt”:

The pot was empty,

The cupboard was bare.

I said, Papa,

What’s the matter here?

I’m waitin’ on Roosevelt, son,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt,

Waitin’ on Roosevelt, son.

For the moment, jobless Americans are waiting on President Obama. If unemployment stays as high as many expect, and millions exhaust their benefits, they may just find their voice in 2012.

Let's hope they do, and recognize that neither Obama nor Romney or whomever is going to represent them, be they blue collar, gray collar or white collar.