The recent economic data “show signs of strength,” says the Wall Street Journal, but recessions are not thin on overreactive responses to momentary blips in the stock market. Ultimately, the economy starts at the individual level — a lot of people experience a change in their personal fortunes quite a bit before the eggheads at the stock exchange see it on a spreadsheet.
And so we wonder: what is the state of the Bushwick economy? Are you gainfully employed? Crappily employed? Do you float from job to job, working just enough to pay your bills and have a little fun? Or are you that much-mythologized animal, the hipster with a trust fund and not a care in the world?
Let us know in the poll below, and be honest! It’s anonymous anyhow.
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Dresden May 4th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
What do you call it when you are self-employed and business sucks? Employed but not paid? This is a limited survey.
Jimmy Legs May 4th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I said full-time, but i have the sneaking suspicion my days are numbered. my company has laid off all the people with real skills, now they’re down to the drones like me.
Dresden May 4th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
When I run on the treadmill I imagine myself carrying a sharp stick across a plain toward a fleeing mammal… if only things were that easy.
Jeremy Sapienza May 4th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Yeah, cavemen had it real easy, chasing prey for a week straight and dying, toothless, of a cold at the old age of 28. And now we’re slaves to things like abundant food, shelter, health, long life, electricity, culture, and transportation. Sometimes, like in recessions, we have a slight bit of a fraction less than normal, and the fabulous luxury that is Western civilization takes a bit more labor to maintain than in boom times. Waaahhhhh.
gt May 4th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
full-time right now…but the 20th is my first day of unemployment.
as for the part-timers, I would guess that most kids still getting lots of help from mom and dad put themselves in this category…. so there is also a missing category between trust fund and part-time.
Dylan May 4th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
“What do you call it when you are self-employed and business sucks? Employed but not paid?”
This…for the girlfriend at least. She has run her own business for a couple of years now, but business crawled to a standstill about 6 months ago. Since then she has been looking for full or part-time work pretty much everyday, as well as trying to grow her business…both without much luck lately.
I’m still employed luckily, but like Jimmy I don’t expect it too last much longer. My company had about 15 employees when I started 3 years ago, and it is now down basically to just me and the owners.
Chris May 5th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Laid off in January, but now self-employed and my income will be higher than it was last year.
mopar May 5th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Cool article! I’ve got a great job in media but am watching the whole industry die. Am terrified a quarter of the staff will be sacked any day now. If I get laid off, I have no illusions I will ever work in media again, so will probably have to start a business in a completely different industry.
Dresden May 5th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Jeremy – you should ammend the survey to have an option for “Caveman”.
chupa chup May 12th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
how did you manage to forget the many self employed and freelancing designers, musicians, and of course artists inthe neighborhood (after all they have been here since the days of burning cars and crack shacks) who are not employed, not trust funders, but still working their asses off to try to stay afloat? There are many in this precarious position, not knowing when they’ll have to start looking for a “job” or give up the studio and try to work at home. Is the whole “Morgantown” area going to go bust? Etc.