Work

Your Not Where You Work.

One of my Facebook friends posted a provocative post the other day — does your job define who you are?

Like most people, what I do for employment is the center part of my weekday. I get up, have breakfast, shower, take a bus downtown, then work, then I take another bus home, have dinner, and enjoy the remaining 3-4 hours left in my day before bed. Weekends I often have free, but I sometimes work then too.Β  Over all, if you do the math, work is about 35-50% of my waking hours — depending on the week.

Ultimately though, I’m not a volunteer for work. I work for the money, both to provide for my contemporary needs, but more importantly for a better tomorrow. Statistically, less then 1 in 3 people enjoy their jobs, most people do it primarily for their paycheck. That’s certainly my thing — I do enjoy seeing the result of job well done, but I’m mostly there for the paycheck. I don’t romantic ideas about my job, but I try to do quality work, that reflects well on my employer, provides a good service and provides me with good compensation in return.

The old generation used to ask, where are you from? The new generation often asks, what do you do for a living? I really don’t like that new question, because I don’t think it’s an accurate way to frame who I am or what I believe. I get occupation is in part a reflection of the quality of your work, but I don’t think it should overally define who you are — much of our lives is lived outside of work.

July 2018 Unemployment

This interactive map shows the 160 communities where Local Area Unemployment Statistics are generated. All 62 counties in New York have an unemployment rate calculated monthly, along with the 98 cities, towns, and villages with a population greater then 25,000. You can zoom in into see individual villages and cities. Click to see one year of unemployment data. Monthly numbers are not seasonally adjusted, and in some regions of the state unemployment rises during certain periods of the year. You should only compare like months (e.g. July 2017 vs July 2018). You can download the data going back to 1970s here: https://www.labor.ny.gov/stats/LSLAUS.shtm