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How Are Posters Effected By Recession

  • 28-01-2009 4:37pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 827 ✭✭✭


    A lot of threads are starting up on the forum in connection with the recession.

    What I'd like to find out is in what way Waterford posters on this website are actually effected.

    My situation is that I work in construction. I am currently on 2 days a week and have been more or less told that I will be finishing up soon if things dont pick up and as we all know things are going to get a lot worse.

    I am separated so I have had to reduce the maintenance I pay . This is obviously having a knock-on effect on my kids.

    I also have to try and keep up loan, car and rent payments which I am just about struggling to do. This leaves me with zilch out of my wages.

    I would just like to get a feel from anyone else on here on their situation.

    I'd also like to know has anyone not felt the effects of it yet and are not likely to.

    thanks


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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,899 ✭✭✭Paddy@CIRL


    I'm in 4th year in college, finishing in May, don't think I could of picked a worse time to be going job hunting. Have a fairly secure part time job, but our hours are getting cut more and more every week which does cause concern.

    Only thing I know is it'll get worse before it gets better ...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 163 ✭✭Multivan


    First of all id like to say how sorry i am to hear a story like this and count my blessings that im not that badly affected.

    I have to say alot of Irish people have been throwing caution to the wind and just buying buying buying. I was living in Germany and the situation happened over there a long time before it happened here, There was a good economy and the influx of foreign workers meant that employers were saying hold on a second here why pay big money for this and that when i could get this foreign lad to do it for next to nothing and this was happening on a large scale, Before we moved back here my GF said be prepared to see it repeat itself which it did, Im not running down foreign workers its just supply and demand has swung in the opposite direction.

    When i moved back here we worked hard and resisted the credit that was offered to us to buy a house and we also resisted the temptation of buying a new car which we could well afford on credit obviously, regarding a Credit Card we only got one for things that we wanted to buy on the internet or book flights a small amount that is only for neccesity purposes.

    So i cant understand how people were so short sighted to not see this coming an economy based on a building boom and foreign companies working here for tax relief purposes.

    Again i would like to sympathise with the first poster, I also think credit institutions are to blame for giving people so much rope to hang themselves with, that being a metaphore for loans etc etc.

    So I havent been affected really as i didnt go out on a limb but i do hope none of you were too badly hit!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,478 ✭✭✭magick


    im currently in college in san francisco, while not in waterford things here are bad too, theirs constant news of job layoffs all over the shop, and im trying to find something or other to pay the bills.

    When i was back in waterford during the christmas season i did notice the half built construction zone by pc world where that car dealership used to be, i heard they have stopped work due to a lack of funds, is this true?


  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    magick wrote: »
    When i was back in waterford during the christmas season i did notice the half built construction zone by pc world where that car dealership used to be, i heard they have stopped work due to a lack of funds, is this true?

    Seem to be working away on it every time I pass.. unless its minor work.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,908 ✭✭✭Daysha


    I'm a 1st year in college so things haven't affected me too much, except I was told the chances of me returning to the summer job that's kept me going the past 3 years is pretty non existant.

    I do know of a family near me where the mother was laid off and the father is on less than half time work, yet they still have children to mind


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,472 ✭✭✭AdMMM


    Well for a start, my grant for college was halved, despite no changes in mine or my families income. Christmas was busy in work but now that January is upon us, I've been getting absolutely no hours in work. Thankfully, I do some freelance work for some events companies around Ireland. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have a penny to my name!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,999 ✭✭✭solas


    sorry to hear things are tough jimbo, fingers crossed things will pick up for you before too long. I was laid off before Christmas last year (left a job to go to Bausch and Lomb only to find we were no longer needed after 8 weeks) and went to aol to tide me over and keep a wage coming in but lasted just the two months of training before I cut loose and have been on benefit since. Kept failing my test calls there and it really knocked my confidence which made picking myself up and getting back on the horse harder than I thought. Have applied for so many jobs since then have lost count so I try not to think about it anymore, or at least try not to let it get me down. Have teenager too but she's fairly understanding of the situation and she doesn't put out too much. Money's always been tight for us (it's always been just the two of us) so we're pretty good at making do with what we have.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,416 ✭✭✭jmcc


    Well it means that I have to work harder. However the real recession has not kicked in yet. It is scary how much the city after business hours is beginning to resemble the Waterford of the 1980s.

    Regards...jmcc


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 773 ✭✭✭echosound


    Have been made redundant not just once, but twice.
    Hurrah. :(


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13 mutabi


    I am currently living in Oklahoma. It saddens to read irish news websites. Seems like a constant stream of job layoffs. Here, so far, we have been somewhat insulated against the recession. We havent had a huge housing crash, since houses tend to be dirt cheap here anyway and that has prob helped. Still, layoffs where I work could happen any time. Best thing to do is to have little or no debt, and batton down the hatches until the storm passes.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,726 ✭✭✭ec18


    Paddy@CIRL wrote: »
    I'm in 4th year in college, finishing in May, don't think I could of picked a worse time to be going job hunting. Have a fairly secure part time job, but our hours are getting cut more and more every week which does cause concern.

    Only thing I know is it'll get worse before it gets better ...

    same for me


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 444 ✭✭Chochese


    I'm halfway through second year in a 4 year degree in college. Have a handy part time job, although I'm paying back a Credit Union loan which has me down on wages each week.

    I feel like the recession hasn't yet had an adverse effect on me yet, as I'd be broke either way! If anything, all these 'recession busting deals' on offer are great for the likes of me :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,899 ✭✭✭Paddy@CIRL


    Think your lucky enough Trev, that hopefully the worst will be over by the time you graduate. I'm strongly considering another course or appyling to do my masters but we'll have to play it by ear.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,079 ✭✭✭Gadgie


    echosound wrote: »
    Have been made redundant not just once, but twice.
    Hurrah. :(

    Me too!

    PS. OP - it's affected.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭Diver79


    I work in a support company and the support calls have just died up over the last few weeks. Ive done three calls since Monday. We got called into a meeting yesterday where we were told there would be no salary increases. Was relieved that I still hada job. Could be much worse and quite possibly will be if things dont pick up.

    My partner was told today she could be facing up to a 12% decrease in wages. Not good!

    We bought a house last year, so paying the mortgage is the main concern, its not a problem yet but the worry is there...


  • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 3,735 Mod ✭✭✭✭eeloe


    hasn't really affected me too much!
    started a new job on jan 12th, and there's no sign of me being laid off, of me leaving!

    Also have a part time job, and that's family owned, so i'll always have that(it's in fast food, people always need to eat:)).

    Im working 75 hours a week, and if i was pulling 750 a week, i'd be over joyed, but im not earning 70% of that!

    my other half has a pretty secure job too in pharmacutical(spelling) so that's okay too!

    I'm happy at the moment!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 271 ✭✭Vadrefjorde


    Well i'm lucky that i haven't been made redundant. But i never worked in Ireland in my life, strangely enough.. I undertake contract work in the US and Asia mostly. But from Waterford all the same and lived in Kilcohan area for the last 10 years. A lot of my life spent in airports so to speak to get home. But now it has come to calling it a day sadly enough.. So i guess it has affected me to the point that i couldn't live here any more.
    The town itself started to take on a gloomy factor with the last 2 or 3 years, city centre is like Boot Hill, God knows what it'll be like now that everyone has sp0nked whatever credit they could squeeze from the more than willing banks..
    So enough is enough and i'm moving country, feck this carry on.
    I've watched friends who earn 50% of what i do buy Land Rovers and crap, buy second homes.. WTF like, now they are crying they can't make the mortgage payments on the house they are supposed to be living in here :mad:
    And now to cap it all off ye are straddled with a band of buffoons running the country that haven't a clue what to do so lets sack everyone and put up taxes... sweet, not me thanks and not my kids baling this sh1t out.
    So sadly enough i'm now surrounded by cardboard boxes, which of course cost me €30 for 10, in true rip-off style... (The first place wanted nearly 3 times as much) . And so i am off, affected by the recession? YES .. Affected by what caused the recession, YES. Affected by the nonsense government left to run this place, yes...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,081 ✭✭✭fricatus


    It's all very depressing reading... I've got a friend who lost her job and it's driving her cracked. Another mate is on a 3-day week, so he's down a few bob, but he has loads more time to spend with his daughter, the dole makes up part of the two days off, and his mortgage has fallen a lot, so he's only marginally worse off. As long as it doesn't get worse, he'll be OK.

    I must admit that I'm doing well out of other people's misfortune so far, embarrassed as I am to say so! My mortgage has fallen, so even though I'm overpaying, it's still costing me less. Petrol is a big cost for me because I commute, and that's down a lot.

    I work for a bank, so you never know what's around the corner... so far though, the share price has been hammered and our pay has been frozen, but in my actual job we're as busy as ever, and as long as that remains the case, I'm still in a job, because I work in a vital support role. They can't fire me until they fire about 50% of the workforce. At least I'll be able to see it coming if it does happen!

    So for me, it's so far, so good. If I can hold on to my job during the recession, I'll be grand. I'd be happy to pay extra tax or even take a pay cut, as long as I still have a pay cheque coming in every month. I hope those of you in difficulties can find a way out of them soon. Best of luck.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 163 ✭✭Multivan


    eeloe wrote: »
    hasn't really affected me too much!
    started a new job on jan 12th, and there's no sign of me being laid off, of me leaving!

    Also have a part time job, and that's family owned, so i'll always have that(it's in fast food, people always need to eat:)).

    Im working 75 hours a week, and if i was pulling 750 a week, i'd be over joyed, but im not earning 70% of that!

    my other half has a pretty secure job too in pharmacutical(spelling) so that's okay too!

    I'm happy at the moment!

    Think its Pharmaceutical:confused:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,191 ✭✭✭kensutz


    Lost a handy part time number with the Waterford People. Now waiting for the shi'ite to hit the fan with the normal job. Contemplating getting out of the country if anything gets worse.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 128 ✭✭Mr Ed


    Thankfully i haven't been affected yet by the recession, i resisted the temptation to buy property and the new cars and am relatively debt free, always kept the mantra of not spending what i didn't have or keeping up with the jones.

    Tough times ahead for many and its really terrible to be working one day and nothing the next. I really wouldn't know what to do with myself if i didn't have the job.

    Keep positive, somehow!


  • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 3,735 Mod ✭✭✭✭eeloe


    there is plenty of work out there!

    1.2million eastern europeans came in to the country over the last few years, and everyone of them found a job, some of them working 2-3 jobs!

    the days of everyone working a 9-5 and earning 500 a week are long gone!

    If people want to pull that kind of money they will have to get a second job, which there are many!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,943 ✭✭✭abouttobebanned


    kensutz wrote: »
    Lost a handy part time number with the Waterford People. Now waiting for the shi'ite to hit the fan with the normal job. Contemplating getting out of the country if anything gets worse.

    Why don't you try and get another handy number with some of the other papers in the group?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 104 ✭✭Waynecarr


    6% paycut myself (thankfully I still have a job). Two mates made redundant. Another on a 3 day week indefinetly and those were so called good jobs.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,191 ✭✭✭kensutz


    Why don't you try and get another handy number with some of the other papers in the group?

    Have other papers to deal with and looking into starting up my own business. Probably best to keep my options open at the minute.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,472 ✭✭✭AdMMM


    eeloe wrote: »
    there is plenty of work out there!

    1.2million eastern europeans came in to the country over the last few years, and everyone of them found a job, some of them working 2-3 jobs!

    the days of everyone working a 9-5 and earning 500 a week are long gone!

    If people want to pull that kind of money they will have to get a second job, which there are many!
    You speak as if it's easy to get a second job. A quick look on Monster.ie found only 44 jobs in Waterford City, 2 of which are part-time. Of the few businesses that are hiring, they most certainly aren't going to deal with someone who has other job commitments.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 629 ✭✭✭Partizan


    Things are going very well for me at the moment so I cant complain. I'm in a good job, fantastic conditions and the pay is quite good. Last August I signed a 3 year contract with a further 2 years extension. That said I'm single, no kids or mortgage and i'm renting a nice apartment in Rathmines in south Dublin so I have no debts.

    I'm a native of Waterford and go back twice a month to see the folks. Up to 2001, I was working in construction. Money was good but I decided to upskill and i'm glad i did. I knew even back then that things couldnt last forever so I went back to college got my degree and moved to Dublin in June '06 and havent looked back. I've lived abroad, speak good French, Bulgarian and passable Serbo-Croat (fluent Irish too). My language skills are good in that I have always found it easy to pick up a language. I think for many here who are out of work, my only advice is to use the time on the dole well. Dont wait for things to fall in your lap, go out there and take the initiative. Check out the WIT for evening courses and see if anything there interests you. The City of Waterford VEC offers good choice too. Upskill so that when the economy does turn around you will be in a good position. The easy option of emigration is not there as the downturn is global. Canada and Australia are getting squeezed. US & UK are definitley out. For the next few years at least folks, you better be prepared to take the pain. :(


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,641 ✭✭✭gscully


    Partizan wrote: »
    For the next few years at least folks, you better be prepared to take the pain. :(

    That pain will be all the more bearable if the lending institutions show some compassion and common sense when it comes to mortgages.

    If thousands of people lose their jobs here (and quite a lot don't have mortgage protection), are the banks going to repossess every home? Or will they realise how bad things are for everybody, show some compassion, and accept a nominal amount until the storm passes? I mean, having a few hundred houses in their possession won't do much for them if no-one can buy them...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 163 ✭✭Multivan


    gscully wrote: »
    That pain will be all the more bearable if the lending institutions show some compassion and common sense when it comes to mortgages.

    If thousands of people lose their jobs here (and quite a lot don't have mortgage protection), are the banks going to repossess every home? Or will they realise how bad things are for everybody, show some compassion, and accept a nominal amount until the storm passes? I mean, having a few hundred houses in their possession won't do much for them if no-one can buy them...

    A few hundred? ha ha:p more like a couple of hundred thousand plus plus plus.


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 629 ✭✭✭Partizan


    gscully wrote: »
    That pain will be all the more bearable if the lending institutions show some compassion and common sense when it comes to mortgages.

    If thousands of people lose their jobs here (and quite a lot don't have mortgage protection), are the banks going to repossess every home? Or will they realise how bad things are for everybody, show some compassion, and accept a nominal amount until the storm passes? I mean, having a few hundred houses in their possession won't do much for them if no-one can buy them...

    What will happen here is that the banks will take back the house but the tenants will not be evicted. Instead the bank will come to an agreement to lease or rent out the house to defaulted tenants for nominal sum every month. By agreeing to this the tenants will have relinquished any ownership to the property and the ownership will revert to the bank. Bankruptcy laws are different here in Ireland. You cannot just drop the keys into the bank (jingle mail) and walk away. You are still liable to pay off the outstanding mortgage debt to the bank even if you no longer own the property.

    Thanks to the property porn engineered by Zanu FF and their builder buddies along with their VI's from the sidelines, hundreds of thousands of young people have been condemned to a lifetime of servitude to the banks. You can call it a modern form of slavery.


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