I agree with your post. My son-in-law is a truck driver, who is essentially “on call” at his job. He never knows from one day to the next if he will work a partial day, half day, or stay home because there is no work. He has repeatedly applied at other trucking companies, who have refused to consider hiring him “because you have work, other drivers don’t”. So even though his income is not sufficient to support his wife and two children, he has no where else to turn to increase his earnings. He takes all the extra hours offered, but even with that, he makes significantly less than two years ago.

Added to that is the problem with his wife’ (our daughter) employment situation. She works as a professional cook at high-restaurants in Seattle. For the second time in two years, she has been laid off due to insufficient business, causing a reduction in workforce. She has to get unemployment, which currently provides $400 per month LESS than last year in Washington State.

Neither one of them are working at less than their best, as pointed out in the comment above. And, they are doing everything possible to control and reduce expenses cutting out all the “extras” etc. It still is NOT ENOUGH, so they are now a facing serious decision about how they are going to pay bill

Are they underemployed? YES, in EVERY sense of the word.

Best,

~Kathy

Control spending. Move to a smaller house. Carpool, bike, or bus it. Make meals from scratch. Make things we have last longer by treating them carefully and keeping them clean. Vote against new government programs (which often put more people on the government’s payroll, which means that you and I pay higher taxes).

I don’t have difficulty believing that 40% of Americans are “underemployed” in Yahoo’s sense of the word. In fact, that number should be higher because most of the country carries at least some consumer debt, which indicates that they have consumed more than they produced. Take control and turn it around.