Welcome to Unemployed in Sarasota

Having been unemployed for more than a year myself, I decided to start this blog because I found no other similar "unemployed in Sarasota" online communities.

I know for a fact that there are plenty of folks like me. Earlier this month, it was announced that 20,277 people in Sarasota County were currently drawing unemployment benefits, which is 12.3% of the workforce.

Manatee County has 18,132 unemployed people on the books - 12.7% of the county.

Those are just the people drawing UI benefits. When you have ~12.5% of Sarasota/Manatee Counties pulling UI, what it really means is that the actual unemployment rate (people drawing UI, plus people not eligible for UI, plus people whose UI benefits have run out, plus the underemployed - folks who are working two $8/hour jobs to pay their bills) is actually between 20% - 25% of the local working population.

Ergo, there are anywhere between 50,000 - 75,000 of us out there presently. I figured that was enough of an audience to start a blog.

The purpose of this blog? To share some information on what's going on, as well as share information on the various resources out there for us. If you have questions on how to navigate the maze that is Florida's unemployment benefits system, this is the place to ask. If you have questions on where to find potential job opportunities, this is a good place to start. If you see some employment scam being posted/run on Craigslist and want to warn others about it, this is the place to post it.

Besides being a place to network, it's also a place to vent. Let's face it - if you are hacked off about getting jerked around on a series of interviews for some employment "opportunity" that turned out to be a scam, venting to your spouse/family/friends isn't really an option - if your spouse/family/friends are currently employed, there's no way that they can truly empathize with what you're going through. For better or for worse, this will be a place where you'll interact with people who can actually empathize with what you're going through, because they're going through the same garbage that you are.

I'll try to update the blog as often as possible. I hope you find it both helpful and therapeutic, and if it helps a couple of people land jobs (or avoid nervous breakdowns, LOL), then it will have served its purpose.

Good luck!