Falling income and reduced buying power means that the family needs to cope with the rising expenses. It might be selling the house or the car but adjustments need to be made.

Savings and assets are now devalued. With the market flat, stocks and other such investments aren’t really offering any real value for the long term.

Raising a child is a millionaire’s job. From the moment of conception to the kid’s college graduation, a child is probably a person’s biggest expense in a lifetime.

With education costs sky-high and rising, families are now deliberating whether the can actually send their kid to college. And even at that, a college degree isn’t exactly a clear guarantee of future success in the job market.

And in the near future when health care becomes an issue thanks to the natural process of ageing, middle class Americans would need a fortune to cope with these expenses.

Thanks to the recession, many middle class Americans are now suffering from unemployment and reduced income. While this definitely affects the short term, long term effects can even spill over to their children’s lives.

Opportunities created by parents’ income do are largely contributory to kids’ future success. Given parents’ financial situations today, they are not likely able to help out their kids.

The money needed for college becomes hard to raise. Loans need to be taken and that even makes prospects worse for kids since these leaves them with thousands of dollar in debt even before earning their first pay check.

According to WSJ, those with college degrees generally fare better than their high school grad counterparts. Unemployment is lower and incomes are definitely higher for college graduates.

In addition, when parents used to help out kids pursue the American dream by giving them funding for start up capitals and such, parents of today won’t just have the luxury to help kids out.

Too many people looking for jobs, too few jobs that are open. It’s a typical story for many job hunters to gun just for any job that pays these days. And even that often is frustrating, especially for people who have had tons of corporate experience and fancy degrees. Job hunting burnout seems to a popular thing nowadays.

And you can’t blame them. It takes a really strong personality (or a pretty messed up mind) not to get frustrated in this economy.

Here are a few things that you can do to get back on your feet:

• Move in with mom and dad – It takes a lot of guts to do this, especially in a culture like America. But family’s family. Just try to pitch in while you can and follow house rules. At least you won’t have to worry about a roof over your head while you get back on your feet.
• Learn a new skill – It’s all about exploiting opportunities. Some jobs might be totally unrelated to your experience and training. So why not re-tool yourself to perform in those jobs?
• Community and volunteer work – A problem with being unemployed is you also start losing a sense of self. Try doing a bit of community service and volunteer work so that you’d be able to keep a sense of importance by helping others out.
• Grow a garden – There’s something zen about gardening, it may take your mind off the stress. Try growing a vegetable plot in your garden. At least when push comes to shove, you won’t starve.
• Freelance or do odd jobs – Freelance for a project or two. Mow lawns. Babysit. Tutor kids. They might not be worthy career prospects but they will keep the money flowing.

Done with the rescues (with several companies announcing that they will be paying the government back), rebuilding and reengergizing infrastructure and jobs would be next.

The government plans to create jobs by boosting infrastructure. Road works, transport systems, broadband installations, and health research funding are key areas the White House has identified on which to invest.

These investments are expected to creat a domino effect on the private sector as well.

While only 12% of the companies plan to hire, the general news that those with jobs are most likely to keep them for the next few months should be a reason for a bit of holiday cheer these coming weeks.

Manpower says that Q1 is typically a slow quarter hiring-wise but an increase in hiring compared to this quarter would mean that the job climate is progressing.

Employers are said to be shifting from a job-cutting sentiment to a hiring perspective. This means that employers have more confidence in having the resources to addi additional heads to the staff.

This shouldn’t be a reason for those with jobs to slack off, though.

Source: CNN