<p>Can people say what industry they are in so we can get perspective on what’s going on out there.</p>
<p>in school for restoration horticulture/ urban agriculture- This field is very flexible- and will be growing rapidly- after all they aren’t making any more land, but the strenght of a society depends on it’s ability to meet it’s own needs & that includes growing food.</p>
<p>H works at Boeing, was just on strike for over two months- contract was recently settled for a little less than the original offer, although it has been extended for 4 years, instead of 3.
( main point seemed to be machinist union was trying to keep work on site rather than agree to more subcontracting work- they had very limited success IMO, to great cost)</p>
<p>There was a bonus included, but it doesn’t make up for being without income or insurance for over two months.</p>
<p>H is a federal EE. People may be shuffled around, but he expects to land on his feet. I am a part-time 401(k) administrator. Considering I replaced a full-timer and two part-timers, was at the company for eight years previously and am billing as much as they all did, I think it’s safe to say my boss will keep me around. 
Hiring me was his austerity move. He did give me a raise in October, which was the first time since 1993 I didn’t have to go ask for one. Bonus? We’re going to lunch and then bowling.</p>
<p>I’m self employed so I get no bonus, but I’m trying to give my employees the same amount as last year. </p>
<p>My son, now that will be interesting. He actually does work for an i-bank as a systems analyst. Two weeks ago, he survived a 10% firm-wide layoff. His group of about 20 was untouched, but who knows if there will be more cutbacks, and when. He’s going into mid-December year end review with the mindset that there will be zero bonus, and at least he has a job. He can live fine in NYC without the bonus. Unfortunately he had a “breakout” year in 2008, that’s his own word. Last year’s was quite substantial. I do agree with him…he’s lucky to be employed.</p>
<p>H was bragging about record profits in June and July where he’d get $50,000 profit- sharing, as a VP, in those two months alone. Then his manufacturing business just died, so there will be nothing at the end of the fiscal year. Now he’s even talking about taking a 10% salary cut.</p>
<p>Last night was my monthly euchre group (it’s a Michigan thing!). At least one person in each couple is an engineer at GM. Everyone is in a daze. We have absolutely no clue when or if our lives will be pulled out from under us. We all know it could happen this Monday … or next … or next. There are NO jobs here (at least none that pay more than about $10-12 an hour - and we have tons of folks vying for those). None of us would be able to sell our homes, because nothing is selling. So we could find a job elsewhere … and dump our homes for less than we owe or for far less than we need in order to get a new home elsewhere. Plan B? We are terrified to even go there.</p>
<p>So, bonus? We never got 'em. Job? We hope to keep 'em. We all are resigned to the fact that we will just have to deal with whatever comes our way. After all, it’s out of our hands.</p>
<p>And yet, every single one of us agreed that we are far more fortunate than many.</p>
<p>Small start up firm - had to lay off three folks. Am on top of the list for the next round of layoffs. Everyone feels lucky to still have a job.</p>
<p>kelsmom, you should go talk to congress. It’s beyond my comprehension that we can bail out insurance companies and banks, but not an industry that is the backbone of our manufacturing economy.</p>
<p>I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you and your friends and neighbors.</p>
<p>P.S. Sorry, don’t intend this to be a political hijacking of the thread, but kelsmom’s post was very compelling.</p>
<p>I don’t get bonuses in my job, but I do expect my annual raise next month. My H gets a small bonus in January and a larger bonus in February. Both depend on how profitable the company is. Will be interesting to see how much the bonuses are. (We’re not expecting much.) His company has already stated they likely won’t be giving raises next year. Fortunately, he was bumped up a pay grade with a nice raise last spring.</p>
<p>Law firm partner here. We get a draw based on 80% of budgeted income. If we make budget, on Dec 31st we get a check equal to 20% of our annual income and if we go over budget we get more. We don’t expect to make budget this year. I expect a pay cut next year and probably deserve one since my area of practice is way down. I am grateful to have a job but the timing of a pay cut with the first of three kids starting college is pretty bad.</p>
<p>I work at a medical university and my job is grant-funded. No staff that I know of (nursing staff, support staff, etc.) get bonuses. </p>
<p>Then again, as long as I can get grant-funding -which at this point I should have funding for at least 2 more years with what I currently have, my job is safe. So this is a time when being grant-funded is a good thing - they can’t cut a job that has outside $$ coming in (plus I am pretty much my own department!)</p>
<p>I work as an in-house lawyer for a non-profit health care system. It has been a very tough year for our company and there will be no bonuses. The cost of living increase we got is lower than the CPI.</p>
<p>I will receive a bonus equal to 7% of my salary and a promotion. I am very fortunate. Husband’s business (sole prop) will not break even this year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>^^^
That was in structural engineering design.</p>
<p>I’m self employed, I get what I get. This year better than usual, next year though I expect will be a different story. (I’m in architecture mostly additions and renovations.)</p>
<p>H’s employer stopped paying him and others in the spring, so now he is working 3 jobs: adjunct prof ($2,500 for a semester), tutoring ($20hr, maybe 6 hours per week) and seasonal retail catalog fulfillment at night (hours now very uncertain). He cannot seem to get a regular teaching job, probably because he has a master’s degree so they would have to pay him more. I have a business that does most of its business during this season, so I can’t take a seasonal job or I would. My business is way down. I will be lucky to break even.</p>
<p>Bonuses? Ha. Ha. Ha. (Almost as funny as health insurance. We pay over $300 per month for a policy with a $15K deductible–which means we are effectively uninsured.) We are both mid-fifties, with good degrees and significant work experience. H used to have a 6-figure income. I used to have a decent income, as the manager of technical pubs at the 20th largest software co in the US, for example. We are now apparently unemployable. Within the next six months, unless something changes, we will be selling our house, our sole asset, at a fire-sale price. That is if the home-equity people don’t decide to shut down our line of credit sooner, which they can do at any time if they feel like it. If we had not had substantial savings we would have been homeless long ago. When the season is over, I plan to look for any kind of job I can get with regular pay that will enable me to keep my business ticking over–I have an obligation to do so–which will probably mean $8 an hour doing laundry in a nursing home–like a job my H (MBA, CFA, etc) had this summer–or the like. I have skills and education and experience far beyond that, but no one want someone in their 50s.</p>
<p>Right now you’re telling yourself that we must just be screw-ups who deserved it, right? Wrong. This could happen to YOU.</p>
<p>Consolation, after that post I’m absolutely speechless.</p>
<p>I don’t expect to get one, but the company I work for will probably be giving them. It’s all based on performance as a group…</p>
<p>This thread makes for a lot of toasts on Thanksgiving, as we are extremely fortunate. I hope that those of you (us) who are struggling find some relief soon.</p>
<p>These are terrible times, thankfully we have this forum (and friends and family) to share the troubles with.</p>
<p>Consolation, I too am speechless. It could be any of us.</p>
<p>At the risk of being stoned I’ll admit to still being employed by what was formally called an investment bank. For the last 5 years my job has been one of working on a pro bono basis helping non profits, something we chose to fund. No matter what my job was during my 25 year career there, the vast majority of people I worked with were honest, hard working people. Yes, we were paid lots.</p>
<p>The carnage is hard to describe. The vast majority of employees are not the stereotypical banker but are secretaries, accountants, mail room employees, computer techs and many of your kids. 25% are gone since this time last year and many more will probably go. Most will not find new jobs paying anything close to what they were making anytime soon. For the partners not a big deal but for the majority a huge deal. The organization has lost it’s soul and finding it again will be hard. America hating us and reducing us all to crooks has been painful for all.</p>
<p>So for me while my income will be a fraction of what it’s been I’ve been paid well enough and have lived conservatively enough for money not to be the issue. But having to let go kids I wanted to mentor and see the devastation has probably spelled the end of my interest in this long career.</p>