I graduated from high school in the Houston suburbs in 1981. That was early June. Around October, I got a job at a department store at the local mall. I thought I did a good job, was kept through the Christmas season till March, and was then let go.
Seasonal hiring.
But looking for another job starting in March '82, I had a heck of a hard time. My dad blamed me for not trying hard enough.
Was your dad old enough to where he was looking for work in the Great Depression? Or was he looking for work in WWII or post-WWII? Because if he was looking for work in or after WWII, then he didn't know what the hell he was talking about. The post-war USA had greater affluence and less unemployment (except for WWII in terms of employment levels) compared to all of American history.
Only later did I find out that 1982 was the second most serious downturn since the Great Depression, second only to 2008-09. No one told me a damn thing!
I was in college at the time, and found outside part-time work impossible. In the early 80s the entry-level labor market was flooded with 64,000,000 Baby Boomers, so if you tried to apply for work (when you were a fresh graduate), an employer human resources department would refuse to accept your resume unless you had 1 year minimum work experience.
*snark tone of voice*"I'm sorry sir, but we have certain standards of employment we must maintain...at McDonalds!"
10 years later, you walked into a McDonalds, and the harassed supervisor would cry out in desperation: "Can you start NOW??"
Yes, someone could have been both realistic and optimistic.
A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist.
Maybe saying something of the sort, job hunting is always a numbers game, now more than ever.
I got my job (and career) solely by entering the safest field out there (health care) and by applying for work at the very hospital where I interned. Even then, as I was being interviewed for the job (by the very same lab manager who'd OK'ed me for the MT program ten years before) as a "float worker" working a 2nd and 3rd shift worker, a day shift person walked into the office and handed in her notice.
Intellectually, I notice that inflation is vaguely viewed as the mature issue while unemployment is somehow viewed as merely an emotive issue. Whereas if you track a variety of social ills, say, 6 months following higher than average employment, I suspect they'd track rather closely.
Plus, unemployment is the loss of real potential of what the economy could be producing.
People who call unemployment a "trailing indicator" tend to have the safest jobs.
Have Carter win 1 trillion at the 1980 Derby. Pays off national debt. 9 months to campaign for re-election in a much better environment. This sounds ASBish, but in 2006. very long odds for the "4fer"(800,000+) could have given such a payout.
NOBODY elected in 1976 wins re-election. Trust me on this. 1980 was the ultimate "throw the bums out" year. I admit I voted for Carter (my first election), mainly on the grounds that I didn't want the Mad Bomber Reagan drafting me and sending my sorry ass to Iran.