8%. Or thereabouts. That’s the percentage of people who are unemployed in the UK and US. In other countries it’s significantly worse – closer to 15% in Ireland and 25% in Greece and Spain. And so it’s likely, if not inevitable, that we all know someone who is struggling to find a job.
Being unemployed can be a dismal experience. There’s the waste of talents, the stigma of being ‘let go’, the social isolation of being away from colleagues, the worry that in some way you’re ‘not good enough’, the relentless application form filling, the repeated rejection letters and, of course, the ever present question of how to pay the bills, make ends meet. And it’s not just a personal experience, the whole family is affected – marriages feel the strain as couples get under each other’s feet, struggle to understand the pressures of looking for work, become snappy over money and live in fear of having to move somewhere smaller, somewhere cheaper, somewhere away from the people they get on with best.
But it is not an experience that is unusual in this fallen world. It is not a problem about which God is unaware. It is not something about which he does not care. And it is something in which our brothers and sisters can support us. So, over the next few days we are going to take a look at why being unemployed hurts. And encourage each other by reflecting on the opportunities it provides for growth – both within the individuals who are job-hunting and within the wider church.
Helen Thorne is Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK. She formerly worked with the London City Mission and has written Hope in an Anxious World, Purity Is Possible, Walking with Domestic Abuse Sufferers and 5 Things to Pray for Your City. She attends Dundonald Church in Raynes Park, London.
