I was laid off once for fifteen months, through no fault of my own, the only time it has ever happened to me, before or since. I was continuously going into places looking for work, any kind of honest, humble work, so I wouldn't have to dip in any more than I had to into my rapidly diminishing savings. It was always the same, they asked what my background was, and as soon as I told them, they lost all interest in hiring me. I could have lied, I suppose, and if it happens to me again I probably will. I know better now. All I owe them is an honest day's work, I don't owe them the truth.

They knew as soon as something better for me came along they would lose me, and they wanted someone who needed the job desperately and could be counted on to put up with it indefinitely, not someone who would only stay as long as he had to and then leave. You see, when a man hires you, he's not doing you a favor, he's taking advantage of your misfortune for his benefit. That may seem like a bitter way of looking at things, but when you've been on both sides of the hiring desk you realize its the only way to see it.

I finally got a job, in my field, making less than half of what I had been earning when I was laid off over a year earlier. Even then, I know the only reason I got that job was because my new boss was desperate to fill a position that had been empty for too long and there was simply no one else around to fill it. Even so, it took me 5 more years before I was able to get back to the place I was when I lost my job, 5 years to re-establish my professional reputation and rebuild my career and resume my life from where it had been cut off. Five of what should have been the most productive and rewarding years of my life, when I was in my prime, both as a man and as a professional in my field. Instead, I spent them spinning my wheels, trying to get traction and get my life and career back on track. You don't just lose the time you're unemployed, you lose the time it takes you just to break even again. And when you finally get back to where you were, you're older and discouraged, and exhausted. You never fully recover.

I eventually survived, even prospered, but those five years can never be replaced. And I was lucky, compared to most. I was financially devastated, but at least I was not in debt, my health and my marriage survived intact, and I retained my self-respect--I never needed to go on public assistance. I've always hated the dole, but I will never begrudge it to any man, especially one with a family to support, a burden I, thankfully, did not have. But I also know how much of recovery was due to my prior prosperity, and pure luck, not any particular virtue on my part.

I used to ask myself the same question you just posed, but now I know the answer.