Ellen Turner
New Port Richey, Fla.
During my 30 years as a graphic designer, I've created posters, packaging and other products for Britney Spears, Reynolds Aluminum, Duracell, IBM and General Electric.
But now, my skill set has been outsourced to other countries including India, Pakistan, Ireland, China, Korea and England. I have not been able to find a job in almost three years.
Supposedly, there are 3 million jobs open, but I think that has a great deal to do with where people live, never mind having just the right skill set.
I live in Florida and it's dead in the water when it comes to work. I really have tried everything in my power to get a job in my field, but instead, employers are looking for top-level managers for factories -- not mid-level creative people.
I'm now doing substitute teaching work, because I can't find anything else.
The bottom line is, people in mid-level areas have been dumped from America. I'm one of the white collar people who has nowhere else to go. Believe it or not, blue collar jobs are more in demand, and I could probably get $15 an hour to work on machines.
Facing rapidly rising college costs, these six folks took out unsustainable student loans.
