{"id":2025,"date":"2011-11-17T07:30:48","date_gmt":"2011-11-17T14:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=2025"},"modified":"2013-05-13T13:19:05","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T19:19:05","slug":"jobless-in-idaho-a-former-hp-employee-struggles-through-years-of-unemployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2011\/11\/17\/jobless-in-idaho-a-former-hp-employee-struggles-through-years-of-unemployment\/","title":{"rendered":"Jobless In Idaho: Tech Worker Unemployed For Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Nathan Bussey lost his job with Hewlett-Packard three years ago.<\/p><\/div>\n

Name: Nathan Bussey<\/h4>\n

Age: 33<\/h4>\n

Unemployed since: 2008<\/h4>\n

“I had only been engaged with my wife for about a month when I found out I was getting laid off.”<\/h4>\n

The Idaho Department of Labor estimates nearly 70,000 people in the state don’t have jobs.\u00a0 That doesn’t include thousands more who are underemployed or have stopped looking for work.\u00a0 This is the latest story in our “Jobless in Idaho” series, following several Idahoans in their search for work.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nathan Bussey began working for Hewlett-Packard before he’d even graduated from college<\/strong>.\u00a0 He was still a student at Boise State University when he started out in the tech support call center in 1999.\u00a0 By 2005, he\u2019d landed a job as a technical consultant, working on printer installations for Fortune 100 companies all over the country.\u00a0 Then, in 2008, he got bad news.\u00a0 He, like many others on his team, was being laid off.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object>Jobless In Idaho: Tech Worker Unemployed For Years<\/a>
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Even now, more than three years later, Bussey talks about how much he loved working for HP.\u00a0 “It was just exciting to get a job at Hewlett-Packard,” he said.\u00a0 “I had always wanted to work there.”\u00a0 He worked his way up, building a comfortable life.\u00a0 He bought a house, and started saving for retirement.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Nathan Bussey<\/p>

Nathan Bussey earned his M.B.A. from Boise State University in December of 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

In mid-2008, when he first learned he would be laid off from his technical consulting job, Bussey hoped to find another position with Hewlett-Packard.\u00a0 By fall, though, he realized he needed another option.\u00a0 He decided to go back to school to earn an M.B.A.\u00a0 In his mind, it was a practical step.\u00a0 He would\u00a0build a bridge to a new position.\u00a0 “Nobody ever thinks, ‘Hey, I’m having trouble getting a job now.\u00a0 Let me go get this extra degree and I’m sure I’ll still have trouble,'” he said.<\/p>\n

Bussey worked as a graduate assistant, got internships and volunteered.\u00a0 He did all he could to make the connections that might land a new job.\u00a0 Instead, he graduated in 2010 only to resume receiving unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n

Looking back on three years of joblessness, Bussey says it can be easy to question whether there were things he could have done differently, things that might have resulted in a job that makes use of his new degree and his experience.\u00a0 He says there’s an instinct to blame himself.\u00a0 “You start going back and questioning months in the past, trying to figure out, ‘What could I have done better?'” he said. He has lowered his salary expectations and given up his attachment to staying in Boise.\u00a0 He’s not sure what more he can do.\u00a0 “I\u2019ve been unemployed for over three years,” he said.\u00a0 “And at some point it sinks in.\u00a0 You have to find other ways to make things progress in your life.\u00a0 You have to find other things that are important to you.\u00a0 You have to realize that work doesn\u2019t define who you are as a person.”<\/p>\n

For Bussey, unemployment hasn’t had the dire consequences that it’s had for some workers.\u00a0 His wife has a job.\u00a0 By paring down expenses, they’ve managed to keep making their house payment and avoid going into debt.\u00a0 All in all, Bussey says, they’re doing okay.\u00a0 But they don’t have the financial security they once had.\u00a0 “We have no savings anymore,” he said.\u00a0 “If something happened \u2013 if one of us got hurt or sick — we certainly would be in a much worse situation now.\u00a0 We\u2019ve used our buffer.\u00a0 That rainy day fund is now gone.”<\/p>\n

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