How Unemployed People See the World 1 Favorite 

Everyone knows that unemployment is one of the most serious problems that plagues society today. Yet, even though this problem is widely acknowledged, it remains difficult for many people to relate to and truly understand the personal hardships that unemployment gives rise to. How can someone with a secure job and a steady stream of income possibly understand what it means to have no idea where your next paycheck is going to come from, or how much longer you will be able to afford feeding you children before the money runs out? This difficulty is even exacerbated by the fact that those who are not themselves unemployed often learn about unemployment through statistical graphs and data reports, which hardly succeed in communicating the horrendous experiences the employed must deal with each and every day.

In order to remedy this situation and raise public awareness regarding the actual daily experiences of the unemployed, Erica Buist and Harry Slater have designed a webpage that is modeled after the online site of The Guardian, only that in this case, the news is presented as if seen through the eyes of unemployed readers. By appropriating the format of such a respected newspaper as The Guardian, Buist and Slater help readers understand that even news stories--which provide their readers with presumably objective reports about current events--may have a completely different impression on those who have no jobs. Unemployment, they remind us, is not merely a 'statistical problem', but a social malady that affects the entire worldview and emotional state of those who are not as fortunate as us.