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Globe Santa: However hard they look, the job offers aren’t coming
Massachusetts workers are facing a worse labor market than they did last holiday season. Some are turning to Globe Santa for a helping hand as they seek employment.
Massachusetts workers are facing a worse labor market than they did last holiday season, making a coveted job offer an unsure reality. While navigating an unfavorable job market, though, many of those who write to Globe Santa still want to make a gift-filled Christmas for their children a certainty.
Thus, some parents are turning to Globe Santa for a helping hand as they seek employment. After all, as one Merrimack Valley mom wrote, “my daughter still deserves a Christmas.”
The state’s unemployment rate has increased for the fourth month in a row, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s October report. The latest data, released in November, put the state’s jobless rate at 3.9 percent — up nearly a whole percentage point from December 2023.
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At the end of 2023, Massachusetts saw the largest job increase it had seen since January 2022. But in the last four months, employers have slashed roughly 8,200 jobs. People with stable jobs are already finding it hard to settle in a state with the nation’s second-highest cost of living. For those without jobs, staying put seems nearly impossible.
“We are struggling to meet our basic needs including rent, utilities, medical bills, and other essential expenses,” wrote one South Shore mom of a one-year-old daughter. “The stress of financial instability weighs heavily on us, and we are doing our best to stay positive.”
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The state’s share of jobless workers remains below the 4.1 percent national unemployment rate. Though Massachusetts is faring better than many parts of the country, many breadwinners in the state, as evident in several Globe Santa letters submitted this holiday season, are still struggling to find stable jobs.
“I have applied to at least 100 different roles and have yet to be called,” one Gateway City mom wrote to Globe Santa. “I would hate for my children to miss [out] on having a wonderful Christmas due to me not being able to afford it.”
The mother said she worked for eight years in the missile and defense industry before she was laid off last year. She earned a master’s degree in business administration this year to give herself a competitive edge, “but the job market at the moment is very difficult.”
Some writers on the job hunt are not only spread thin by their children’s needs; they’re struggling to provide for extended family members, too. The Merrimack Valley resident said she provides for her mom, daughter, aunt, and younger sister. Her mom helped with the five-member household’s living expenses until she lost her job last year, she said.
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“We’ve been struggling because I’m one person with one paycheck and my whole family on my shoulders,” she wrote.
The single mother said she wants to give her daughter at least something this Christmas season after all she has endured during the family’s financial hardship.
“She’s such a sweet, smart, and loving child,” the mom said. “We’re just barely getting by as is.”
In the face of an unforgiving job market, some Globe Santa writers are still pushing forward. Their children are their power source. The mom of the one-year-old said her daughter’s joy energizes her and her husband as they both search for new jobs.
“She is energetic, expressive, and an absolute delight to be around,” the South Shore mom wrote. “Her laughter and curiosity bring us joy every day, even in these challenging times.”
One father said that instead of decorating, gift-wrapping, or cookie-baking this holiday season, “I am busy prepping for [my] job search.”
“Daily, I search for job openings and apply to any available,” the father of two wrote. “No matter what the [amount of non responses], rejections, or [unsuccessful] interviews, I keep trying and hope to find a job to feed my family.”
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The father called his 10-year-old daughter and six-year-old son “very understanding.” They help around the house without prompting. They chose to eat free school lunches to help with the family’s expenses.
This year, the dad wants to find a job, keep the family home, and most importantly, “give them a joyful holiday.”
“Receiving gifts from you will mean more than material things to them,” he wrote. “It shows generosity and kindness are real in this world, [and] that we can pay it forward.”
Tiana Woodard can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @tianarochon.
For 69 years Globe Santa, a program of the Boston Globe Foundation, has provided gifts to children in need at holiday time. Please consider giving by phone, mail, or online at globesanta.org.
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