Title: Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

Author: Barbara Ehrenreich

Publisher: Holt Paperbacks 2006

Genre: Nonfiction - Social Sciences, Economics

Pages: 272

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure (perpetual); Mount TBR; TBR Reduction

In Bait and Switch, Barbara Ehrenreich goes back undercover to explore another hidden realm of the economy: the shadowy world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with the plausible résumé of a professional "in transition," she attempts to land a "middle-class" job. She submits to career coaching, personality testing, and EST-like boot camps, and attends job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured, and--again and again--rejected. Bait and Switch highlights the people who have done everything right--gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive résumés--yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster. There are few social supports for these newly disposable workers, Ehrenreich discovers, and little security even for those who have jobs. Worst of all, there is no honest reckoning with the inevitable consequences of the harsh new economy; rather, the jobless are persuaded that they have only themselves to blame.

What an incredibly depressing book! I knew the world of white collar workers was getting bad, but my goodness! I hope things have improved a bit in the last 10 years, but maybe not. Or maybe I'm just insulated in my current life. At any rate, it was a fascinating read. I learned more than I wanted to about "transition coaches" and networking.