Are we anthropomorphizing the economy?

I could say I am about to lose a job due to "the economy". Technically I suppose that's true, but that seems too simple and abstract. It gives me visions of some faceless figure zooming around telling people to stop shopping or that they have to fire employees. In fact, in my case, it's those real people who are terrified there are no jobs out there who have led the push that's led to jobs being cut in my area of correctional education.

There's been an increase of over 50,000 in financial aid applications this year in Indiana, with the budget more or less remaining the same. This means they have to prioritize who gets it and, not unexpectedly, prison programs are the first to go. Why that's too bad is the subject for a whole other post, but the point is I believe mostly fear has caused this rush to education. The bad job news we hear every day has made people think they can only find jobs by getting more education. Kudos for that - I'm a big believer in education - but the fact is from what I've seen jobs are still there and many people are in fact probably happy for the chance losing their job has given them. I certainly know there are those who are not even looking. My own husband's work was cut before the "crisis" and he has been looking only half-heartedly since then. But he did do a part time gig as a bouncer and could go back to waiting - he just doesn't want to.

There are plenty of success stories. Take my friend Stephanie. She studied in the computer field many moons ago but has not worked because of having young children. Her husband has been finishing his bachelor's while working as a waiter and is now about to graduate. So she took this chance to get back out there and look for work. She had several interviews right away and eventually landed a part time job as a web assistant for a college. Surely if someone whose education and experience are out of date can still get a job, others can too.

I was planning to take my own "maternity leave" from my benefits-less job anyway, so I'm not personally devastated by the news of my probable job loss. But I guess my point is, we blame this generic idea of the economy and, if we want to get more specific, the corrupt corporations, for everything, but in reality it might be the unintentional panic of the "little people" who are causing some of the ripples.