Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

LOS ANGELES – FilAm Jovic Morales (not his real name) is going back to school. After 12-years working at Bank of America, the 34-year-old was laid off a few months ago and now, he’s enrolled in a vocation-al nursing program."From what I’m hearing the people in the medical field are not affected by the recession," said Morales. "No matter what happens, I’ll always be assured of a job."

With the lack of available jobs in the market and the latest unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, the highest rate in the US since 1992, many FilAms are feeling the grunt of the economic recession.

Like Morales, FilAms nationwide are among the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs the past year. It is estimated that there are more than 11 million Americans without jobs.

And with the US facing its worst recession in decades, many more FilAms are fretting about whether they are next on the chopping block.

"I know from experience, many of my friends are all worrying about finding a job or losing their job," said Morales.

The signs have been pointing up lately when President Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus bill last week to create more jobs in the US economy and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reassuring Congress on Tuesday that the recession might end this year, according to the Associated Press.

But many FilAms are not taking the chance.

"You can’t really trust politics," said Morales. "Based on what I’m seeing and reading it’s going to take a long time for Obama to fix this whole situation. Yes, [the economic stimulus package] will help a little but it won’t help that much. It’s only a temporary solution."

Business experts agree. Experts are saying that this recession could last at least until 2010, possibly longer.

A recent survey of business economists showed that the current US recession would be the worst in more than three decades.