Talk about preparing kids for the real world. Four public high schools in Detroit have partnered with Walmart to train 60 students to work at its stores:

Advocates say with Detroit's unofficial unemployment rate nearing 50%, jobs at Walmart are a golden opportunity. Sean Vann, principal of the Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men, has 30 students in the program. He told the Detroit Free Press he's enthusiastic because along with earning money, since the schools are in the suburbs, the students will be around people from different cultures.

Not everyone, however, is convinced that it's such a good idea:

Donna Stern, a representative of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) is outraged. "They're going to train students to be subservient workers. This is not why parents send them to school."

What do you think, Neatoramanauts? Better a crappy job than no job at all?

Link (Photo: GeneralCheese/Wikipedia)

A 9 to 5 office worker calls in sick and thinks he will have the city to himself during business hours. He is surprised to find that he’s in the minority. Reaction to this video is that this happens in every big city. I can attest that it is the case in small towns, too. This skit is from the live show Killing my Lobster Conquers the Galaxy. Link -via Metafilter

Can’t find a job? Perhaps it’s your lack of cape that’s hampering your job search. Never fear – Workforce Central Florida has got your back (literally!) with a shiny red cape.

The federally funded jobs agency spent $14,000 on 6,000 satin superhero capes:

The "Cape-A-Bility Challenge" is part of an "Everyday Superheroes" theme the agency has adopted. Its website features videos of employers, job seekers and the agency’s chairman of the board Owen Wentworth, in capes similar to those the agency will distribute.

Shot in slow-mo and underscored by a heroic soundtrack, Wentworth strikes a superman pose, dramatically removing his glasses. In another scene he taps out a message on his BlackBerry.

Public reactions are super swift, which left us wondering whether super villainy is involved:

"OK, $73,000 for the ‘Cape-A-Bility Challenge’ and $14,000 for capes?" she said. "And this will be helping who?" Burman wondered if the capes would "have some sort of magical powers to obtain a job faster" and predicted few would rush to join the ranks of the "Super Unemployed."

Workforce Central Florida ended up scrapping the campaign: Link

Allegedly, the above photo is one of thirty-three that a woman named Jenny emailed to her co-workers as her resignation letter. Her boss, Spencer, installed Internet usage monitoring software on the company’s computers. Jenny had access to it, so she decided to let her co-workers know what Spencer was looking at on the Internet.

Link via Geekosystem | Previously: Flight Attendant Quits While on Plane, Bails Using Emergency Slide

UPDATE: It’s a hoax.

The New York Times has an interactive graph that plots the jobless rate for different groups of Americans compared to the average for all those who are unemployed. Mouseover to find lines for different races, ages, and levels of education. In this screenshot, the label refers to the very faint red line above the dotted line which represents the average jobless rate. Link -via Metafilter

“The current recession stands apart from prior downturns for both the depth and breadth of destruction in the job market,” the report says. “California has lost more jobs at a faster rate in the past two years than during any prior recession for which data are available, and employment has fallen in nearly every major sector of the economy.”

Because of the decline in the number of jobs coupled with growth in the labor force, the report finds that the percentage of working-age Californians who hold jobs has fallen to its lowest level in 32 years. Citing U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, the report says just 57.5 percent of California adults are working.

The last time the percentage was that low was in 1977, a time when many women voluntarily chose not to work outside their homes. The percentage of employed adults peaked in 1989 at 64.9 percent.

Timm Herdt of Ventura County Star has the grim news: Link | California Budget Project Press Release [PDF]

Kimi Yoshino of the Los Angeles Times has more on the story:

What most people would call unemployment, Van Gorkom embraced as "funemployment."

While millions of Americans struggle to find work as they face foreclosures and bankruptcy, others have found a silver lining in the economic meltdown. These happily jobless tend to be single and in their 20s and 30s. Some were laid off. Some quit voluntarily, lured by generous buyouts.

Buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks or their parents, the funemployed do not spend their days poring over job listings. They travel on the cheap for weeks. They head back to school or volunteer at the neighborhood soup kitchen. And at least till the bank account dries up, they’re content living for today.

"I feel like I’ve been given a gift of time and clarity," said Aubrey Howell, 29, of Franklin, Tenn., who was laid off from her job as a tea shop manager in April. After sleeping in late and visiting family in Florida, she recently mused on Twitter: "Unemployment or funemployment?"

Link (Photo: Genaro Molina / LA Times)

Pfizer Inc. said Thursday it will give away more than 70 of its most widely prescribed drugs, including Lipitor and Viagra, for up to a year to people who have lost jobs since Jan. 1 and have been taking the drug for three months or more. The announcement comes as the unemployment rate topped 8.9 percent in April.

Pfizer stands to benefit, too _ by keeping its customers, and with a tax write-off that will cover much of the cost of the donations. The move also buys the world’s largest drugmaker some good will as Washington looks to overhaul the health care system.

Link