Faculty Forum Online: Long-Term Unemployment—Coping with a White-Collar Crisis

Update: View the archived webcast.

Nearly five million people have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more, according to recent reports, and the white collar workforce makes up a sizable amount of that group. In the next Faculty Forum Online,  MIT Sloan Professor Ofer Sharone tackled this issue and discussed a new initiative that could help the long-term unemployed overcome common employment-related obstacles.

During the webcast, Sharone shared his research, explained factors behind long-term unemployment, discussed his recent book, Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences, and took live questions from the worldwide MIT community via interactive chat. Watch the webcast then return to Slice of MIT and continue the conversation in the comments.

About Ofer Sharone

Ofer Sharone is the Mitsubishi Career Development Professor and assistant professor of work and organization studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is the founder of the Institute for Career Transitions, an MIT-based think tank that generates strategies and offers support for professionals in career transitions. His research focuses on examines the exchange between varied labor markets and workplace institutions, and workers’ practices and experiences.

Sharone has been featured on PBS Newshour, the Boston Globe, and Harvard Business Review. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois, a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, and a doctorate in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ofer Sharone discusses long-term unemployment on PBS Newshour.

“Project aims to assist long-term unemployed: MIT professor launching effort to help them overcome barriers,” Boston Globe, November 17, 2013

“The American Way of Hiring Is Making Long-Term Unemployment Worse,” Harvard Business Review, December 13, 2013

About Faculty Forum Online

Up to eight times per season, the Faculty Forum Online presents compelling interviews with faculty on timely and relevant topics, including nuclear weapons, neuroscience, digital privacy, and climate policy and research. Viewers watch and participate in live 30-minute interviews via interactive chat. Since its inception in 2011, archival editions of these programs have been viewed more than 75,000 times.