Coronavirus Discussion What happened to you in 2008 the last time a recession hit?

Jon

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I think it's safe to say we are in a recession that will no doubt last a few years again.

What were you all up to in 2008 the last time? Did you lose your jobs? Were you earning online then?

From memory, I was working for a text Q&A company that went bust, and had just started working in local government which was making cuts left, right and center! We then had a restructure about a year or two later and VERY sadly people didn't cope with that at all and we actually had people end their lives due to what was happening...

Moneywise we actually bought a house when the market bottomed out but my sister had bought a place in bristol a few months before the recession hit and was in negative equity for quite some time!!

Scary times ahead!
 

EdibleDormouse

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Back then, I was working for the UK regulator before going back to full-time study for a year, so I hate to say it, but I had a 'good' recession.

This time, not so much. My industry has vanished without trace. I've been getting used to saying "I was an opera singer" this week. I won't be able to afford to go back, not that there will be anything to go back to. Thank God for a few bits online until I can settle down and get my head together.
 

homie

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I think it's safe to say we are in a recession that will no doubt last a few years again.

What were you all up to in 2008 the last time? Did you lose your jobs? Were you earning online then?

From memory, I was working for a text Q&A company that went bust, and had just started working in local government which was making cuts left, right and center! We then had a restructure about a year or two later and VERY sadly people didn't cope with that at all and we actually had people end their lives due to what was happening...

Moneywise we actually bought a house when the market bottomed out but my sister had bought a place in bristol a few months before the recession hit and was in negative equity for quite some time!!

Scary times ahead!

Unemployment likely to rocket as soon as the furlough scheme dries up.
 

Karonher

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I was City councillor so that did not change as it was a 4 year term.. Online I did mystery shopping and a few surveys but that was all.
 

Jon

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Unemployment likely to rocket as soon as the furlough scheme dries up.
Yeah totally agree, it’s going to be grim out there as a lot of firms can’t keep people on without the government paying 80% of their wages
 

Jon

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Back then, I was working for the UK regulator before going back to full-time study for a year, so I hate to say it, but I had a 'good' recession.

This time, not so much. My industry has vanished without trace. I've been getting used to saying "I was an opera singer" this week. I won't be able to afford to go back, not that there will be anything to go back to. Thank God for a few bits online until I can settle down and get my head together.
What do you see music / theatre / concerts coming back? Perhaps some outdoor events at the end of the summer!
 

fraserbooks

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I was a nurse so not affected by the last recession. My children had just left university so found it hard to get graduate type jobs. My youngest son had not gone to university as we were too poor and actually ended up earning more for several years.
 

EdibleDormouse

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What do you see music / theatre / concerts coming back? Perhaps some outdoor events at the end of the summer!
To be perfectly honest, I don't see 'in house' events coming back this side of a vaccine. Not with an audience, anyway.

It's difficult to know what can or can't work outside as well. You've still got to guarantee the safety of cast and crew, even if there's no audience. I think the EastEnders cast returning to work in a couple of weeks might end up being guinea pigs for the wider television and film industry - I think it unlikely you'll see older cast members for a while, or those who are otherwise at higher risk.

I'm also deeply curious to see how successful the Wigmore Hall closed recitals are going to be (my guess would be 'very', as it's an intimate venue anyway).

However, things like this fill me with apprehension - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52589449. I also know of two choirs that had concerts the weekend before everything was banned when a lot of people caught Covid-19. And I mean a lot. Out of choirs of 60 or so, we're talking around 40 people. And that's without numbers from the audience, the orchestra, the soloists...I'm starting to be grateful that my concerts in the last two weeks of March were all cancelled (although I already - probably - had Covid-19 by then).

I could be being overly pessimistic, but I am concerned at my colleagues who are feverishly planning recitals for the Autumn with all kinds of innovative planning to make the audience safe. Short answer, I don't think we can.
 
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Sherliarty

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What do you see music / theatre / concerts coming back? Perhaps some outdoor events at the end of the summer!
I love 'cultural' events but I can't see these events coming back until Autumn at the earliest as there is no way to social distance easily or create social distancing and make enough money from tickets. I have paid/donated to see a few of the streamed plays and wonder whether in the short-term, theatres will have to film new plays and charge for it to be streamed. Not ideal though.
 

Jon

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To be perfectly honest, I don't see 'in house' events coming back this side of a vaccine. Not with an audience, anyway.

It's difficult to know what can or can't work outside as well. You've still got to guarantee the safety of cast and crew, even if there's no audience. I think the EastEnders cast returning to work in a couple of weeks might end up being guinea pigs for the wider television and film industry - I think it unlikely you'll see older cast members for a while, or those who are otherwise at higher risk.

I'm also deeply curious to see how successful the Wigmore Hall closed recitals are going to be (my guess would be 'very', as it's an intimate venue anyway).

However, things like this fill me with apprehension - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52589449. I also know of two choirs that had concerts the weekend before everything was banned when a lot of people caught Covid-19. And I mean a lot. Out of choirs of 60 or so, we're talking around 40 people. And that's without numbers from the audience, the orchestra, the soloists...I'm starting to be grateful that my concerts in the last two weeks of March were all cancelled (although I already - probably - had Covid-19 by then).

I could be being overly pessimistic, but I am concerned at my colleagues who are feverishly planning recitals for the Autumn with all kinds of innovative planning to make the audience safe. Short answer, I don't think we can.
do you think fewer people will want to become musicians then in this recession?
 

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I was working for McDonald's. October I got married, November I got put forward for promotion and December found out I was pregnant so it wasn't too bad a year for me ;) To be honest, I wasn't very focused on things like the news or economics so I didn't even know there was a recession until much later on.

We didn't struggle until about a year later but that was due to maternity pay with extortionate (at the time) rent.
 

EdibleDormouse

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do you think fewer people will want to become musicians then in this recession?
They might want to. They won’t be able to afford to. Already, if you’re not from money and not quite good enough to clean up on scholarships, you’re unlikely to get a foot into the right circles.
Additionally, many sources of work are going to vanish. I could be being overly pessimistic about this right now, but a) that’s generally not in my nature and b) this is going to be the worst few years to hit us in a century or more.
 

mrcbo

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I kind of wonder about the long term aspects as we came through spanish flu many a generation ago - killed a lot more but not sure it had as sudden economic effects. Might not be even considering as it was very differetn time. Problem is as long as there is 2m rule I cant see any kind of crowd event working - think this may end up being ignored at some stage in some countries to get things back to normal
 

fraserbooks

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I think it is very difficult to separate the effects of the Spanish flu from the effects of the first world war. The Spanish flu killed a lot of young adults so there were a lot of widows and single women in that generation. My father always said they were trying to build a land fit for heroes but you had to be a hero to live in it. I can't see how they are going to organise city transport with social distancing. Even park and ride schemes rely on buses for the last bit. I think we will have to ignore the two metre rule.
 

Sherliarty

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I think with regards to the 2m rule, it will be relaxed as a mixture of better understanding of covid hence better treatments, people staying at home when showing any symptoms, established better individual hygiene and a large number of immune people will mean that it will not be so necessary.

I think people learning to not go to work when ill is something that needs to return to the workplace and respected by employers and employees. When I did work in an office, it was so common for people to come in and cough/sneeze over everything. It became like a badge of honour with some colleagues coming in with fevers and being sent home by managers.
 
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homie

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I think people learning to not go to work when ill is something that needs to return to the workplace and respected by employers and employees. When I did work in an office, it was so common for people to come in and cough/sneeze over everything. It became like a badge of honour with some colleagues coming in with fevers and being sent home by managers.

Oh yes. There's nothing worse than the office martyr who comes in coughing and sneezing and announces to everyone at every opportunity how ill they are but managed to struggled into work.
 
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Jon

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Oh yes. There's nothing worse than the office martyr who comes in coughing and sneezing and announces to everyone at every opportunity how ill they are but managed to struggled into work.
Omg that used to drive me MAD at work
 

fraserbooks

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I once worked as a manager for an organisation that gave people a bonus for having less than 3 sick days a year. If you sent them home they got very upset as it cost them £150.00. Herd immunity is going to take a while. Latest figures I saw from Spain are that about 5% of the population outside Madrid have antibodies so far. I would guess Britain would be about the same outside London.
 

rninja

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One issue is the employers. Like if you have X number of 'incidents' of sickness in a six month or rolling year period, you get hauled in for a grilling. No sense whatsoever of individual circumstance.
 

Frugalgal

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I am fortunate enough to be employed by the NHS and my job has been quite safe these last 20 years. For others once Furlough ends that is when things will start getting really grim and when employers will start making people redundant. People will have to start to think outside the box when it comes to survival. It is taxes that pays for public services, but if people are not earning money to pay taxes the future for the infrastructure of society looks bleak. I did think that the period of austerity was good in some ways as I think it made people think more carefully about their budgets but it didn't seem to stop people from spending on holidays abroad, shopping and going out? I think people will have to look at ways of saving some money as a backup if ever anything like this happens again, and people should not expect the Government to bail them out forever. There will be jobs that will be lost because of Covid 19, but people like us on this site need to look for alternative ways to boost their income.
 

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