I am a graduate student in a paralegal studies Master’s Degree program. I have just received my paralegal certificate, but am having a bit of a hard time finding a job here in Austin, Texas. The job market down here seems to have evaporated rather quickly, since we have a $27 billion+ budget shortfall in  this state, and a lot of of the jobs here in the capital are government jobs that are on the chopping block.

But, whatever you do, don’t tell that to my Governor, Rick Perry. He’s too busy perpetually running for office to give two craps about me. He is currently running for President of the United States of America, less than 1 year after getting re-elected to his fourth consecutive term as Governor. During this legislative session, there was much debate over releasing money from a state rainy-day fund to pay for state workers’ jobs. Perry said that he would veto any measure that involved releasing the said fund that came his way, because he is afraid the truth behind his “job creation” record will come to a head. As a result, 49,000+ teachers, among thousands of other state workers, here have lost their jobs.

But, at least under Gov. Perry’s watch, there are plenty of McDonald’s and Wal-Mart jobs, as long as you don’t mind living with your parents, and as long as they don’t mind you living with them.

I have looked at paralegal job postings on Craigslist every day, and just about all of them have said something along the lines of “$9-13/hour with 3-5 years experience”. Seriously?! Get real, employers! The saying “you have to take what you can get” should work both ways. If I can’t negotiate my salary upwards, you can;t demand I have 3-5 years experience to go with that salary. If you go to a car dealership and say that because “we’re in a recession”, you should be able to buy a brand new Mercedes-Benz for the price of a used KIA, you’re just going to be laughed off the lot.

i am 24 years old, I have Asperger’s Syndrome, and although I am physically healthy, I have to be careful for later as diabetes and high blood-pressure run in my family.

One day, a few months ago, as I was riding home on the bus from my internship at a law firm downtown, the bus driver told me that his friend, another paralegal, made less money than he did. WTF?! Paralegals make less money than bus drivers?! The reason for this, according to the bus driver, was because a lot of the duties the paralegal used to do can now be done automatically by by computer. Nice to know, as I am getting close to graduating from my program, that my job may very well become obsolete over the next few years.

I am the 99%, but you won’t see me on OWS, since traveling to NYC isn’t in my budget.