Hello, my name is Austin M. and I am the principle founder of SaveOurWorkforce.  The idea of SaveOurWorkforce came to me at the dinner table October 17, 2011 when I was in 9th grade.  My parents were discussing that they had the possibility of being laid off at their jobs and it was possible that both my parents could lose their jobs in the coming months.  This was shocking news to me; as a kid I did not know my parents could lose their jobs and income so easily.  As far back as I could remember my father worked as an engineer and my mother worked at the bank and I thought it would always be that way.

Austin Hears Middle Class Jobs Problem:

At the dinner table my father was discussing the worst case scenario if both my parents lost their jobs and what I heard was very disturbing; things like "depending on how long it took my parents to find new jobs we would have to leave our house and move in with relatives", "my brother who is away at college would have to come home", and "if we could send Austin (me) to college."  What……, no money for me (Austin) to go to college, this sounds very bad.  My parents were also sharing stories about some of their friends who lost jobs and how they spiraled down from middle class to poor because they could only find low paying jobs after they were laid off from middle class jobs.

To a kid this did not make logical sense.  How can people just lose their jobs?  So I asked my parents some questions that night at the dinner table.

Asks His Parents Two Simple Questions:

• Where are the Middle Class jobs going? 

His father an engineer said "engineering jobs are being outsourced to China."   His mother in finance said "financial jobs are being sent to India."

• Doesn't a company get in trouble when they send your job to China or India?  

His mother said "no, people don't know when someone loses their jobs.   His father said "no, the company does not get in trouble, nobody cares." 

After these two questions, I remember just staring into the eyes of my mother and father thinking about what they had said and them looking like they were sorry for telling me.  I was thinking this does not sound good and I need to do something about it pondering "I care if companies layoff and outsource, I think my friends at school would care too, and surely everyone that loses their job cares." 

Then I blurted out the third question:

• "Isn't there a website that tracks company layoffs and workforce sizes?"

My dad replied, "No I do not think so."  My mom said "I never heard of one."

After this, I did what other kids would have said "No worries, I'll start a website with my school friends to save the workforce." 

Youth Start SaveOurWorkforce:

The following week I asked my high school friends and some said their parents were having similar discussions about losing their jobs or not being able to find work.  It was clear to us that we needed to fix this serious problem and kids from five high schools signed up to help.  Then we reached out to colleges and a youth named Ross M. in Texas agreed to help and spread the word to his college friends.  Then we all joined together and brainstormed a solution. You can learn more about these youth FOUNDERS at this link.

Middle Class Jobs Problem Identified:

Us kids researched unemployment and found that college students are graduating into poverty because of the lack of middle class jobs.  We found for the first time in American history the youth are doing worse than our parents or their parents before them.  Through our research we found the root cause of high unemployment is:

"Fortune 1000 companies have no incentive to keep jobs in America and that job outsourcing to foreign countries is invisible to the American consumer at the point of purchase." 

Jobs Problem Solved:

"SaveOurWorkforce solves this problem as it allows us to easily monitor, encourage, and reward businesses that provide jobs to American families."

Our solution to this is easy and everyone can help.  The U.S. workforce and the 99% can join our website free and use our tool "Before-You-Buy, Verify" to support jobs and also let us know if they get laid off.  First, joining our website sends a clear message to large companies that people are watching how many U.S. jobs they are providing.  Second, use our free tool “Before-You-Buy, VERIFY” at the point of purchase to look-up company workforce sizes and reward those companies that support the U.S. workforce the most.  Also we encourage companies to join our website and take their "pledge to keep jobs in America" when possible.

Youth Defenders of the Middle Class:

High School and College students can join our website free and make or join clubs at their schools to monitor, track, and report the size of the U.S. workforce sizes in their area.  We then grade the overall health of our nation’s workforce.  Our goal is to provide transparency of the number of workers each company has in America compared to other countries.  With our revolutionary tool "Before-You-Buy, Verify" we can reward companies that care about our country by directing our purchases to those companies that support American families the most.  Helping to save the middle class is important to our future and we need high school and college clubs across the nation.   Please join us.

Thank you for reading our story and please help up rebuild the U.S. Workforce by becoming a member and using our tool "Before-You-Buy, Verify."  Together we are strong and join our cause, and support the USA, if you don’t do it, our jobs will go away!

Austin M.