How much is your job worth to you?

Over the past year, unemployment has been on the near-constant rise. Every time I turn around it seems as though some other company is cutting 20% of its work force. Many of the larger companies, however, are doing something to try to ease the layoffs before actually being forced to simply fire the workers.

They’re offering buyouts.

These buyouts, depending on the company, are typically a few thousand dollars ($10,000-$25,000) and are a one time payment. With the payout, the employee is immediately terminated and he or she is free from any contract that they might have with the company.

However, even when GM decided to offer buyouts to some of its employees that included a free car, employees weren’t taking the offer and instead were opting for the risk of not knowing whether they would be fired without a buyout or not. Many GM workers who could have taken the buyouts were fired with no money to help cushion the blow.

Most recently, the United States Postal Service has decided to offer a $15,000 buyout to anyone who wants to quit willingly. The offer extends to those seeking retirement or early retirement, a total of about 30,000 employees. They would get $10,000 now and the other $5,000 in October 2010. I’m sure that many of these people will not end up taking the buyout.

The problem is, many of these people know that their job is worth more than the buyout being offered. There aren’t enough jobs to go around right now and if they decide to quit and take the buyout, then they are much less likely to be able to find work again especially because these are the people who are eligible for retirement. They are the ones who will end up scrimping and saving because they can’t keep their electricity on if they burn through their savings.

In some ways, I don’t blame the people who decide to not take the buyout, but on the other hand, many of these people will be terminated without any financial compensation of any kind. The buyouts do leave a bitter taste in your mouth, don’t they?