Without going into details, I work with tax related stuff (but I'm not a tax auditor. Like I said, I'm low tier). But if you wanna know if I can apply my work related skills in some other sector, I can't. I honestly doubt I would be able to fit in corporate culture after so many years working as a civil servant. It breeds a very specific kind of mentality and work ethics on you (and I don't mean I'm a lazy bastard, quite the contrary since I pull overtime every week).
In January, our nationwide unemployment rate went from 9,8% to 11,8%. There are currently around 13 million unemployed people in our country - and that statistic doesn't take informal jobs into account, and they are big here. The number is likely bigger. Analysts believe we will have 1.2 million more unemployed people this year. The rate is bigger in my state, but I don't remember the number.
But stats aside, I trust more my daily interactions. Everyone that I know that is working in the private sector got laid off or is on the verge of being fired, except for one or two. Of these, most are still unemployed 6 months after being sacked. A select few opened up some manner of business, but they all complain about their perspective and think that if nothing changes, they will have to close down in 1 - 2 year tops.
I also see traditional establishments closing down all the time. Restaurants, coffee shops and the like that have been around for 40, 50 years have been closing in droves. Business that flourished before are going under at an alarming rate. Our state judges even got worried at the amount of bankrupcy requests and created a "task force" to deal with it in a more expedient manner (not something they would normally care, it's just that it's too many of them right now). I can also tell you we are having record amounts of companies not paying taxes because of this whole shitshow - all companies that paid everything correctly before.
I have a family member that recently got laid off from his lifelong employment in his 50s, and he is absolutely fucked because no one will take a guy as old as him in a new job.
I'm afraid of that kind of thing happening to me, so I'm hesitant to change jobs. Like I said, I work 9 - 5, with 1 hour of lunchtime in there (so I actually work 7 hours/day), 40 days of vacation/year, state issued healthcare that is actually decent and affordable (this is important, as healthcare gets obscenely expensive around your 60s. My father died paying more than half of my salary on his [he was 82 at the time of his death]). I also don't have to be afraid of taking as many medical leaves as I can only to be later fired nor of my employer going bankrupt. So yes, the salary is not amazing, but the job security is great.
Besides, like I said before, selling my apartment would give me terrible returns, and I'm not sure I can use my tax related knowledge to compete with people that actually majored in something related to it in the market.
Yeah, I'm trying to save money to invest, but it's been a struggle. Not much left at the end of the month. Converting in american dollars, I can save up around $500 after my monthly expenses and a little bit spent on luxury like eating out or buying something entertainment related. I only recently started saving it, though, since before, I earned even less and I was mostly breaking even every month.
But don't worry about it, I was mostly venting. It's a bit frustrating, that's all. My current plan is to try and get a better government job. Not easy, but not impossible. Just requires a lot of studying, which I'm working on.