I know completely how you feel. Today happens to be my one-year anniversary of my layoff from Motorola. Had I chosen not to take the promotion, I would still be there, but that's neither here nor there. Getting laid off 3 weeks before 9/11 is murder on job prospects too. It took 3 months to find a crappy job that didn't even cover my bills, but supplemented my severance, until 3 months later when I landed a job OUTSIDE my then career field, which STILL pays less than I earned before.

The economy isn't recovering nearly as well as anyone would have hoped. Many of the guys I worked with in IT have also found jobs, but as with my situation, they all pay less. It's now an employer's market, and we're left with the scraps they want to offer.