# Face Of Unemployment Face Of Unemployment is a reaction image and running joke built around a selfie of Tyler Johnson that CNN used in a January 2021 article about long-term joblessness. The image took off after a Twitter user claimed the photo was his and asked CNN to delete it, kicking off two years of memes where the face stands in for being broke or unemployed. ## Overview Face Of Unemployment is a reaction image built around a selfie of a man named Tyler Johnson, whose photo appeared in a January 2021 CNN story about Americans stuck out of work for six months or more[1]. The joke started when a Twitter user posted a reply insisting the picture was his and asking CNN to take it down, which people took at face value and ran with[2]. The format is simple. Users drop the CNN-cropped selfie into any tweet, screenshot, or image macro where the punchline is being broke, jobless, or generally down bad[3]. The face itself does the work, no caption template required. ## How It Spread Later on January 10th, Twitter user @JasmineLWatkins quote-tweeted the exchange with, 'Imagine logging on twitter and you the face of unemployment,' which cleared 480,000 likes over the next three years and gave the meme its name[4]. From there, the CNN crop of Johnson's selfie started showing up as a stand-alone reaction image[3]. On January 12th, 2021, @rubbaband_grant used the picture as a punchline in a tweet that pulled in about 7,000 likes[5]. A day later, on January 13th, @robfrfr posted another version of the same setup and hit roughly 96,000 likes, cementing the image as shorthand for being unemployed or broke on Twitter[3]. The story got a coda on December 23rd, 2021, when the Instagram account Rap TV posted an update saying Tyler Johnson had landed a full-time job as an Autopsy Lab Assistant, a post that pulled in over 250,000 likes[3]. The meme still gets pulled out whenever a tweet needs a visual for being unemployed, though most of its heavy usage sits in 2021. ## How to Use The typical use is to paste the CNN-cropped selfie of Tyler Johnson into a tweet or image reply as the punchline for being broke, jobless, or having no money for something specific[3]. A common convention is to set up a scenario in text ('me trying to buy groceries this week') and drop the image with no caption underneath. Some versions Photoshop the face into logos, group photos, or fake CVs, but the plain CNN crop is what people usually reach for[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Face Of Unemployment? It's a reaction image built from a CNN selfie of Tyler Johnson that Twitter users adopted as visual shorthand for being unemployed or broke in early 2021[1]. ### Where did Face Of Unemployment come from? It started on January 10th, 2021, when CNN tweeted an unemployment article using Johnson's selfie and a user replying as @Lifekillable said 'Why are yall using my pic? Pls delete this'[2]. ### What does Face Of Unemployment mean? The face stands in for the concept of being jobless, broke, or generally struggling with money, usually dropped as a punchline reply[3]. ### How do you use Face Of Unemployment? People typically post the CNN-cropped photo under a text setup about being broke or unemployed, letting the image itself deliver the joke[4]. ### Is Face Of Unemployment still popular? The bulk of its usage sits in 2021, but the image still resurfaces as a reaction to unemployment or money-related tweets, and Tyler Johnson himself later landed a job as an Autopsy Lab Assistant per a December 2021 Rap TV post[3]. ## References 1. [https://twitter.com/CNN]() 2. [https://twitter.com/Lifekillable]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/face-of-unemployment]() 4. [https://twitter.com/JasmineLWatkins]() 5. [https://twitter.com/rubbaband_grant]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/face-of-unemployment Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library