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There Are More Jobs Than People Out of Work, Something the American Economy Has Never Experienced Before (cnbc.com)

The jobs market has reached what should be some kind of inflection point: there are now more openings than there are workers. From a report: April marked the second month in a row this historic event has occurred, and the gap is growing. According to the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released this week, there were just shy of 6.7 million open positions in April, the most recent month for which data are available. That represented an increase of 65,000 from March and is a record. The number of vacancies is pulling well ahead of the number the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts as unemployed. This year is the first time the level of the unemployed exceeded the jobs available since the BLS started tracking JOLTS numbers in 2000. As of April, the total workers looking and eligible for jobs fell to 6.35 million, a decrease from 6.58 million the previous month. The number fell further in May to 6.06 million, though there is no comparable JOLTS data for that month. Under normal circumstances, the mismatch would be creating a demand for higher wages. However, average hourly earnings rose just 2.7 percent annualized in May, up one-tenth of a point from April. Further reading: Why Nebraska has an amazing jobs market but nobody is moving there.

93 of 689 comments (clear)

  1. Ok by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So why are headhunters still calling me up and trying to lowball me on software developer contracts? With H1B Visas getting shut down, they should be especially short on software engineers, shouldn't they?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And why are there (more than ever) unhoused people living in the streets which society has decided to take a giant dump on? Seattle which has a hot tech job market is befuddled with a growing number of unhoused jobless people living in tents on the sidewalks. Amazing.

    2. Re:Ok by zlives · · Score: 5, Insightful

      there are jobs, but not well paying jobs. i think it has to do with all the profits the corporations are not making...

      o wait
      http://fortune.com/2017/12/07/...

    3. Re:Ok by sgt_doom · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yup, and why are employers doubling down on yearning for younger and younger workers? If there were really a demand, as neither of us believe, wages would have shot up long ago, and my old employers would be bothering me and others without let up.

    4. Re: Ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most homeless people have mental health issues.

      We don't do much for them.

      They probably wouldn't handle doing software development well.

    5. Re:Ok by bobstreo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So why are headhunters still calling me up and trying to lowball me on software developer contracts? With H1B Visas getting shut down, they should be especially short on software engineers, shouldn't they?

      Just because a job is open, doesn't mean it's either

      A) A good job

      B) A job that's offering pay commensurate with experience,,

      Nobody but the truly desperate would even bother applying for jobs like these.

      That and of course the mandatory drug tests.... /s

    6. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Same reason they keep calling me. You are good at what you do and they only want to hire the best.

      Or maybe they are just fishing around for a sucker.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    7. Re:Ok by RickyShade · · Score: 2

      Probably because a great deal of millennial's have this entitlement mentality

      What a load of garbage. How does this have a score of 4.

    8. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      There are places that don't provide coffee? Aw, hell no. Places I have work if the coffee maker is down you are looking at a riot.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    9. Re:Ok by Ichijo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      With H1B Visas getting shut down, they should be especially short on software engineers, shouldn't they?

      Correct, they lowball you just so they can prove that they can't find anyone to fill the position before (ab)using the H1B program for cheap labor. They don't expect you to actually take the job, nor are they willing to pay more to fill the position.

      --
      Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    10. Re:Ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "I demand to work normal working hours under sane conditions for a wage that doesn't require me to find 2 more jobs just so I can pay the fucking rent."

      "YOU ENTITLED BRAT!"

    11. Re:Ok by Dorianny · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Millenials grew up during one the longest economic downturn in history and have the heaviest student-debt burden ever. They are worst off financially then their parents at their age and are very likely to never be as wealthy as their parents. They bust their ass in the "gig economy" for little pay and no benefits and yet you consider them "entitled" because they prefer their cup of coffee differently then yours. Guess what, you are the entitled generations

    12. Re:Ok by rfengr · · Score: 2

      Mine does not, and it has 100k employees. Hell, I don’t even have dental insurance.

    13. Re:Ok by r1348 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Dude, seriously, jump ship.

    14. Re:Ok by dj245 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mine does not, and it has 100k employees. Hell, I don’t even have dental insurance.

      They are stupid for not doing so. If people are willing to take legal stimulants, I (as the boss) am happy to facilitate that.

      If adderall was OTC I would have a big bowl full of them in the break room.

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    15. Re: Ok by Kaenneth · · Score: 2

      I had two schizophrenic friends, one, that uses drugs (mostly marijuana) is chronically homeless. The one that stayed clean was a co-worker at Microsoft (sadly died suddenly from a heart problem).

      Anecdotal.

    16. Re:Ok by Humbubba · · Score: 4, Interesting
      An A.C wrote

      And why are there (more than ever) unhoused people living in the streets which society has decided to take a giant dump on? Seattle which has a hot tech job market is befuddled with a growing number of unhoused jobless people living in tents on the sidewalks. Amazing.

      The unemployed usually go where the jobs are, ridiculously increasing the unemployment and homeless numbers for that particular area. Some come hoping to find a toehold to a career, others come for any sort of employment, even in the secondary job market. But even the qualified might not get hired for whatever reason (gender, race, HR rules and regulations, history, etc.) Not to mention, some homeless have jobs, but just can't afford Seattle's high rent.

      It wouldn't surprise me if some of the homeless are anarchic Utopians wanting to create a practical social/economic/ecological alternative to 'authoritarian' representative democracy. Like Europe's Autonomism movement or France's Collectif la vieille Valette.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomism

      https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://laboratoireurbanismeinsurrectionnel.blogspot.com/2015/10/france-magnifique-vieille-valette.html&prev=search

      https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.passerelleco.info/article.php%3Fid_article%3D527&prev=search

    17. Re: Ok by sexconker · · Score: 2, Funny

      I had two schizophrenic friends, one, that uses drugs (mostly marijuana) is chronically homeless. The one that stayed clean was a co-worker at Microsoft (sadly died suddenly from a heart problem).

      Anecdotal.

      I have 1 schizophrenic friend. The first leads a normal life, the second is chronically depressed, and the third is a violent freak who won't stop whispering to me to burn them all, burn them all, BURN THEM ALL!

    18. Re:Ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm fucking sick of seeing useless boomers, who got a helping hand from the government at every step of their privileged lives of luxury and ease, rant about the greatness of hard work and how millenials just don'try try as hard as they did.

      Your generation is the one that sold off the productive economy and pulled the ladder up after you, the first generation in a long, long time to give their children less - and even now you continue to try and siphon off wealth from the people who are forced to clean up your mess.

    19. Re: Ok by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's dissociative identity disorder. Schizophrenics will hear voices or see hallucinations - it's an issue with properly processing signal vs. noise.

    20. Re:Ok by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If by entitled, you mean entitled to a job after paying a fortune for college, then you're probably right. That's how most if not all of them were raised, because it actually worked for their parents.

    21. Re: Ok by dryeo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or was unemployable for other reasons such as no way to keep up on personal hygiene due to being homeless or perhaps he got busted many years ago for having a joint.
      As others mentioned, there's also mental illness, coffee shop probably doesn't want to hire a mumbler or someone who can't help but curse customers.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    22. Re:Ok by Koby77 · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's a simple matter to create more jobs than job applicants. As an example, I could want to start up a new health clinic. I need to employ ten doctors, and I'm willing to pay $7.50 an hour. Hmmm, I'm not finding any takers. But now I want to increase the size of my clinic, and now I need 15 doctors at $7.50 per hour. Of course, I could repeat this and pretend to create an infinite amount of job openings. But it's the problem that you identified as B: pay must match the value of the work.

    23. Re:Ok by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 3, Informative

      Many companies, in Europe, use job offerings as a kind of "advertizement". In other words: there is no such job, no idea if that also happens in the US:

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    24. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sorry hoss, I'm not a baby boomer. But in a way your are correct, baby boomers are largely responsible for most if not all of this countries problems.

      The only thing my generation has been is stuck with trying to clean up the mess boomers have left us.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    25. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But who's fault is that? How many of these degree's are for markets that is already saturated? They don't find jobs in these areas because they are none. But what there is, is plenty of jobs in blue collar areas. The country needs plumbers, and welders, there are plenty of jobs there. But so many millennials think these jobs are beneath them.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    26. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Informative

      Balancing a checkbook is easy but nobody under 40 does it anymore because it's pointless. The vast majority of transactions these days are digital and the balance of your account is available with a few clicks on your phone. Most millennials will only write a handful of checks in their lives. Gen Z will probably kill them for good.

      No! This is the most stupidest thing I've read today. Yes, I realize I'm reading and posting to a 0 score but this thinking has to be corrected.

      Balancing your checkbook is basic accounting 101. You don't use it just to keep track of how much money you spend. You use to make sure the bank hasn't committed a error on your statement, or that someone isn't stealing money from your account. Never trust what the bank tells you.

      Not all transactions show up on a digital statement right away. Digital transactions first show up as a pending entry in your statement. Those are entries that have not cleared. Those pending transactions can vanish off your account in a few days only to come back as a cleared statement.

      Checks on the other hand do not show up on your digital statement till they are cashed. For this to happen you are at the mercy of the person holding the check. They could hold that check for a few days or in some cases a few months.

      You must keep track of your own money. Do not rely on the bank to do this.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    27. Re:Ok by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Many companies, in Europe, use job offerings as a kind of "advertizement". In other words: there is no such job, no idea if that also happens in the US

      Speaking as someone who recently had to look for work, I can assure you that this is very much the case in the U.S. as well. Very, very few advertised positions represent actual jobs. The vast majority of them fall into one of these categories:

      1) Job recruiter bait (no actual job, just a fake ad for a job recruiter basically)
      2) A job that they already have someone in mind for, but have to advertise for legal reasons
      3) A job with the unstated hidden requirement "must be a woman or minority"
      4) A continuous fake job ad that's just intended to solicit resumes to add to the pile
      5) A job that is posted with ridiculous qualification requirements or a terrible salary, just so the company can claim they can't find anyone to fill it when they apply for an H1B hiring permit.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    28. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 3

      I had a corrupt bank manager that would hold on to the checks I was writing. Then instead of cashing them in the order they came in. She would shuffle them around so some of the would get a NSF charge against them Of which she was getting a bonus for.

      She was doing this for several accounts, got busted, and I think was arrested. I got all my money back for the fees but my point still stand. Do not blindly trust a bank.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    29. Re: Ok by triffid_98 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Um...it's what was (collectively, not you personally) told to the machinists and steelworkers other displaced professions (soon to be taxi drivers and semi truck operators) once a million of them lose their jobs. Many are not suited for it and few of them with zero experience in their new field at 40+ are going to be snapped up like that, even if they can afford to re-skill (many cannot)

    30. Re:Ok by DMJC · · Score: 2, Informative

      Who the fuck uses chequebooks anymore? Isn't everything on EFT/Electronic money aside from edge cases with cash or is America behind the times yet again? The only time I ever see a cheque is when a government department or business issues a refund and is too dumb to use direct bank deposit.

    31. Re: Ok by schure · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And slavery was a choice, right?

    32. Re: Ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Bullshit, homeless in Seattle because hiring is in fact abysmal.
      Amazon and Microsoft still advertise jobs as required by law before they hire H1B.
      Those job listings aren't meant to be filled, stop spreading lies about "healthy" job market.

    33. Re:Ok by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 2

      According to a former co-worker/software developer who used to work for a bank they would process checks from largest to smallest which of course would have the effect of bouncing as many checks as possible should a customer have insufficient funds to cover all of them.

    34. Re: Ok by peragrin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Also wages are not rising. A healthy job market the wages should be jumping up a lot. But are at best medicore increases

      The tax cuts are doing more to harm economic growth as the money corporations got are going to shareholders and not bieng used to expand and growth.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    35. Re: Ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Shut the hell up with bullshit like that. Slavery is not the same as people choosing to be lazy and want handouts , be afflicted with an untreated mental condition that affects their ability to be productive.

      Just stop. They're not the same.

    36. Re:Ok by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      We'lls Fuckyo and Blood of Apartheid did this to thousands of customers for years, and got away with it. I have literally had it done to me by both of them.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    37. Re:Ok by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      coffee? $2 a day covers a person with coffee

      I prefer drinking it, but each to their own.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    38. Re: Ok by bigman2003 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've owned businesses. Landscaping and printing.

      I tried to hire homeless people. I've gone to the guys holding the signs and said"hey...I have work for you...help me mow lawns for the day $12/hr. And I'll buy you breakfast and lunch."

      I did this a LOT. I did not care about appearance, criminal record, etc. They didn't need to plan ahead or meet me later. I offered immediate food, etc. Etc.

      Over the course of a year I had ONE person take me up on it. He was a good guy, worked with me for like 2 weeks before he disappeared.

      Whenever people talk about all of the hurdles for these people to get jobs, I know that when I took away every single hurdle...they said "no".

      In my experience these people are on the street because they prefer it to the other options. Not because they don't have other options.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    39. Re:Ok by Gryle · · Score: 2

      It's one of two things:
      1) Skills mismatch: employers can't find personnel with the skill-set they need. I don't work in the tech sector so I won't comment on the HB1 visa debacle, but I know this is a big issue in construction and civil infrastructure sectors.
      2)Regional mismatch: the jobs are in places where people aren't.

      As for Seattle, I'd guess that most of the street people don't have the necessary skills to work in the tech sector. That said, feel free to donate your time and energy to teach a few of them how to code.

      --
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
    40. Re: Ok by painandgreed · · Score: 4, Informative

      Bullshit, homeless in Seattle because hiring is in fact abysmal. Amazon and Microsoft still advertise jobs as required by law before they hire H1B. Those job listings aren't meant to be filled, stop spreading lies about "healthy" job market.

      I don't usually reply to godless lying Russian trolls, but I'm in Seattle and seeing lots of what is going on. Hiring is great in Seattle. Walk down the street and most places have help wanted signs up in the windows. Problem is that those jobs probably won't pay rent on anyplace within ten miles of downtown Seattle. As for professional jobs, we were in the market to hire somebody (because our groups people keep getting recruited for other places by their friends) and in the time that it took to post the job, collect resumes, and interview, we ended up with out fourth choice because the first three were employed someplace else before we could offer them the job.

      Most of the people that are homeless in Seattle are that way because they are living paycheck to paycheck and getting forced out of their houses and apartments by raising rates without first and last to get a new place at the drop of a hat. Housing is going up 10% a year for the past twenty years. The old, cheap places are being torn down to make new expensive places. Apartment complexes are literally doubling the rent from one month to the next to force everybody out so they can remodel and charge more. This happened to one couple I know three times in the same year. Several friends, despite good jobs find themselves having to sometimes stay with friends or family till they can find a new place to live as not too many people can handle their rent doubling long term. Those without a nest egg, friends, or family will find themselves out in the street, and according to the newspapers looking into the issue, that is what is going on in Seattle.

    41. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Errr yeah they do. Maybe they don't in America where you fetishize the credit industry and pay for your chewing gum using borrowed capital, but the vast majority of the rest of the world have up to date digital statements.

      No they don't.. What happens to a payment when if the network is down? I doesn't go away, it gets stored till the network comes backup. Most of the time this is fairly quick. But what happens if it is a hardware issue of a holiday weekend and it takes a few days or even a week to get straighten out?

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    42. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      I can't argue with anything you're saying. But I am 45 years old and have never balanced my checkbook in my life. I look at my bank statement, and if it looks right, I go on with life.

      That's fine. But let me asked you this. How much money do you think you might have lost over all those years by not keep better track? Granted, its probably very low but it is still your money that has gone missing.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    43. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      I write, well print, 12 checks a year for my rent. The apartment complex will let me pay on line with a card but they charge a $15 "convenience" fee for it. Screw that. I just drop a check in the printer and hit print on quicken.

      Small business also still write checks and some big business too. Lots of them.

      By the way if you notice that I said quicken in my post. I would not advise people to say as far away from quicken as possible. It's a bug infested crap fest now owned by a unethical company that will advertise features on new releases while knowing they have no intention of providing those features.

      If you are looking for financial software for home I would recommend checking out Money Dance. It does everything a house hold needs. And bonus they have fully functional Linux versions as well as Windows.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    44. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      From what I understand is she was using the date the check was written on and not the date the check was presented.

      My check writing habits made it easy for her. I would sit down and write my checks at the start of the month. Naturally I would date them with that date. Then as the bills came due and I had a deposit with enough funds to clear the check I would turn it in.

      Well she would manually enter the checks with the date they where written and override any automatic process they had. So what would happen is they would show up in the system way before the deposits actually came in.

      I guess she could get away with it at first because she was only doing it to a small number of checks but in my case I had a dozen or more checks get flagged for NSF in a single month. When I started asking questions and actually showed a manager at another branch the statements and the canceled check the bank manager of my bank was arrested an all my money was refunded.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    45. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Hey. Look at that. I'm posting at +2 again. Someone finally noticed I have been posting at +3 and fixed it. Good job :)

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    46. Re:Ok by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      The name of the bank was Colonial and they are out of business now.

      I think you missed what was happening. I did have the funds to cover the checks. She was doing some shit with the ledger to make it look like I didn't. She was stealing money.

      Let me see if I can explain this better. I would sit down at the first of the month with my bills and make out checks for them. Naturally, I would date them the day I made them out. Then I would keep the bills and the checks together on my desk till I had the deposit to cover the check later that month. Then I would ether mail the check or drop it off.

      There was always funds to cover the check before I mailed it. What she was doing was over riding the checking process and changing the date the check came in to match the date the check was written. That would make it look like there wasn't enough funds to cover the check.

      I'm back to posting at +3 now. Whatever.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  2. Re: Let me fix that for you... by saloomy · · Score: 2

    No so. Labor demand is high, so salary is how the companies will compete for labor.

  3. Re: Let me fix that for you... by Altus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Right, I'll be over here holing my breath waiting for wages to finally go up.

    --

    "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  4. Uh no by MikeRT · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are anywhere from a few million to tens of millions depending on the accounting who just gave up on finding a new job and are not counted anymore.

    Labor pool stats are just relative to what we call a proper labor distribution anyway. If 10m millennial women suddenly dropped out of the workforce over a decade to be stay at home wives**, they'd probably call them unemployed. When men who did jobs that were outsourced give up, they call them participants in a ghost economy we won't^H^H^H^H^Hcan't measure Because Reasons.

    (**bwahaha you don't think corporate America welcomed a massive influx of women into the workplace out of "repentance for sexism," do you? They found religion on "equality" because adding tens of millions of working women to the economy crippled the ability of the men and lower class women to negotiate with them a la wages.)

    1. Re:Uh no by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

      If 10m millennial women suddenly dropped out of the workforce over a decade to be stay at home wives**, they'd probably call them unemployed.

      The rules on who is unemployed are pretty simple (if possibly erroneous.) You have to want a job not have a job be healthy enough for a job and have had a job in the past two years. The last one is probably to detect people unwilling to admit they are unemployable because of skills/disabilities. However, post-2008, it caught lots of other people.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    2. Re:Uh no by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Informative

      You're looking for the Labor Force Participation Rate. 62% of the people who could work are currently working.

      The u3 unemployment number is just rigged nonsense, so the headline of this story is also nonsense.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  5. Re: Let me fix that for you... by jeff4747 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If that were true, salaries would be rising significantly faster than inflation. And should have been rising since the end of the last recession (roughly 2012ish, when you account for the people who lost jobs in 2008 getting re-hired).

    Salaries aren't doing that.

  6. Of course, it is a common tactic . . . by sgt_doom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    for corporations doing poorly to advertise for nonexisting jobs. I recall back in the 1990s, when a local company called Traveling Software, kept advertising for positions after they had laid off over 60% of their workforce --- and surprise of surprises --- they never bothered to fill any of those advertised-for positions.

  7. Re: Let me fix that for you... by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

    Of course not, most huge corporations have nowhere to grow except in the wallets of the ruling class. This is why we get five-bladed razors *cough*and 3-cameras*cough. Why try hard when you can get rich on your own corner of the market? The sad part is, all these companies will be eaten up by Amazon who is hungry, and will end up with all retail. Then we'll really be fucked.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  8. Re: Let me fix that for you... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

    Labor demand is high, so salary is how the companies will compete for labor.

    That's the theory. But so far it isn't happening. Wages are barely keeping pace with price inflation. Economists don't really understand why. With tight labor markets and loose monetary policy, inflation should be roaring. But it isn't.

  9. Sounds like bullshit by Cornwallis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ignoring the U6 column on the labor statistics again?

    I bet so. Howzabouts all the people - especially us 60+ - experiencing age discrimination who aren't even being counted any longer?

    1. Re:Sounds like bullshit by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 2

      Of course they aren't counting U6. Nor are they counting the under-employed - after all, one should be happy just to have a job.

      And you're right about age discrimination for aged-60+ people. All of those are now "discouraged workers" who aren't counted in the unemployment stats.

      --
      That is all.
  10. Re:Let me fix that for you... by k6mfw · · Score: 2

    I guess that's why I'm not willing to take that job at $14.87/hr that is only 20 hrs a week on the other side of the SF bay.

    --
    mfwright@batnet.com
  11. Fake by quonset · · Score: 4, Informative

    First, there are plenty of people for these jobs but the government doesn't consider them "looking" because they haven't actually looked for a job in the last week or so. It's why the unemployment numbers aren't really that accurate.

    Second, and this has been going on for decades, employers will put up fake jobs in that the position doesn't exist, but the employer wants to get a feel for who is out there and what they want in pay.

    Third, as the most recent jobs numbers showed, the largest portion of job creation is service jobs. i.e. low wage positions. One could argue that an increase in service jobs is a reflection of a growing economy, it could also mean that automation is taking away some of the more manual jobs which pushes down employment for those who would have done those jobs, thus revealing the only job growth is at your local Kwik E Mart rather than a production line. Since one can't live off those wages, they don't bother applying for such jobs.

    While the numbers indicate more jobs than people looking, as the con artist would say, they're fake.

  12. Re:Thanks Obama by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because he actually isn't? Somehow, I really don't care how good the economy is if my country is being looted by a bunch of crooks. And Trump's administration is the most corrupt in history.

    --
    That is all.
  13. Too much Fox News for you by DogDude · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You've been ingesting too much Fox News. They've been lying about California's economy for years.
    http://www.foxnews.com/opinion...

    I guess the idea that high taxes and reasonable regulations work pisses off the Ayn Rand-ites, so they have to constantly say that it's failing? That's some serious cognitive dissonance. You should probably get your head out of your ass.
    http://www.latimes.com/busines...

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:Too much Fox News for you by DogDude · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's why they are leaving.

      That's a lie. California continues to grow.

      http://worldpopulationreview.c...

      socialist regimes always go broke. That is happening in real time in California.

      Also a lie. See last post.

      If you want to discuss facts, that'd be great. All you're doing is lying.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    2. Re:Too much Fox News for you by zieroh · · Score: 2

      You've been ingesting too much Fox News. They've been lying about California's economy for years.

      http://www.foxnews.com/opinion...

      Shhhhh! Don't tell them! The news that California is failing is actually a clever PR campaign to keep people in the flyover states from coming here. As the nation's most populous state, we have too many people here already.

      Earthquakes, mudslides, drought, riot, stay away!

      --
      People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
    3. Re:Too much Fox News for you by schwit1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And the worst quality of life.
      https://www.usnews.com/news/be...

      California has worst US air pollution in the nation
      https://phys.org/news/2018-04-...

      California has the highest poverty rate in the nation
      https://www.latimes.com/opinio...

      Schools are 39/51
      https://wallethub.com/edu/stat...

      This is with a high state income and sales tax.

  14. Re:Thanks Obama by jwhyche · · Score: 2, Informative

    I thought it would be pretty evident but here is a link to help out.

    https://www.usnews.com/opinion...

    Depending on who runs the numbers under Obama the national deficit rose by 7 to 10 trillion dollars. Almost doubling or doubling, again on who runs the numbers, off all presidents before him combine. That alone is a disaster.

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  15. Re:Thanks Obama by jwhyche · · Score: 3, Insightful

    More corrupt than Nixon? An you can prove this how?

    More likely, he is doing a good job and it sticks in your craw that he is.

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  16. Minimum wage / gig economy or bad headhunting? by ErichTheRed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Something tells me these numbers are being manipulated. If things really were that good, employers would raise wages. You'd have fast food places offering $20/hr to flip burgers if they needed the labor that badly. Also, including every "job" regardless of full/part time status and suitability is misleading. No one who spent a reasonable effort getting a college degree wants to be working a minimum wage retail job. If all the jobs advertised were professional jobs, or even high-paying factory work this would be an actual story.

    One other problem especially in the tech and IT fields is the huge mismatch between employers/employees and the absolutely crappy hiring/headhunting process. Employees lowball their offers, headhunters have zero clue about the jobs they're advertising, and there's a massive fetish for anyone under 30. God help you if you're in your mid-50s and end up on the wrong end of an offshoring/outsourcing. The 28 year old MBA in HR is going to assume you're a dinosaur and immediately pass you over.

    It's sure better than 10+% unemployment, but let me know when employers are offering solid, well paying, stable full time work. You can't expect anyone with a family to want to string together 3 part time gigs plus some Uber driving on the side. It's great for the unattached, but a bad way to encourage stable home lives for people.

    1. Re:Minimum wage / gig economy or bad headhunting? by omnichad · · Score: 3

      You'd have fast food places offering $20/hr to flip burgers

      Would you settle for chicken?

      Skilled people can't find good enough jobs to have a place to live and still pay off student loans. Unskilled people don't just not learn, they also don't always try very hard. There is still a lot of underemployment, though.

  17. Re:Thanks Obama by Dorianny · · Score: 2

    Obama should have invented a magical accounting method where healthcare spending pays for itself, like the Republicans did for tax-cuts

  18. Re:Thanks Obama by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Had nothing to do with Bush's wars. Nope, nothing at all. The cost and benefit of prior administrations never carries over to the next.

    --
    Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  19. Re: Let me fix that for you... by Chocy · · Score: 2

    Economists don't want to admit their their models, ALL of their models, are inherently flawed. Money is our social blood. If it's not flowing to the right places in the right quantities AND staying mostly within a closed system, then our social body begins to atrophy. Money is being hoarded in hands/accounts of too few. Governments have tried to print new currency notes to keep normal people's needs satiated and prevent a riot, but that can only hold up for so long. Money isn't flowing freely in a closed system anymore. I don't know what these hoarders are thinking by extracting so much wealth from the lower populations, but the outcome of doing so will be (a) harsher wage and debt slavery than before, (b) harsher tactics that people have to employ to keep access to food, water, and shelter, and (c) people will leave the system of fiat currency to primarily live in small social communities where most "wealth" is generated by the actions of the people involved (food, water, shelter, and then some sort of production). Seems to me that external countries / people will grab up another country's wealth in order to FORCE it to atrophy, if necessary to gain personal profit. We have to end large scale greed ASAP. It's the only way.

  20. We would have had the workers we need by reboot246 · · Score: 2, Funny

    We'd have all the workers we need had we not aborted millions of Americans. Who knows, we may have killed the one who would have discovered the cure for cancer or invented warp drive.

    Science calls it "cause and effect". I call it, "You reap what you sow."

  21. Re:Thanks Obama by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's see how these trade wars, financial and environmental deregulation, consumer protection gutting, etc. pan out first before we assign the "pretty decent job" title to him. The state of the nation doesn't turn on a dime. For good or bad, the momentum from previous administrations has a rather significant reach into the next. Unless your definition of "pretty decent job" translates to "hasn't caused nuclear winter," we've some wait and see to do.

    --
    Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  22. Re:Thanks Obama by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    This is truth and so many people don't realize it. The state of the world economy is tied to U.S. economy. If the U.S. economy goes south we take the rest of the world with it.

    I expect this will not always be true with China's rising economy, but it currently is.

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  23. Re: Thanks Obama by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2, Informative

    Accusations of race-baiting are cr@p. He called asshat cops on some of their worse actions (harassing a man "breaking into" his own house, Holder's attempt to dial back civil forfeiture) instead of calling them "heroes" even if what they did was wrong.

    The race-baiting came mainly from people who couldn't stand a Black president actually standing up for civil rights. Many "constitutional conservatives" are only conservative until people who don't look like them demand their Constitutional rights. When that happens, only the Second Amendment seems to matter.

  24. Re:Thanks Obama by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Proof isn't the problem, the problem is the Republicans not impeaching him despite it all.

    Proof is a problem, in that there is none. There is a lot of hearsay, but no proof. Can't impeach without proof.

    But then what? Have you thought what happens if Trump is impeached? Do you think there will be a do over in the election or that Hillary will be carried in on a gold throne? No you get Mike Pence, think about that for a moment.

    You progressives so worried about what Trump might do, you never think about what removing him will do. Trump is a political outsider. He spends most of his time fighting his own congress. Pence will not have that problem. He is a political animal, and knows how to get things done. He has the contacts and clout to pull it off. Plus he is thinks he is on a mission from god to put gays back in the closet and women back in the kitchen. He will set our country back 30 years.

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  25. Re:Thanks Obama by dfenstrate · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would argue that the ACA was a net negative, though, and possibly worse than doing nothing in the long term because of the backlash. ACA was the Republican plan, and it sucked in a lot of ways. This got in the way of the single-payer system that we actually need, which would actually work.

    Republican plan? Are you out of your mind? The ACA was passed on a party-line vote with procedural tricks to ensure no Republican opposition could stand in the way.

    --
    Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
  26. Re:Thanks Obama by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

    Depending on who runs the numbers under Obama the national deficit rose by 7 to 10 trillion dollars.

    No, you are wrong! At least get the terms "deficit" and "debt" right. The federal deficit will be $985 billion in 2019 (estimate). Deficit is completely different than debt, and using those terms wrong make you look ignorant. Here are several charts that show the historical and current deficit numbers.

    For people who are too lazy to look it up:
    National debt: total amount of money we owe.
    National deficit: amount we are adding to the debt (this year).

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  27. Re:Thanks Obama by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Again the HornyWumpus speaks truthfully. I don't know what will trigger it but I do know this. If it does fall down it will be the

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  28. Re:Thanks Obama by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Economy is in good shape and getting better. We're finally addressing the failures of NAFTA, killed the TPP, and getting China (and the EU, to a lesser extent) to have real talks about protectionism and free trade. Not to mention getting a little sit-down with North and South Korea. And pulling us out of insane agreements with Iran (who never signed in the first place) that exclude inspections of all military sites. Great jobs report. Positive trends among public opinion that we're on the right track. Actual progress on prison reform. Unleashed the dogs of war against ISIS and effectively ended them (via elimination of 99% of all ISIS-held territory).

    But other than those, and many more, yeah - what's he ever done for us?

    --
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  29. Re:Thanks Obama by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Crap. My hand bump mouse button when it was on submit before I finished.

    If it does fall down it will be a disaster of Biblical proportions.

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  30. Re:Thanks Obama by Peter+P+Peters · · Score: 2

    Trump cure cancer, contact friendly alien life, and solve all the worlds problems, and you would still find something to bitch about him. Why can't you people just accept, despite his personal faults, he is actually doing a pretty decent job?

    I will when you tell me what he's done? (seriously, I'm not anti-Trump, I'll give credit where it's due)
    I'll start you off:
    Tax cuts. This is what I consider his biggest achievement. Unfortunately it's only good if you are rich, for everyone else it's a shocker.
    Employment. I give him credit for maintaining Obama's hard work to turn around the sinking ship, however there are two caveats. Job growth is slightly less than it was under Obama, so even though it's good it's not as good, and it's a lot easier to maintain short term momentum when you're already headed in that direction. The second caveat is that a lot of pro-business policy will only be good short term. These types of moves come with a risk of long term damage (see GWB and the GFC).
    North Korea. This is a wait and see as nothing has actually happened yet. And the stuff that has happened seem to have nothing to do with Trump even though he makes claim for them (eg the united Korea Winter Olympic team)
    That's all I got. To balance, here's the list of bad things...Oh wait... I don't have a hundred years to list them all in detail....

  31. Sneers from an Old Economy Steve by Uberbah · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But who's fault is that? How many of these degree's are for markets that is already saturated? They don't find jobs in these areas because they are none. But what there is, is plenty of jobs in blue collar areas. The country needs plumbers, and welders, there are plenty of jobs there. But so many millennials think these jobs are beneath them.

    First, millennials are sneered at if they want a living wage without having a degree. Have to better yourselves to be employed, doncha know.

    Next, millennials are sneered at for not being clairvoyant to pick the exact degree that will be in demand when they graduate (You Are Here).

    Finally, don't forget to sneer at those millennials for "taking on student loans they couldn't afford".

  32. Re:Thanks Obama by king+neckbeard · · Score: 2

    Your argument about single payer working elsewhere is ridiculous. There's no rational reason for US citizens to subsidize private profits from legal monopolies with severe regulatory capture, just for the sake of medical research of the rest of the world. Other countries with similar resources should be pulling their own weight, and it's a horribly inefficient way to fund research.

    Basically all of the useful research is taxpayer funded while still being under unchecked, for-profit monopolies, with only a nominal amount going back to the researchers and universities that engage in said research. Take the NIH grants and university spending, tack on money from 10% of our military budget, release them to the public in a generics process that consists of making untainted chemical equivalents, and we'll get at least twice as many useful drugs at a fraction of the cost.

    --
    This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  33. *sigh* by zkiwi34 · · Score: 2

    Nothing said about the nature of the jobs or the wages for them. Nothing about the cost of health and accommodation. Nothing about the numbers of people that are no longer counted as looking for work.

    So, things are clearly looking up. There are even concerns over wage inflation. Translation, research worth less than a used happy meal.

  34. Re:Thanks Obama by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    An again, where is the proof?

    You really that dumb or do you actually believe that Pence would be better than Trump?

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  35. Re:Thanks Obama by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

    So other than capitalism, what do you think we should use? What non-capitalist economy has shown itself to be better for resources, the land, and people?

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  36. Re: Thanks Obama by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

    So we haven't had real communism yet? Perhaps the failure of communism is the way it is so easily hung-up at dictatorship - the concentration of all power into the State immediately corrupts those heading the State to simply stop there and not share with anyone. Meaning that communism will never be realized, because the fatal flaw of dictatorship in its path.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  37. Those are not mental health issues. by Qbertino · · Score: 2

    Those are genetic dispositions and socializations. If I'm trying to fix a full stack web Problem every day all day for months or years in a row it will have an impact on my emotional and mental composition. ADHDs are hunters and gatherers in a settler and farmer world.

    I've enrolled in college recently and have a Projekt group made up of me (48, senior developer) and three 19 year old nerdboys. And I mean total all out over the top excess nerds. These guys couldn't care less about their appearance or habitus. They do still care but only to the utmost minimum. They care orders of magnitude more about getting our little Java thing done with and back to playing with a bazillion PLs, getting into C++ and trying out that new Tensor Flow thing.

    Linus Torwalds would be a abysmally shitty dancer (I presume) but he's one of the best Programmers in the world. That's also due to his mental composition.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  38. Re: Thanks Obama by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You mean the guy who was trying to break into his own house, and when the cop asked him for ID. The guy became belligerent. Yes, very racist. It's not like police ask for ID all the time when they give the person the benefit of the doubt, to see if they were the person in question. And then Obama jumping into the entire thing, and flaming the "well maybe he was a racist." Nope, no race-baiting there. How about "his son trayvon" who had a long history of petty crime, and was well on his way to being yet another banger? Nope that wasn't race-baiting at all. Especially when the media got on board and called the guy who shot him white(because it fit the narrative). Remember, the progressives set the standard on what racism is on that. They attacked McCain, Bush, and several other people and used hispanic as race. You don't get to play one-off with this. Same rules for both sides hypocrite.

    How about his race baiting statement in front of the UN with regards to Ferguson. He was a race baiting piece of shit, and no different then any other. The fact that you immediately jump to the "people who were his critics were the real race-baiters" simply shows that you, yourself have a serious racism issue.

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    Om, nomnomnom...
  39. Re:Thanks Obama by sjames · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Naturally, the Republicans hate the Democrats so much they won't even vote for their own plan if a Democrat agrees with it.

    That's what the party of NO is all about these days.

  40. Bullshit. by Grog6 · · Score: 2

    I graduated HS under Regan; the guy who started the whole "War on Drugs" while importing Cocaine for money for weapons for Iran.

    They MADE the entire Drug war, which we know now was a war on the poorer classes.

    Hell it wasn't a problem until little White Girls started fucking Black men for Cocaine, then it was a Scourge.

    We are still living that lie, as a country.

    This is just the latest round.

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani