Posted on 09/04/2013 12:14:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
At the end of 2004 the ratio of job openings to workers was about the same as today, but the unemployment rate has moved from a tame 5.4% back then to a painful 7.4% today. So why aren't job hunters snagging those positions and driving down the unemployment rate, as they did in the past?
As the economy struggles to gain altitude, this has become a vexing question. When August employment report comes out on Friday, economists expect it to show employers created about 170,000 jobs. That’s not a bad number, but it’s below the 200,000 jobs or more needed to reduce the unemployment rate and snap the economy out of a four-year trance. And since the recession officially ended in 2009, weak job growth has been the single biggest impediment to a more robust recovery.
For that reason, researchers are putting more effort into figuring out why unemployment remains so high even though jobs are apparently available. One possibility is that millions of laid-off workers who receive unemployment benefits prefer to exhaust their payments before taking another job. Yet unemployment benefits generally amount to less than workers earned before they got laid off, which is one reason to keep looking for work. And recent research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston suggests jobless benefits don’t explain why unemployment remains so high.
Many of those looking for jobs, for instance, don’t qualify for unemployment benefits, because they left a previous job voluntarily, are entering the workforce for the first time or are returning to the job market after several years on the sidelines. Those types of people are having trouble finding work, too, even though they’re not receiving any unemployment subsidies.
The "skills gap"
It seems increasingly likely that many people simply don’t qualify for jobs that are open,
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
The real unemployment rate conservatively speaking is somewhere at 15%, and probably more.
I look at our tax situation and maybe it won’t be such a bad thing when my husband retires and cuts our income substantially....maybe we’ll actually be able to save a lot of money with the less taxation...
And if you have the skills, there’s an H-1B who will do the job for less...
Since it is now based on meeting the next quarter's financial targets, cost control through age discrimination, and completing Federal racial checkboxes, it's a wonder the unemployment rate isn't yet 50%.
I can just see a fifty year old plumber being “retrained” to be a computer programmer and getting an entry level job.
Who knows...maybe the laid off heavy equipment operator can make minimum wage in the local “boiler room” sales job. That is, “If you qualify”.
The fact is that outside of the field of work the person has been doing there’s not much chance of employment.
I can just see a fifty year old plumber being “retrained” to be a computer programmer and getting an entry level job.
Who knows...maybe the laid off heavy equipment operator can make minimum wage in the local “boiler room” sales job. That is, “If you qualify”.
The fact is that outside of the field of work the person has been doing there’s not much chance of employment.
Now give someone less qualified a chance, especially in this economy, and most people would work their tails off to measure up to whatever requirements the job entails.
I remember seeing an ad for customer phone reps once. The ad required at least one year experience, but also said each new hire would go through 6 weeks of training. Why would someone need experience if they'll receive such intense training?
I was a Postal Worker, Warehouse shipper, Supermarket cashier/stock person, Title Examiner and professional musician with no college degree over the past 20 odd years.
Yesterday I tried to apply to an ad for Kohls - shipping/receiving, stocking shelves...
Turned down. Not qualified.
A large portion of those 170,000 created jobs are minimum wage jobs. Many people are holding multiples of these in order to make ends meet. If 50%, 85,000, of the newly created jobs were minimum wage. And if 50%, ~45,000, were taken by folks getting a second job, then effectively, that would be comparable to the creation of less than 150,000 new jobs with regard to the impact on unemployment.
Since they contend it takes 200,000 newly created jobs to bring down unemployment, it stands to reason that 170,000 new jobs where a substantial number are minimum wage would certainly make no dent in unemployment figures.
Turned down. Not qualified.
Not gay? Not qualified. I suspect you are a middle aged, not gay. white male, therefore you are in the only group that can not be discriminated against. Good luck my FRiend jobs are out there. When the walmart here opens a job it get over 1000 applicants, and that is for part time minimum wage.
RE: Yesterday I tried to apply to an ad for Kohls - shipping/receiving, stocking shelves..
Did they know that you were a Supermarket cashier/stock person before?
The government lies about statistics. But it will take an army of researchers to come up with everything but the truth.
Job related expenses too, travel costs, unless he works from home.
I wrestled with the decision for about a year before I retired, when I finally made the decision, I kicked myself for not doing it sooner. I didn't take that much of a cut in pay and found out that it costs a lot less to live on than when I was working.
In fairness though, I must also mention that my wife was still working and making a substantial salary. It still cost less to live on.
It's been almost 15 years now and I've never regretted my decision.
I sincerely hope that the next republican president, makes it a priority to change the way things like unemployment are reported, to more accurately reflect the true state of things and to show what a great liar obunghole was.
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