Because we pay people quite well to not work.
Out of the labor force is not synonymous with "looking for work" by any means. To the contrary, there is so much of a large part of that "out of" category where the last thing on their mind is "looking for work."
It's profitable and less stressful to just live off entitlements.
What a bunch of BS. How about all the stories about there will be no more truck drivers in the future because it will automated.
My guess is the feds have no clue how many jobs are available. Multiple recruiters listing the same job, HR departments constantly advertising non-existent jobs to keep their skills sharp and look busy, etc. With the virtual world, there’s just no way to tell.
Parents, when your child comes to you and wants to major in something that gives them a “Bachelor of Arts” degree, look at it long and hard before shelling out the money!! I’m not saying all of these degrees are BS, but a lot of them are!!! You might get a good education on a subject, but you won’t be acquiring a skill that is in demand in the work force. Let’s face it, the days when you went to college to “broaden your mind” with a liberal arts education are long gone. Study latin on your own time and get a degree in one of the sciences.
There’s a reason that all of these tech companies are crying for loosening restrictions on H1B visas. It’s because we don’t have enough qualified applicants filling these high tech jobs here in America! It has nothing to do with “slave labor” or driving wages down. It is very expensive to sponsor someone coming over here on H1B visas and this is America. You can sign them to a contract for several years, but you don’t own them for life.
I earned a BA in History (twenty years ago), but I knew it was important to get a practical skill under my belt so I went to community college to take accounting and computer courses. I had heard horror stories back then of ones who had Master’s degrees in Economics or even MBAs who could not even get entry level jobs (due to lack of relevant skills or experience because they were in school all of that time instead of at work).
Is there a worker shortage? Or a shortage of workers willing to work for the compensation offered?
Stop paying them not to work.
Oh and some companies are pretending that they can't find qualified people so they can get H1B visa holders to work cheaper.
The bottom line is that more and more big businesses are refusing to hire qualified Americans, because they have rights, expect eventual promotions and raises with seniority, insist on a fair wage, and cannot be discarded like used Kleenex on a corporate whim.
They are easy to recognize, because they continually plead, beg for and demand more H1-B visas. It should also be of no surprise that they offshore to avoid paying taxes, and owe no loyalty to the US at all, seeing it as just a market to exploit. For this reason, they also strongly back internationalism and even socialism, because they hate paying for anything that they can get government to pay for instead.
The market is responding to the fact that government benefits are very nice right now, and there is a very real possibility of self-driving automobiles in the next 5-10 years.
Does anyone really doubt that the technology will be put in passenger cars first, rather than in commercial long-haul trucking? How will trucking companies respond when they learn they can run the trucks 24 hours / day rather than 8 hours on and then sleep and rest breaks? Is there really a future in trucking?
The kinds of jobs that are plentiful are the only jobs that cannot be filled by illegal immigrants, a coincidence surely.
The takers are lazy but not dumb. Why give up at least $60k a year tax free and no work to work for $20, 30, 40, 50 or even 60K a year with no to minimal benefits and pay taxes?
Not working pays way too much.
I’ve been told with a straight face that it will take at least $30 an hour to get a guy to take a laborer job.