[spintreebob]

Neither Bush nor Obama are at fault. Each adult is responsible for his own condition.

Job openings are like musical chairs. There are millions of chairs and milliions of players of the game. Young people enter the game. Old people leave the game. Loss of value in retirement accounts has caused many old people to leave the game later than previously expected. Thus, the number of empty chairs in the game declines.

There are always empty chairs available for people who want to play the game. But some people are too choosy about which chair they are willing to sit in. They don’t like the location. It takes too much work to get to the empty chair. The chair is too hard or out of style.

Where I work, about 15% of my area has left for a new job better than the 6 figure jobs they had. The jobs they left have now been filled by other people, each of whom left an opening in their old position that has since been filled.

I average 6 or 7 emails per day from recruiters desperate to fill IT jobs for which they can’t find anyone. It isn’t just IT. I see help wanted signs in both Chicagoland and Central Illinois at fast food, big and small box stores, factories and especially warehouse and trucking companies. Apparently it is especially hard to find competent fork lift operators as they seem to be the most numerous signs posted.

It would be great if there were statistics on how many people change jobs and fill new jobs without ever applying for unemployment comp. I’ve changed jobs at least 50 times in 50 years and never became an unemployment statistic. That is typical of most people who lose their job. They are motivated to work and thus do what it takes to find the work. Unemployment is for those looking for an excuse to whine ... or to game the system.

[refreshed]

“Job openings are like musical chairs.”

Your premise is wrong. There are not a fixed number of chairs. Chairs are being pulled out from under people sitting in them without that chair being returned to the game. Not a very good analogy in my opinion.

[w1andsodidwe]

You are absolutely right. I have gone through a few down sizing and was never on the chopping block. I know people would come to me and say that they can't believe so and so was let go. My response has always been that I don't know the work habits of so and so, but of those I do know, I have not seen a mistake made.

I always amazes me that some people think they are working hard just because they show up for work. I too am in IT, and know how hard it is to find good people to fill available slots. The one thing I have to say is that degrees do not necessarily correlate with ability to do the job.