5.2 million

[Canine]

5.2 million new jobs filled in July.A record 5.9 million advertised job openings in August.No excuse for anybody to be broke and hungry,except laziness.

 

[MrNoodly]

Except if it jobs they're not qualified for, jobs not near them, jobs they're too young for, jobs they're too old for, jobs where they didn't go to the "right" school, jobs where they didn't belong to the "right" fraternity, jobs where they didn't have connections, jobs where they don't have the "right look," jobs where they don't blend with the company culture, jobs where their skin is the "wrong" shade, jobs where they're the "wrong" gender, jobs where they don't worship the "right" deity...

In a perfect world, all employers are totally fair and are willing to give people a break.

 

[GotSmart]

5.2 million new jobs filled in July.A record 5.9 million advertised job openings in August.No excuse for anybody to be broke and hungry,except laziness.

Disability.  

Many states have removed the safety net lately.  

It is hard to get coverage any more, and co pays have gone through the roof.  

Rents  are at a record high.  Home costs even higher. 

If something breaks, or someone gets sick~~~ disaster.

I want to get violent when someone uses that lame LAZINESS line.  Complete BS!

 

[AngryVanMan]

Job openings is an interesting metric, but not very useful. The economy added 151,000 jobs in August, while the labor force increased by 176,000 newly added workers. In July, a Similar story 275,000 jobs added, while 407,000 were added to the labor force. The general trend is only about half of all new labor entrants can be matched to a job in our economy.

5.9 million openings. 7.8 million job seekers on short term unemployment insurance looking for work, 94.4 million working age not in the workforce, 5.8 million of those who want a job, making the job seeker total somewhere in the ballpark of 13.6 million people who want work and do not have a job today.

There are various reasons that the 13.6 million cannot fill the 5.9 million openings, this is called labor market friction. Job seekers are reluctant to take under-payed positions and positions that are beneath their skill levels. Job providers are unwilling to relax hiring standards and rely on artificial barriers to entry like work experience in the field, unnecessary degree credentials for the job complexity, etc. in order to keep both training and overall labor costs down.

Companies also like to bandy about "skills gap" rhetoric which is almost never borne out in research or wage growth metrics. If there was truly a limited supply of qualified workers in a field, you would see wage appreciation until equilibrium was reached, this is not the case in most industries claiming skills gaps. Companies used the same weasel tactics prior to WWII, blaming high unemployment on a skills gap until all of the sudden a giant fiscal stimulus package known as "war" eliminated the jobs shortage practically overnight. It is unlikely that the US Army did not have a "skills gap" between bakers, butchers, and school teachers that needed to become infantrymen, artillery operators, and pilots.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I simply can not understand why basic finance and job seeking skills aren't taught in High school. You get to college because you were taught to go to college and you'll be fine. You don't know how to pick a major, you don't know what majors have strong employment opportunities, you are essentially an adult, now forced to make major finanical adult decisions and for the first time in your life, wrong decisions have life long altering consequences.

I got lucky. I was enrolled to start college in the Fall of my senior year. It was "only" going to cost me 25k a year but I was told that is nothing, with a degree I can write my own ticket anywhere. I hadn't even picked a major and they were telling me I was going to be fine!! My car died right after high school and I knew I'd need one for college. Decided to take that first semester off and work full time so I could save up and buy a newer one. Just happened to find a job emptying barrels of sawdust at a local cabinet shop and slowly started getting more and more responsibility there as I learned the ropes. Enjoyed it so much I never went to college and made a great career out of it. I then took those skills and used them to climb further up and got into sales and estimating and eventually project management. Had my car not died, I'd still be 100k in debt and living at home like so many of my friends with bleak looking prospects for their future.

College debt will burst just like the housing bubble did and its going to be our next major recession.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Getting the job is only half the battle anyways. When it doesn't pay enough for basic life requirements, you're still stuck on that never ending hampster wheel.........whether you're lazy or not, sometimes the job or worse jobs you do get just aren't enough.

 

[LadyJo]

After 45 years of work (at 62), lifting and doing things no 5 ft tall 100 lb woman should probably do, I took early SS. There are two areas of compressed disks and nerve damage, two areas of scoliosis on my spine and osteoarthritis in the vertebra. Applying for and getting disability would take me past 65 yrs old.

As a woman I did not earn much, but paid all my bills and raised a son. Never went on welfare, used SNAP or anything else. Now, as a thank you very much for 45 yrs of work, I get $794. per month in SS. No Medicare for 2 more years and my ACA payments for this year are $278. per month so I can afford medical care. I do have a small payout per month from an asset sale, although it isn't guaranteed and could be cut or end at any time.

The safety net programs in the State I live in - income must be $600. mo or less.
Welcome to reality.

 

[Queen]

I'm not officially disabled, but have a bunch of mobility issues (can't stand too long, kneel, squat, or crawl) from a poorly healed knee replacement. Every single job I look at requires one or more of these things, to request an accommodation makes me an insurance risk so they usually have a "more qualified candidate, thanks for applying". I've worked for 40+ years and have a college education, but jobs above entry level are either few and far between, or require a different education than I have (electronics/engineering/computers).

Not a lazy person, just a boomer who falls through the cracks.

 

[Canine]

The jobs are out there.Peoples will to work,maybe not so much.

 

[Queen]

Is there a reason you're being so unkind about this? A few of us have shared some painful details about work issues, and you dismiss them.

 

[GotSmart]

Is there a reason you're being so unkind about this?  A few of us have shared some painful details about work issues, and you dismiss them.

No, he ignores them.  

That is just B D being himself.   :-/

I have found that it takes many different opinions to figure out what is right.  You must be willing to be able to do an unbiased evaluation.

 

[Queen]

One of the reasons I enjoy this forum is so many helpful people, all willing to share their ideas and experiences. A person who enjoys being cruel or deliberately provocative seems to be a bit of an anathema here.

 

[romeosierrabravo2]

5.2 million new jobs filled in July.A record 5.9 million advertised job openings in August.No excuse for anybody to be broke and hungry,except laziness.

Unless they are only part-time work related which most are due to insurance/payroll taxes/eeoc requirements/ and etc... Caterpillar just layed off, then hired H1-B visa holders. Disney did same. Nice!

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

Queen and some others, I'm not defending Bob d. but when I read his post, I didn't feel he was pointing a finger at those with reasons many fall thru the cracks of employment.I am glad this thread opened up conversation about the realities many of us live with. Then again, maybe bobs being a dick.

Dragonfly.

 

[AngryVanMan]

The jobs are out there.Peoples will to work,maybe not so much.

Well, I'd have to say that given the basic math of 5.9 million < 13.6 million, that statement is objectively false. I could just as easily make the reverse corollary that the workers are there, but companies willingness to pay and train them, not so much.

Meanwhile, I have a friend who is squeaking by working construction while he (was) attending ITT tech until they closed this week. Now all that money he spent and risk he took to try and increase his opportunities backfired because he didn't do his due diligence on selecting a school. He should have found out before signing on the dotted line that ITT credits do not transfer to real schools, that they were on notice for non-conformance with their accrediting body, and that the placement rate of the school was worse than abysmal. Instead, he is forced to deal with reality and the fallout now, and it could very well keep him a debt slave until they put him in the ground.

The game is rigged, make of it what you will. You could keep playing and encourage others to keep playing. Or my preference, play another game, break the rules, encourage others to break the rules. Rigged games tend to come crashing down when the players jump ship after getting raked over one too many times. There are still those that are doing well inside the system, I'm one of them, but I'm outnumbered by friends, family, schoolmates that one by one are falling like dominoes as their hopes and dreams are crushed, begrudgingly resigned to fighting for the table scraps.

 

[Canine]

My apologies if I offended anybody.I just saw the new data and thought it was interesting.The media is always crying and wringing their hands about how terrible things are in the US are and how no one can survive,yada,yada,yada.

 

[AngryVanMan]

Bob it's a damn good conversation to have started, I appreciate it anyway! It's fun in a perverse way, like watching Rome burn, but from a safe distance!

 

[Canine]

On reflection,maybe the wheels came off this thread at the start and it's time to move on.What was that about the law of unintended consequenses?My special apology to Queen.

 

[ZoNiE]

Sure there are plenty of legitimate reasons not to work, or be able to, but in my neck of the woods, I see plenty of perfectly fit (more so than I), relatively clean-cut-twenty-something-middle-class-looking-white-"kids" standing on the freeway ramps with signs begging for money. I would call that lazy. Around here, all you have to do to get a $9/hr fast food job is be clean, english speaking, white, with a pulse, and you are good to go. They practically begged my 21 year old son to work at the Mc'Donald's in an average neighborhood when he went in there. He actually took the job for a while until he got what he was looking for. That was earlier this year.

A lot of these people just don't think it's worth their time to work for minimum wage, or deal with juggling two jobs, etc. But it's what you do if you are not qualified. These days, people can make as much as or more than minimum wage by looking sad on the freeway ramp. $1 for every second or third red light change can be $20-25 per hour tax free. That's the equivalent to working 3-4 hours at minimum wage, so yeah, they are lazy ******** using the public as a charity. I personally have no sorrow for them. It pisses me off that they do this when there are people out there who really can't work but won't resort to panhandling. These people are weak and lazy.

There are jobs out there, and I don't think I have ever seen a fast food joint that was NOT near a bus stop. Plenty of affordable apartments on the bus line as well. Roomates. That's what we did between 18 and 22 yrs old, and we didn't have cell phones, or a land line. There was a perfectly good payphone down by the pool at the apartment complex.

It's a damn shame the ITT thing. It is indicative of a much larger problem. Trade and Tech schools preying on the poor is nothing new, and god forbid if you drop out, they then hound you for years in collections. Had a friend who dealt with this. Bob is right about doing due-dilligence on ITT. I considered it and De'vry back in the 80's when I was in my 20's and it just didn't make sense. Community College was waaaaaaaaaay cheaper and had the SAME classes. I became an Artichoke instead, myself, and years later, when I returned to school for my BS in business, my Community College 2 yr AA degree transferred lock, stock, and barrel, so I only had to take two more years... Way cool, I thought. Half the price.

We need more trade schools, and they should be extensions of the community college system, not private for profit schools, and more High School trade and "job Prep" programs, plus put shop back in the middle schools. Anyone with a trade can find work. Anyone.

 

[jimindenver]

After 45 years of work (at 62), lifting and doing things no 5 ft tall 100 lb woman should probably do, I took early SS. There are two areas of compressed disks and nerve damage, two areas of scoliosis on my spine and osteoarthritis in the vertebra. Applying for and getting disability would take me past 65 yrs old.

As a woman I did not earn much, but paid all my bills and raised a son. Never went on welfare, used SNAP or anything else. Now, as a thank you very much for 45 yrs of work, I get $794. per month in SS. No Medicare for 2 more years and my ACA payments for this year are $278. per month so I can afford medical care. I do have a small payout per month from an asset sale, although it isn't guaranteed and could be cut or end at any time.

The safety net programs in the State I live in - income must be $600. mo or less.
Welcome to reality.

The system is fun. I have been basically reduced to doing nothing and am not even allowed to sit for more than 40 minutes, yet the doctor says I wouldn't qualify for disability because people in wheelchairs work too. Somehow I think they are allowed to sit there for more than 40 minutes. Not to mention that when they realize I am one slip, trip or fall from a lifelong workman's comp case and.....