Jobs and Unemployment

I know.

I KNOW that a professional used to making North of 80k isn’t interested in hearing this.  Hell, someone making 30k doesn’t wanna hear this either.  But the fact is, there are jobs out there.  The problem is, the government is making it impossible to fill ’em.

When a potential worker is faced with working 40 hours a week in order earn 8-9 bucks an hour [$320-$360 a week] vs. not working at all and making $310 in unemployment, it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out what’s gonna happen.

By the way, McDonalds is offering 401k, insurance, cheap food and scholarships.

There are jobs.  That doesn’t seem to be the problem.  We need people willing to work.

5 responses to “Jobs and Unemployment

  1. I doubt that’s true. Unemployment insurance runs out, and a lot of people can’t find jobs. Yes, people are hiring, but the number of applicants that sign is likely to bring in is probably far, far greater than the number of people they’ll hire. People are hiring, but they’re not hiring as many people as those who are looking for work.

  2. I won’t say this is everybody, but the people in my family right now that are out of work do not treat finding work like a real full-time job. More than that, even with the resumes they do get out on a part-time basis (translation – “half-assed”, they do nothing to try and put their name/resume at the top of anyone’s list. I wouldn’t even recommend them for a job and they’re family. 25% is doing the bare minimum to say they’re doing something and 75% is them bitching about society and sitting on their ass. There’s a company up the street here advertising security jobs, and cabs supposedly right now are hiring. Think these people would even try and apply? Nope. They scoff at me when I bring it up. “Why don’t you just hire me.” Answer? “You’re my family, but right now you’re a bunch of bums.”

    Then there’s guys like my father. Went from a $60k upper management salary down to less than $20k as a security guard about six months ago. In that job, however, he made sure he got on as a guard in an office building where there are a lot of execs taking coffee and smoke breaks outside the office. He made a habit of networking with them, and just recently had two new leads on new jobs in his field. I should point out that in his early years he drove a cab to put himself through school, studying in-between fares.

  3. NPR had a story today about how so many unemployed are hopeful of getting at least six weeks of work during the holiday season. People are hiring, but it’s still tough. Actual unemployment is probably closer to 20% than the official rate, but some people whose spouse has an income or otherwise can get by have stopped trying. It’s tough out there for a lot of people, and most unemployed people I know, especially young people, grab any kind of job they can find. Yeah, I’m sure some people don’t, but I suspect the number of lazy people is pretty consistent — they’re lazy when unemployment is at 4.5% or at 9%. When I was volunteering at a ski swap last weekend one of the workers was talking to a man probably about 55 who couldn’t even get a job at Walmart and said “no one is hiring.” He talked about all the places he’d tried and was down (though he kept hope “because I’m a Christian,” he said).

    So I am skeptical about any claim that there are lots of jobs out there that people aren’t taking. I read somewhere recently that there is one new job for every four applicants (I’ll try to find that again). After all, you know who made the argument that the rich can collude and use their power in controlling the economy to make sure workers were paid less than market wages and be manipulated? The same political philosopher who criticized the wealthy and accused them of trying to take more than they deserve: Adam Smith in “The Wealth of Nations.”

  4. There are always minimum wage jobs available, but …
    1. people can collect almost as much on unemployment, so they ignore those jobs.
    2. too many unemployed people are unrealiable, so nobody will hire them. (drinking problem, lazy, careless)

    Item #1 above is caused by our government, and we can not readily change it; however, item #2 is entirely the fault of the unemployed worker. It is not MY responsibility to feel sorry for people that are unemployed because of their own bad habits.

    • people can collect almost as much on unemployment, so they ignore those jobs.

      Correct. The incentive to work is diminished. The greater the effect of that incentive, the fewer people will seek work.

      too many unemployed people are unrealiable, so nobody will hire them. (drinking problem, lazy, careless)

      There certainly is a problem with trying to hire qualified candidates.

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