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Unemployment is very low and we are adding jobs. I usually get 2-3 recruiters/week contacting me. However you do some seem some layoff stories too. I am wonderi

Unemployment is very low and we are adding jobs. I usually get 2-3 recruiters/week contacting me. However you do some seem some layoff stories too. I am wondering where these jobs are going.

searine 8y ago
Not all jobs are equal. Are the jobs we are adding good ones? or desperate ones?
- rfinney 8y ago
  https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/nonfarm-payrolls-january-2019.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/nonfarm-payrolls-january-201... : On a year-over-year basis, though, [wages] still amounted to a 3.2 percent increase, consistent with the past few months and around the highest levels of the recovery. Higher wages are a good thing.
  - rgbrenner 8y ago
    That's 1% wage growth after adjusting for inflation.
    - rfinney 8y ago
      Fair enough, we should adjust for inflation. From Brookings : "Real median household income grew roughly 1.6 percent in 2018" https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/01/31/household-income-likely-continued-to-grow-as-employment-and-wage-gains-lifted-incomes-in-late-2018/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/01/31/household... Median household income : $60K . $60K * 0.016 =$960.
      - pessimizer 8y ago
        $20/week
      - rgbrenner 8y ago
        note the reason for using household income: it includes those who were previously unemployed. It's a way of blurring the line between the average person's earnings and unemployment. Of course if we want to know the unemployment rate, there are separate stats that clearly show that. The only reason to include it here is to make wage growth look better than it would otherwise. Removing those who found a job, we get back to the lower 1% number. And a big part of that is people just working longer hours.
  - mch82 8y ago
    As rgbrenner noted, 1% growth after inflation. For the average salaried American that’s around $1/day increase. Not enough for a gallon of gas or a Starbucks coffee.
- pessimizer 8y ago
  Desperate ones. But starting the year before last we finally got some wage pressure, which means the situation is going to improve slightly for a few moments before recession.
lesss365 8y ago
Low unemployment is good for obvious reasons, but like the inverting of the yield curve rate, it's been a predictor of the last few recessions. After it bottoms and starts to move into an upwards trend a recession tends to follow.
gshubert17 8y ago
Perhaps there is a lot of involuntary part-time employment (people want but can't get full-time jobs)? This would lower the unemployment numbers, but not accurately reflect many people's situations.
sct202 8y ago
In the year over year employment by occupation stats, the unemployment rate for Management, professional, and related occupations and Sales and office occupations is a small bit higher but the overall number is still lower because of increased employment in production and service jobs. Source: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t13.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t13.htm

Unemployment is very low and we are adding jobs. I usually get 2-3 recruiters/week contacting me. However you do some seem some layoff stories too. I am wondering where these jobs are going.

searine 8y ago

Not all jobs are equal. Are the jobs we are adding good ones? or desperate ones?

rfinney 8y ago
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/nonfarm-payrolls-january-2019.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/nonfarm-payrolls-january-201... : On a year-over-year basis, though, [wages] still amounted to a 3.2 percent increase, consistent with the past few months and around the highest levels of the recovery. Higher wages are a good thing.
- rgbrenner 8y ago
  That's 1% wage growth after adjusting for inflation.
  - rfinney 8y ago
    Fair enough, we should adjust for inflation. From Brookings : "Real median household income grew roughly 1.6 percent in 2018" https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/01/31/household-income-likely-continued-to-grow-as-employment-and-wage-gains-lifted-incomes-in-late-2018/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/01/31/household... Median household income : $60K . $60K * 0.016 =$960.
    - pessimizer 8y ago
      $20/week
    - rgbrenner 8y ago
      note the reason for using household income: it includes those who were previously unemployed. It's a way of blurring the line between the average person's earnings and unemployment. Of course if we want to know the unemployment rate, there are separate stats that clearly show that. The only reason to include it here is to make wage growth look better than it would otherwise. Removing those who found a job, we get back to the lower 1% number. And a big part of that is people just working longer hours.
- mch82 8y ago
  As rgbrenner noted, 1% growth after inflation. For the average salaried American that’s around $1/day increase. Not enough for a gallon of gas or a Starbucks coffee.
pessimizer 8y ago
Desperate ones. But starting the year before last we finally got some wage pressure, which means the situation is going to improve slightly for a few moments before recession.

lesss365 8y ago

Low unemployment is good for obvious reasons, but like the inverting of the yield curve rate, it's been a predictor of the last few recessions. After it bottoms and starts to move into an upwards trend a recession tends to follow.

gshubert17 8y ago

Perhaps there is a lot of involuntary part-time employment (people want but can't get full-time jobs)? This would lower the unemployment numbers, but not accurately reflect many people's situations.

sct202 8y ago

In the year over year employment by occupation stats, the unemployment rate for Management, professional, and related occupations and Sales and office occupations is a small bit higher but the overall number is still lower because of increased employment in production and service jobs. Source: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t13.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t13.htm