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Even among those who can meet their needs, underemployment is still a serious issue. There are lots of people over-qualified for the jobs they have (the stereot

by jjk166 6y ago

Even among those who can meet their needs, underemployment is still a serious issue. There are lots of people over-qualified for the jobs they have (the stereotypical barista with a masters) who could be producing more value elsewhere, and plenty of people working non-standard hours which skew the metrics (lots of people working excessive hours that really should be counted as 2 jobs, and lots of people who would normally be full-time being kept part-time to avoid paying benefits). The number of people with employment that adequately utilizes their skills without burning them out has dwindled substantially in recent years, and while the cost of lost economic opportunity and increased fatigue is difficult to quantify, it is certainly substantial.

vaidhy 6y ago
I would consider underemployment to be a case where people are not making enough to live - food, health, shelter and clothes. Whether the area of work and their education qualification are a match, seems superfluous and an unwanted distraction from calculating labor participation and effective unemployment rate.
- jjk166 6y ago
  Well how much people need to live is highly variable and not very informative. If you get diagnosed with cancer and your medical expenses go through the roof but you're still making the same income, have you become underemployed? No, there isn't a problem with the job market here, there is a problem with healthcare costs. On the other hand if you were making $200k last year and now you can't find a job that'll pay you more than $100k, you'll still be able to afford the necessities of life as well as quite a few luxuries, but that's still an immense reduction in economic output which suggests deep issues with the job market. Underemployment is a measure of labor utilization. What you're describing is poverty, which is related but not equivalent.
  - WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
    Outlier examples are kind of the opposite of mass trends.
    - jjk166 6y ago
      Not getting a raise just because you have unexpected medical expenses or taking a pay cut after being laid off are hardly outlier examples.

by jjk166 6y ago

vaidhy 6y ago

I would consider underemployment to be a case where people are not making enough to live - food, health, shelter and clothes. Whether the area of work and their education qualification are a match, seems superfluous and an unwanted distraction from calculating labor participation and effective unemployment rate.

jjk166 6y ago
Well how much people need to live is highly variable and not very informative. If you get diagnosed with cancer and your medical expenses go through the roof but you're still making the same income, have you become underemployed? No, there isn't a problem with the job market here, there is a problem with healthcare costs. On the other hand if you were making $200k last year and now you can't find a job that'll pay you more than $100k, you'll still be able to afford the necessities of life as well as quite a few luxuries, but that's still an immense reduction in economic output which suggests deep issues with the job market. Underemployment is a measure of labor utilization. What you're describing is poverty, which is related but not equivalent.
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  Outlier examples are kind of the opposite of mass trends.
  - jjk166 6y ago
    Not getting a raise just because you have unexpected medical expenses or taking a pay cut after being laid off are hardly outlier examples.