this post was submitted on 21 May 2024

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Why Americans' confidence in finding a new job is tanking even as the labor market is humming along (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 100 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I had to quit my job last year both for health reasons and because we decided to put our daughter in online school.

I was a video editor before all of this. I was already unable to find a job in my field for a few years because everyone marketing person's boss told them to download a free editing app and just shoot it all on their iPhone. Doesn't matter if it sucks, it's cheaper. And by the time I'm back on the job market, they'll use AI to do it. And it will still suck compared to what I can do, but they won't care because it's cheaper.

I'm turning 48 next month. I feel like I'm basically doomed to work shit jobs that I hate until I die.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (4 children)

AI was a mistake.

Best wishes.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago (1 children)

capitalism was. tech is just tech.

AI can be used to speed us up, so instead of having free time we get 1 person shoddily doing the work of a few.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I tend to believe the progression of technology hasn’t been a good thing for your typical worker. With AI in particular, having workers at all seems to be at odds with the progression of technology at some point. Capitalism isn’t sustainable.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

More than just a mistake. It's the mistake that will keep on mistaking.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I feel we've been through this several times already...

Jobs become obsolete. It sucks. But that's the reality. AI is not a mistake, but it will kill a lot of livelihoods we care about in the creative scene. But just like coal mining, life will move on.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, so were cameras.

Adapt or die. Welcome to the human condition.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

It’s exactly the same thing in the sense that a slingshot and nuclear bomb are the same thing. That is to say, the degree is so extreme that they might as well be unrelated.

I haven’t heard anyone propose that digital cameras are an existential threat to humans. This is no mere horse and buggy problem. If we develop generally intelligent AI it’s game over for our capitalist global economy.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

That's the thing about all these articles on how well the job market is doing, while simultaneously there are tons of articles on layoffs and bankruptcies that they never acknowledge that all - the new jobs always feel like they are in gig and crap work.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

It's part of a concerted effort by the upper echelons of Capital to break the middle class - they own the media and use it to strategically time news to either move the market, influence legislation and policy, all while keeping people disillusioned and fearful.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I can't say I had any luck on there but someone with your skills may do well on Freelancer if you've got a portfolio of your work.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I did contract work back when I was in L.A. and I can't go back to that sort of financial uncertainty at this point. It also takes so much more effort just to keep getting paid. You have to spend all your time not working hustling for work.

[–] [email protected] 87 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The "labor market" is great for jobs paying <$15/hr. Go to your local gas station, dollar store, or restaurant and you'll probably see a help wanted sign.

Over that and youre kinda fucked unless you have a niche role to fill.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 5 months ago

Yeah, talking about jobs being created without any context on the types of jobs being created is meaningless. Great, there are now more part-time jobs paying minimum wage with no benefits and erratic schedules near me, just the sort of job creation I was waiting for so I could regress in my career.

[–] [email protected] 82 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

I have no earthly clue what world economists are living in where the labor market is great.

I've been looking for a job for over a year (in tech, over a dozen years as an SDE, a dozen more as a TPM, lead role in both titles). Whenever I can get an employer to actually respond to the hundreds of applications I send, their salary offerings are a joke.

Are people just out there taking 20% - 30% haircuts on what they make?

[–] [email protected] 47 points 5 months ago (3 children)

They're measuring job offerings against unemployment claims rate. If there's toilet scrubbing jobs out there and you don't qualify for any benefits: that's a humming labor market to an economist.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I remind people that the fastest way to "create a job" is to take a full time position with benefits, cut the hours in half and divide them amongst two new positions after removing the benefits and now you have a 100% increase in the supply of jobs.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

My first 'legal' job when I was a minor was working maintenance at a retirement facility. I was hired along with another high schooler at minimum wage.

It was a summer gig and right before I quit to go back to school the main maintenance guy revealed that we had replaced a single person who was paid our combined wage.

It is a long established strategy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Haleon/GSK has almost exclusively started offering only coops/internships in upstate NY. Not a single non hourly/salaried position in the last 6 months. Laid off 40-50 in the last year, brought on a dozen students.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 5 months ago

What does that mean? You can still claim unemployment if you don't apply to toilet scrubbing jobs

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I feel you. I lost my job in January and I've had literally not even a single callback or interview. It's insane.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

That sucks too -- but do stick with it, find a good consultant who can help you polish up your resume and socials. You and me both will find something soon enough. :)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Don't lose hope, it's a matter of numbers. Keep pushing. I've recently been through it and it's been very hard

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What industry? I'm more of less in the same boat as you. I'm in tech, and this articles assessment seems pretty spot on from my perspective.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, tech. Updated my original comment to clarify.

Honestly, the bit from the article that rang most accurate was this:

Lastly, it's possible that many Americans think the Bureau of Labor Statistics's job opening figures are overstated. For example, some job seekers have reported encountering "ghost jobs" — listings on job platforms that companies are no longer actively hiring for.

I've been keeping track of the roles I've gone after (well within qualification for) and I'm seeing a lot of re-listings for roles that closed out my application (with no outreach) and just relisted the req after a few weeks, over and over again.

I'm not saying the listings are fake, but if they were fake, this is pretty much what it would look like from the outside.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I'm seeing exactly the same thing. Certain companies re-listing the same position for months on end, despite hundreds of people applying.

According to this article I read recently, some companies are either doing it to give the illusion that they're thriving and planning to take on more staff, or just to keep a pool of potential applicants on the back burner just in case.

It sucks. I've been looking to make a career change for over a year, and have only had two interviews despite sending out literally hundreds of applications.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

They're just gaming the system for more H1B's.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Been in the same situation, with closer to mid-level experience. A plethora of companies, constantly hiring for the same positions while rejecting hundreds of applicants, week after week. Makes total sense. I can only hope there's something illegal about it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I have no earthly clue what world economists are living in where the labor market is great.

100% of employed economists writing these reports are employed, so from their perspective everything is great.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

Once again, we see how insular tech is.

Tech sector has a market correction, and you people think the sky is falling because the only people you ever talk to are other tech people.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 5 months ago

Oh look, another article where privileged folks point at lines on a chart and tell us we're wrong for acknowledging that our lived experiences and those of our friends suck in recent years.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 5 months ago (1 children)

We don't want your shit smear jobs that pay nothing and have ass schedules

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Exactly! And why the fuck the majority of employers say they can't afford to pay more?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Because they want to take home more, basic greed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

It's a shame... We could be so much more than zeros on a bank account.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago

Mass layoffs and closures of locations constantly in the news and the market is "humming along?"

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago

"Labor market humming along" = Politician-speak for "as many or more part time low wage jobs with no benefits added than good jobs lost"

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

because they have to go through all the bullshit HR people come up with?

tell us why we should hire you
that is literally your job dummy

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

For those interested in discussing their job searches, did you know there's a [email protected] community? Not terribly active at the moment, but given the discussion here there seems to be some potential interest

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Thanks for sharing!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Yeah it all looks good when youre part of it. Standing on the outside looking in though is a souring perspective. Thing is, nobody wants to hear how hard the hard-hit have it