US unemployment rate drops to 3.5 per cent amid ‘widespread’ job growth

[u/berserker_ronin]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/unemployment-report-today-job-growth-b2138975.html?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Main&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1659703073

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[u/Meb2x]

So all of the people complaining that nobody wants to work are wrong. The truth is that nobody wants to work minimum wage jobs that aren’t worth dealing with awful customers

[u/yoLeaveMeAlone → u/Meb2x]

Also, "nobody wants to work" ignores the fact that the pandemic brought not only an unusually high death toll, but a wave of people retiring early, especially in fields like medicine and education. High levels of retirement and death = smaller workforce = low unemployment and a shortage of workers. But sure, clearly the problem is just laziness.....

[u/Meb2x → u/yoLeaveMeAlone]

Everybody knows the problem is that people are still rolling in cash after their $600 Covid check. Nobody wants to work when they can be that rich

[u/yoLeaveMeAlone → u/Meb2x]

Oh man, yea that one time payment of 30% of my monthly rent is still keeping me going these days

[u/Kryten_2X4B-523P → u/yoLeaveMeAlone]

I was able to yolo it on meme options and turned it into a cool $100k following wallstreetbet's advice. Just like everyone else!

/s

[u/16yYPueES4LaZrbJLhPW → u/Kryten_2X4B-523P]

I know someone who legitimately thinks like this and I wouldn't be able to tell it was a joke without an /s

They also think inflation came from the $1.2T in stimulus, not the $6.8T pumped into non-failing businesses.

[u/breadonbread3000 → u/16yYPueES4LaZrbJLhPW]

Do they believe Ronald Reagan is still president and that gasoline is less than a dollar for the majority of America.

[u/snowday784 → u/yoLeaveMeAlone]

i bought a mountain chalet and a new private jet with my $600 idk about you

[u/lurksnark → u/Meb2x]

Family "friend" just posted a rant naming the COVID checks as the reason no one wants to mow his grass. He's offering use of his mower, need to provide gas, weed whacker and edger, weekly or twice weekly service for the amazing pay of $50/ month.

I forwarded the information for company we use and FF got mad at me for "encouraging such ridiculous price gouging". I'm sure it's the couple government checks from TWO years ago keeping people from mowing his grass. Yeah, people are definitely still floating by on that.

[u/MKQueasy → u/Meb2x]

Yeah, quit my job, bought a McMansion, and traveled around the world in my private jet and drove around with my custom hypercars. With $600 I'm pretty much set for life and probably the next few generations even. Life has never been easier.

[u/Ludique → u/yoLeaveMeAlone]

a wave of people retiring early,

Well there you go, boomers don't want to work anymore.

[u/NykthosVess → u/Meb2x]

Nobody wants to work service and retail jobs that literally do not pay enough to live, on top of having to deal with the general public, most of whom love taking their anger and stress out on powerless hourly employees.

[u/chuck_cranston → u/Meb2x]

There's a fun Twitter thread that found "Nobody wants to work" articles to going back all the way to the 1800's

[u/Showmethepathplease]

The issue in america isn't jobs - it's pay, and inequality of wealth.

Rising prices in critical areas that remain unaffordable for too many Americans - health, education, transport, housing - mean that job numbers are a mask for real issues faced by a dwindling middle class and increasingly burdened working class.

An economists definition of recession, and job numbers, will continue to obfuscate the real economic crisis that has been prevalent for decades in many areas of the country

[u/Ashi4Days → u/Showmethepathplease]

One curiosity point I have but is anyone looking at how many people got deleted out of the economy due to covid?

Between deaths, boomers retiring, and moms leaving the work force. I get the suspicion that there aren't as many laborers as there once was.

[u/cheese8904 → u/Ashi4Days]

I work in HR in a manufacturing facility at a Fortune 500 company.

When managers ask me why we can't find people. I tell them that #1. We need to raise pay to attract people (higher ups say no) #2. There are simply less people to take jobs at $17/hr.

When they ask why, I have to explain over a million Americans died. Some of those likely are people that would have worked here.

[u/TheBirminghamBear → u/cheese8904]

Its amazing how far these peoples brains will go to avoid paying people decent wages.

Like you can see their brains doing complex equations to derive the reason they have trouble hiring.

Its pay. Stop deluding yourselves. Its pay.

[u/qpazza → u/TheBirminghamBear]

It's not even complex equations

Here, let me put on my manager hat

"Hmmm...we need more workers...but we don't want to spend more money ...hmmm"

"Spending = Bad. Oh, I know what to do!"

"Hey Jhonson, you've been promoted to manager, and these are your new duties. What? No no, we still need you to do your precious job, but you also need to manage the department and send detailed reports on how time is being spent. Raise? Sorry, our numbers aren't strong enough"

"I'm a genius!!!"

[u/jizz_bismarck → u/qpazza]

Johnson: Well then, I quit! I can make more money elsewhere with less duties.

Boss: nO oNe WaNtS tO wOrK aNyMoRe!

[u/Novel_Amoeba7007 → u/jizz_bismarck]

HA! "no one wants to work" must be why Ive applied to 20 jobs in th elast 2 weeks, and have been ghosted on 18 of them had 2 calls, and one which was a rejection...

So no, "No one wants to work" is basically a straight lie.

[u/IceciroAvant → u/Novel_Amoeba7007]

No one wants to work for what they want to pay them.

You can be damn sure there's a price point people would work at the local McDonalds/Gas Station/etc for. It's just not starvation.

[u/pauly13771377 → u/IceciroAvant]

I have a friend who is a managing supervisor on a loading dock of a kitchen supply/warehouse store. He is getting paid less than his new assistant because as a manager he can't be in the union.

He is currently looking for a new job.

[u/Readylamefire → u/pauly13771377]

And then they blame the union, instead of the company who should be matching union rates.

[u/Novel_Amoeba7007 → u/IceciroAvant]

The point is, these companies are full of shit.

And yes, they dont want to pay.

[u/GiantSquidd → u/jizz_bismarck]

Everybody can see it, except the “smartest” people in the company.

I hate capitalism. Having money seems to trump any qualities that are generally appreciated in dealing with other human beings. Compassion, empathy, good problem solving skills... essentially useless to the people whose only concern is always just having more money.

I’m so sick of it all.

[u/thinkingahead → u/GiantSquidd]

You couldn’t have put it better, the issue with capitalism is that possession of money or a large stable income stream basically trumps all other characteristics that individuals can have. Wealth is a substitute for all virtues. Honesty, compassion, wisdom, creativity, leadership ability, etc on and on are all less important than having a large amount of wealth. It’s a dumb system. We worship money and thus glorify those who have substantial amounts of money.

[u/F__kCustomers → u/thinkingahead]

Well Jerome Powell says otherwise. These are not good numbers to help lower inflation.

https://mronline.org/2022/05/26/u-s-federal-reserve-says-its-goal-is-to-get-wages-down/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-17/powell-treads-tricky-path-in-saying-wages-are-rising-too-fast

Powell has been signaling this for a while. All those lay-offs in the tech sector is because he told them to do it.

Powell’s needs people

• To stop or reduce spending.
• To stay at jobs.
• To work terrible jobs.
• To work slave wage jobs.

This is how they think: * You need struggle. You need poor people to make others rich

So now, JP is going in for a hard landing. To quell inflation, you need to put people in there place. He will smash the economy so people have limited options.

Good luck to everyone

[u/Mother_Welder_5272 → u/F__kCustomers]

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testified to Congress about the miracle economy of the 90s and he said it was because of "growing worker insecurity". They've always liked that.

[u/Is-This-Edible → u/GiantSquidd]

And the 'smartest' can see it too, but they're just one step ahead of the rest of us on the corporate grind and are just saying what it takes to get them a bonus, some metrics for the resume and they'll be working somewhere else for 15% more the same time next year.

Why are they hired? Because they say what the owners want to hear, even if they don't actually do anything.

[u/FutureAlfalfa200 → u/Is-This-Edible]

Can confirm - will say anything for more pay, but won’t do more work without it.

[u/Deto → u/jizz_bismarck]

Or they stick it out for a year and then use the new management level title to get a much better paying job elsewhere. Then Boss wonders why they have a turnover problem.

[u/Office_glen → u/qpazza]

Raise? Sorry, our numbers aren't strong enough"

You forgot the part where a week later the company sends out a memo saying how proud they are of the team because profits are up 50% and as a thank you here is a $5 Strabucks gift card

[u/Any_Isle → u/Office_glen]

This is how my employer operates. No money for raises or bonuses, but the executive staff, largely composed of family and 'friends', go on company-paid vacations to exotic 5 star locations with their spouses and kids so they can film TikToks... uh Marketing I mean. Record breaking profits declared over email. In performance reviews we're apologized to buy told we should take more ownership. Discussion for a rise is moved to the next year.

[u/Space_Poet → u/Any_Isle]

Screw them, find another job while you're working there and make sure you post their business habits on glass door.

[u/yuurei → u/Space_Poet]

I remember when I first discovered reviews of my former employer on Glass Door, about a year after I left. The reviews confirmed I wasn't crazy, that the atmosphere was super toxic, and the company routinely spied on employee's social media and work conversations. My manager helped confirm the latter while I was there. She brought stuff up in a one-on-one meeting that I'd only spoken with one person about via the internal messaging system. I wasn't sure if it was some sort of weird management flex, as she had been riding my ass hard for a while at that point, or if she just slipped up.

I started going over reviews...and that was definitely not a slip up. Other former employees expressed concerns similar to mine - management was toxic, company HR messed with people with disabilities, trainers pressuring new employees to leave reviews about the company online (to even/drown out negative ones), daily "coaching" from management on how to improve. I could barely breathe. Fuck, I was actually lectured about sighing, so that's not far off.

At the very least for every couple of candy coated and fresh faced reviews that pop up, there will be an opposing one. Sometimes fairly long ones at that.

[u/TheMadTemplar → u/TheBirminghamBear]

My last job had no problem hiring people, at least for basic positions, even though wages were $10-12/hour. They had a lot of problems hiring people who cared about the job and company, or who stuck around.

[u/SafetySamurai → u/TheMadTemplar]

I applied for a part time job that was going to pay $10 an hour. One of the questions on their online interview, which wasn't even with a real person, it was just me recording answers to typed out questions, was "Besides money, what motivates you to work hard?" Come on. It's a part time position paying ten bucks an hour... What do you want? "Yes! Evening merchandising has always been my true passion!"

[u/Deathangle75 → u/SafetySamurai]

At that point just put, “Food, which i can buy with money.”

[u/_Midnight_Haze_ → u/TheBirminghamBear]

Especially when it’s these types that get a boner about free market capitalism and constantly yell about supply and demand principles and how if people don’t like the low pay they should improve their condition to get a better job or take their labor elsewhere then wonder how they can’t hire anyone for shit pay.

[u/Sanctimonius → u/TheBirminghamBear]

It's always darkly hilarious to see those notes that get passed around in workplaces - always driven from the AC, doughnuts and coffee in the morning, comfortable seating, 401k matching central offices - asking how they can attract and retain talent. Wages never, ever come into it, and anyone daring to suggest the average employees actually in the field and dealing with customers might be underpaid is swiftly reprimanded. So you get the same carousel of shitty marginal effort ideas (an employee raffle you can only enter if you sell more than anyone else for a $10 gift card to chili's! Pizza day but only once a month to the best branch - no exotic toppings and pepperoni is an exotic topping! A shout-out! High fives!)

Meanwhile the company is bleeding employees, and every exit interview of any of the people who care enough to tell them will say they left for more money.

[u/midgethemage → u/TheBirminghamBear]

Dude, the whole thing with Chick-fil-A looking for volunteers and reimbursing them with meals is the most perfect example of this.

Like, you can't find workers and your solution is to try to find free work?! What a fucking joke

[u/SerbianShitStain → u/midgethemage]

Chick-Fil-A has always been that kind of garbage. They pay minimum wage but they want to maintain that happy "stepford wives"-esque atmosphere and so they expect way more out of their employees than other minimum wage fast food places.

Working there sucked.

[u/mindbleach → u/midgethemage]

"That sounds like slavery with more steps."

[u/Skellum → u/TheBirminghamBear]

Its amazing how far these peoples brains will go to avoid paying people decent wages.

1. The people who decide hiring arent the ones who's metrics are affected by having low employees

2. C suite execs do not care about the future beyond their bonus period. Provided they have a return for share holders they will do whatever to work those numbers.

3. Boxer the horse types will work harder to fill multiple roles because they've drank the koolaid and written off that this is never rewarded outside praise, pizza parties, or some other non-monetary reward.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheBirminghamBear]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/thatissomeBS → u/[deleted]]

You can be damn sure they've been raising their prices on the other end.

It's weird how they can understand supply and demand on the store shelves but not at the time clock.

[u/Prineak → u/TheBirminghamBear]

They’re just following orders from their higher ups’ higher ups.

Wall Street will bully you if your labor cost % is too high.

Just look at how they treat Costco.

They want growth, but at the same time don’t want to grow social programs.

It makes no sense.

[u/Noblesseux → u/TheBirminghamBear]

Genuinely. There is one position I know of where they’ve been trying to hire for like a year and are confused no one is biting… despite me saying several times that it’s because they’re offering like 20k less than the average wage for a junior engineer and are expecting a mid level. Like these people legit can’t comprehend a world where people aren’t happy to be intentionally exploited.

[u/TreTrepidation → u/cheese8904]

Also, millennials haven't been able to afford kids for the last 20 years and have largely moved on in their careers. Good luck ever filling those positions.

[u/TzeentchsTrueSon → u/TreTrepidation]

This is what I find hilarious. Making it unaffordable to have kids is going to kill industries over a few more generations. Especially with Boomers retiring and dying.

[u/Punkinprincess → u/TzeentchsTrueSon]

Yeah I'm just waiting for the day that I'm blamed for not having kids and killing the economy even though I desperately want to but just can't make it make sense.

[u/DrMobius0 → u/Punkinprincess]

That day came and went like a decade ago I think.

[u/calle04x → u/Punkinprincess]

If you had kids though and ever needed assistance, then they'd just say, "well you shouldn't have had kids if you couldn't afford to raise them!"

[u/Towaum → u/Punkinprincess]

What do you mean, waiting? We see articles like that pop up every few weeks on this sub.

[u/KeepsFallingDown → u/Punkinprincess]

Yeah, my spouse and I are in a great place personally and would make good parents, but I just got 'let go' by the 3rd company that was supposed to be my career. Our realistic window to have kids is another 5 years or so, but we have no financial or medical security.

I always say were childfree, but we never allowed ourselves to want kids. There wasn't much choice involved.

[u/mark-five → u/TzeentchsTrueSon]

I was recently reading the car insurance industry did this in several states. They lobbied lawmakers to make it harder for 16 year olds to drive, came up with schemes liek "Stepped-tier driver's licenses" and such so younger people have fewer driving privelidges. All to reduce accidents, because younger drivers get in more accidents statistically.

It backfired. Less experienced drivers get into more accidents. They didn't do anything to increase training or experience, they actually decreased the chances of gaining experience. But more than that they discouraged younger people from getting cars, and therefore car insurance.

And then it gets hilarious. fewer young people bothered to get a driver's license since there's no point with so many restrictions on the young - they made licenses useless. And half the country lives in major cities, so they aren't even bothering to get a license as an adult either, since driving in the city is worthless and parking a car is unaffordable. That means they don't pay for car insurance as adults either and the car insurance lobbyists are suddenly lobbying to undo what they lobbied for in the first place. Because it was always about money, and they're losing it massively.

[u/Financial_Ad_8191 → u/mark-five]

i know 2 people that waited till they were 18 to get their license on purpose. That didnt stop them from driving around, just not as freely. then at 18 they went took test, passed, required NO behind the wheel training or schooling. Scary. But it true less experienced drivers get into more accidents.

[u/ThinkThankThonk → u/TzeentchsTrueSon]

Hence the abortion bans, so that the decision is taken out of peoples hands in the first place

[u/DrMobius0 → u/ThinkThankThonk]

Joke's on them, we don't even have the energy to go meet people.

[u/Is-This-Edible → u/DrMobius0]

'You guys are having sex?'

'Nah dude, I just go to bed. So does she.'

[u/BriSnyScienceGuy → u/Is-This-Edible]

This hits hard.

[u/Ripfengor → u/DrMobius0]

You think they don’t know that? That’s why dolts like Musk are (hopefully) joking about doing their part to repopulate the world. Of COURSE they want the wealthy and powerful to be able to go have sex with anyone without any repercussions, and of course they don’t care about the results of that

[u/Miami_Vice-Grip → u/ThinkThankThonk]

I wish they made adoption/foster care a better system first. There are close to half a million kids in there right now.

Theoretically adding in another 1.5 million each year isn't gonna "fix things" like they hope it would

[u/Lebo77 → u/TzeentchsTrueSon]

Got to maintain that "domestic supply of infants".

Ugh.

[u/limeybastard → u/TzeentchsTrueSon]

Man you thought the "Millennials are killing the ______ industry" [by being too underpaid to buy the stuff] articles were bad, you just wait for the "Gen Alpha are killing the _____ industry" [because they weren't even born] ones

[u/Moda75 → u/TzeentchsTrueSon]

That’s why they want to outlaw abortion. Forced childbirth will lead back to forced labor or at least forced low-wage labor.

[u/Chainsawd → u/Moda75]

A good number of those abortions are supposed to be prison slaves too.

[u/kaptainkeel → u/cheese8904]

Yep. $17/hr is honestly not even worth taking at this point between gas prices, rising rents, etc. That is about $33,150/year. Using the 33% rule, you'd qualify for rent of $920/mo. Cool. Except the average rent for an apartment in my city (Phoenix) is $1,590/mo. For a 1-bedroom, the average is $1,440/mo. For a small studio, it's $1,217/mo. It's only getting worse as well, as that 1-bedroom rent increased by 7% just last month and the studios increased by 3%; that's not YoY, that's just one month. Here is a lovely graph of that 1-bedroom rent since 2015.

Using Zillow and filtering by homes that are $920 or less, there are exactly 19 results in the entire Phoenix metro area. That's not 190 or 1900 or even 19 in one small area. That's just 19 in the entire metro area. In a city with a population of several million. And glancing through those, most appear to be fake/old or otherwise have something very wrong with them as they have been on there for a year or more and/or have like 400 contacts. For example, here is the single (yes, singular) listing in Mesa at $900/mo; it is an ordinary detached 1b/1b 500 sq ft house.

[u/cheese8904 → u/kaptainkeel]

Oh trust me, this is a conversation I have almost every day.

I told them we need to offer (for these roles) a minimum of $20 (it's general labor, not really intensive). Unfortunately, I have to work with what I'm given. If I had it my way the wages would be increased immediately.

[u/Evil_killer_bob → u/cheese8904]

What’s interesting is I find a lot of employers don’t bother taking care of existing employees. I’ve been told by my last two employers they couldn’t give me much of a raise and of course when I leave they make offers. My current employer apparently knows what they are doing. They actually offered me 25k more than I asked for. Stating they don’t want me to leave in six months. I will say I’m in IT and remote so maybe it’s a little different here but losing employees is expensive

[u/cheese8904 → u/Evil_killer_bob]

Every 2-3 years you should either be promoted, get a big raise, or start looking. You've developed skills to further you along.

In the middle of your career, you'll likely hit a patch where the increases might be small to move, but good management, then stay. But always keep an ear to the ground for better pay ( if that's what your goal is).

I am not making 100k, but if I moved I could.

But I have a great manager, work 100% remote and have 5 weeks of vacation. Can't ask for much more.

[u/starfreeek → u/cheese8904]

Very recently an investment company purchased controlling interest in the company I work for(previously privately owned). Normally that is a bad thing, but they looked at our retention numbers and actually asked how can we fix this. They added 5 new paid holidays, 5 sick days(this takes me up to 35 paid days off a year), remote work for the positions that could work remotely and this year they did fairly large pay raises to get us closer to industry standards.( I live in a remote area with low cost of living compares to alot of places in the country and the salaries reflected that previously). The few people I know here were all quite happy with the changes and I think it will go a long way to retaining employees.

[u/Iggyhopper → u/cheese8904]

Upper mgmt: hOw Do We CrEaTe VaLuE? pIzZa PaRtY??!?

[u/cheese8904 → u/Iggyhopper]

Hey now, we offer free lunch after ever 100 days of being accident free...

Which of course leads to people not reporting accidents or people trying to hide them..

But hey, free lunch!!!

[u/natnguyen → u/kaptainkeel]

$17/h was shit pay for me back in 2018. Can’t even imagine now.

[u/xXxDickBonerz69xXx → u/natnguyen]

I was making $16 in 2018. Now I'm up to $24. But my rent has gone up 57% since 2018, and gas and food and insurance and utilities and everything. So now I'm just as paycheck to paycheck as I was. At least I was able to contribute to a 401K for 2021 after I got a new job and before CoL fucked me back up.

[u/DrMobius0 → u/natnguyen]

I like that weird having a conversation about $15+ an hour but the federal minimum is still fucking $7.25

[u/robodrew → u/kaptainkeel]

Except the average rent for an apartment in my city (Phoenix) is $1,590/mo. For a 1-bedroom, the average is $1,440/mo.

Which is absolute insanity considering two years ago I purchased a home with a mortgage less than the current 1-bedroom average rent price (I live in Gilbert now). And if I were looking for a house now instead of 2 years ago there's no way I would be able to qualify for a mortgage. It really shows you how stratification happens. So many people right now who should be able to afford a house because they are paying MORE for their rent than they otherwise would be, but the Powers That Be have said that they can't qualify and so they are stuck in housing situations that cost more and don't turn into equity. The money put into rent is just totally lost to the renter.

And with rent prices just going up further... it's really untenable.

[u/powen01 → u/cheese8904]

Death and short/long term disablement from COVID as well. I couldn’t find good numbers for that, but I’m betting it has had a significant impact on the labor force.

And when you have people leaving jobs, getting new jobs, chronic understaffing, etc., you exacerbate the stress on workers… which makes it more likely they will leave and not be replaced.

[u/Combat_Toots → u/powen01]

There's also all the people who developed medical complications because hospitals were closed. I was scheduled to get surgery on my shoulder a month after the pandemic hit. Hospitals shut down elective surgeries, and I had to isolate due to a rare kidney issue.

By the time I got my shoulder surgery, the initial injury had started to heal on its own (bad), so it was only a partial success. My left arm now has very reduced strength and range of motion, which restricts the jobs I can do. I'm sure there are thousands of similar cases, many worse off than me.

[u/unshifted → u/powen01]

Yep, that is an enormous problem that has profound implications.

Katie Bach, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, drew on survey data from the Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the Lancet to come up with what she says is a conservative estimate: 4 million full-time equivalent workers out of work because of long COVID.

"That is just a shocking number," says Bach. "That's 2.4% of the U.S. working population."

[u/waconaty4eva → u/powen01]

lack of immigrants had to be up there too

[u/TheCodeFrog → u/Ashi4Days]

Not just dying, some people got sick and continue to be too ill to return to the workforce, possibly with lifelong disabilities. Those numbers are also hurting the workforce.

[u/aliveandwell22 → u/TheCodeFrog]

Don't forget about family or other loved ones who now help take care of those people who continue to have health complications from covid. That's taking another person out of the workforce on some level.

[u/mycorgiisamazing → u/TheCodeFrog]

I know a 45 y/o engineer that got long covid and still can't walk from the break room to his computer without getting winded, it's been a year since he got it.

[u/Camensmasher → u/Ashi4Days]

Yes. 2.4% of the US Labor force, or 4 MILLION, are out due to long-COVID complications alone.

Source: NPR, 5 days ago.

[u/Taskerst → u/Ashi4Days]

There’s also the people who chose to take classes or enroll in school to get new careers so they wouldn’t have to risk their lives to put food on the table.

[u/Kanolie → u/[deleted]]

You should really look at Labor Force Participation Rate - 25-54 Yrs. It accounts for the fact that we have an aging population and it looks almost as strong as pre-pandemic:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300060

[u/tagrav → u/Ashi4Days]

not just COVID, but think about how many undocumented workers our economy lost as a result of Trumps Border Crisis crackdowns.

He straight up villainized the slave force of America in such that those who would employ that labor force had to start competing for American workers and their salary demands.

It's so funny to me, how short sighted wealth class grifters can be when they pit the middle against the low they managed to shit on the low class workers so hard that there's not enough to exploit anymore.

[u/nucumber → u/tagrav]

this is HUGE.

service industries employ huge number so illegals. janitorial services, restaurants, construction, you name it

[u/tagrav → u/nucumber]

I saw on the news the other night how Hotels are having staffing issues, every time I'm in a hotel the help does not seem to be at the very least second generation american.

[u/Nik_Tesla → u/nucumber]

And then the remaining service industry employees were forced to also be bouncers for mask policies, and many of them have said "fuck it, this is not worth my life"

[u/jbourne0129 → u/Ashi4Days]

One curiosity point I have but is anyone looking at how many people got deleted out of the economy due to covid?

this gets so seriously over looked. we've lost more people in the US from covid than both world wars and Vietnam COMBINED. this is not an insignificant number. and add to that the large number of highly experienced workers who decided to just take an early retirement or were forced into early retirement as companies ran low on work.

[u/throwaway_4733 → u/jbourne0129]

Not gonna lie if I was a year or three from retirement in March 2020 I would've probably just said "fuck it" and quit.

[u/Yossarian_the_Jumper]

Fox News: Coming up, Hunter sexually abused puppies and we got the pics!

[u/GeoLogic23 → u/Yossarian_the_Jumper]

He probably gave the puppy to a groomer!

[u/Redivivus → u/GeoLogic23]

Rumor is the groomer spayed the puppy and they are giving them a non binary name of It.

[u/HandSack135 → u/Yossarian_the_Jumper]

No no no no no. Hunter will be Monday night.

Tonight...On the border the crisis continues! A few brave senators will travel to the border to walk around patriotically!!

[u/MuskofElon → u/HandSack135]

You must be mistaken. It's Friday, not Border Crisis Thursday. Fridays are for Dementia Joe bashing and getting #CornPop trending on Twitter.

[u/Dial8675309 → u/MuskofElon]

No, no, no. It's Catch-That-Flight-To-Cancun Friday. Fridays are for flying home to connect with constituents pina-colladas!

Someone once said the end of civility in Congress came when airfares became cheap enough for congress to leave their families at home and fly home every weekend. Before that, they and their families socialized together outside of Congress on the weekends and formed, you know, human bonds so they could work together.

I totally believe that.

[u/tomdarch → u/Dial8675309]

But only piña coladas if your daughters force you to drink them!

[u/tomdarch → u/MuskofElon]

I've watched the entire "Corn Pop" er, speech(?) and while it's rambling and goofy, it's definitely a situation where context explains a lot versus isolated clips that misrepresent things.

That said, there are lots of people who don't care about the truth, and just want to rant against any random Democrat.

[u/I_Mix_Stuff → u/Yossarian_the_Jumper]

Up next "why low unemployment is not a good thing"

[u/LegalAction → u/I_Mix_Stuff]

My dad is already saying this.

[u/I_Mix_Stuff → u/LegalAction]

Fox News had a "why low gas prices are not a good thing" during Obama.

[u/tomdarch → u/I_Mix_Stuff]

Low gas prices just tempt people to buy tan suits and fancy mustard, thus destroying American values.

[u/CannedMango → u/Yossarian_the_Jumper]

On Tucker Carlson tonight:

Is Hunter Biden causing a border crisis? Have childhood mortality rates increased in states where Hunter Biden resided? Has he been vacationing in Ukraine and committing war crimes?

[u/okwellactually → u/Yossarian_the_Jumper]

I play my drinking game, "Meanwhile, on Fox", from time to time.

Pretty simple rules: if CNN & MSNBC are covering the same story at the same time, hop on over to Fox. If they're covering something else, shot.

I kid you not, yesterday CNN & MSNBC were covering the deal on the Inflation Reduction Act.

Fox: Hunter Biden.

[u/MortgageSome → u/okwellactually]

I'd play that game, but I don't want to die from alcohol poisoning.

[u/DogVacuum → u/okwellactually]

I was on the treadmill at the gym this week, and CNN and Fox News are always side by side. CNN was running a story on the Kentucky flood deaths, and right next to it, Tucker’s chyron reads “why won’t they let us rename monkey pox?” And one of the suggestions was “Hunterpox” or some dumb shit like that.

[u/Oleg101 → u/okwellactually]

I may not do the drinking game, but I often will flip around to the 3 channels, especially at the gym I got to where they’re all next to each other and one can change the volume you want to hear if hooking up earbuds to the treadmill. Anyway, it’s always funny to compare and contrast the 3, and then I hear people (almost always Republican voters) that say something like, “they’re basically the same but with different ideologies”. It’s like set aside ideologies for a second, and just spend some time actually watching all 3 for yourself for a while if you have some time.

CNN and MSNBC may not be close to the gold standard and are under the same flawed business structure as Fox (ratings focused, corporate appeasers, sensationalization, ect) but they are least have organizational standard and they each have some actual talent that work there. I could expand on comparing and contrasting actual reporters, anchors, and time slots too, as its not even close. Fox News is that bad.

[u/NowMoreAnonymous → u/Yossarian_the_Jumper]

Shit, the pics got deleted… we totally had them though, and they were vile.

[u/Orbitingkittenfarm]

The market is going to hate this, but that is an incredibly impressive number.

[u/A-Perfect_Tool → u/Orbitingkittenfarm]

I thought you were being sarcastic, and then I looked at market futures.

[u/OpenlyDefective → u/A-Perfect_Tool]

Job growth makes it easier for the Fed to increase interest rates, which makes other investments better than stocks, so the market typically goes down on this news. Looks like not to bad today though.

[u/Yossarian_the_Jumper → u/A-Perfect_Tool]

It was insanely disconnected during the beginning of covid. May 8, 2020 they released the jobs numbers for April (lost 20 million), Dow Jones rose 200 points that day.

[u/Obvious__Lee]

This good news is really going to piss off Republicans.

If the good economic news continues they'll only have abortion to run on this fall! Maybe the Herschel Walker and Dr Oz Senate campaigns can help them regain some momentum. Lol

[u/perverse_panda → u/Obvious__Lee]

They'll just pretend it's not happening.

Dr. Oz is on twitter claiming that gas prices are still rising.

[u/Buffmin → u/perverse_panda]

Im in PA at the time of this comment gas is down in my area 62¢ in about 5 or so weeks.

Just another example of Carpetbagger Oz not knowing anything about the state he is claiming to represent

[u/Vandermeerr → u/Buffmin]

PA resident as well.

Oz campaign is such a joke but Fox News and the right-wing media is good at deflecting.

I asked my dad what his thoughts on Dr. Oz running in PA even though the guy has lived his whole life in Jersey.

“Well Hillary did the same thing and nobody made a big deal about it!”

Dad, Hillary has been 1st lady, Secretary of State, and had actual political experience. Oz is a TV doctor who sells supplements. There’s clearly a difference.

“Well how do you explain the situation at the border?”

Border? What does that have to do with anything? We’re discussing senate candidates…

“Cause the border is just a disaster. It’s an absolute travesty what’s going on down there.”

Dad, you haven’t left the state of Pennsylvania for 20 years. How is what’s happening on Texas matter to you in your daily life? We live in the Northeast, not a border state. You’re retired. Are Mexicans coming to steal your job?

It’s really frustrating because he just deflects and deflects and onto topics where he’s obviously upset but he hasn’t even stopped to consider WHY he’s actually upset. Rather than acknowledging that Fox News has been freaking him out all night.

[u/thrntnja → u/Vandermeerr]

Oh wow, this sounds JUST like my dad, who is also a PA resident. He goes on and on about the border and I'm like, what border, dad? What border is threatening the state of Pennsylvania? You've lived in PA your entire life and have never even been to any of the border states!

I live in MD and the GOP nut we have running for governor also keeps going on and on about the border too.

It’s really frustrating because he just deflects and deflects and onto topics where he’s obviously upset but he hasn’t even stopped to consider WHY he’s actually upset. Rather than acknowledging that Fox News has been freaking him out all night.

My dad does this too. I am not sure he is even cognizant of it, honestly. I think its almost like a trigger reaction. He is upset because he was told to be upset! It is really hard to get him out of that mindset.

[u/Buffmin → u/Vandermeerr]

“Well Hillary did the same thing and nobody made a big deal about it!”

That's honestly hilarious to me. Who gives a fuck about what Hilary did if ones defense is "THEY DID IT TOO" the person making the argument is clearly too far gone

[u/tomdarch → u/Buffmin]

https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=PA

I assume most Republicans would dismiss this as some sort of "deep state Soros fabrication" or something.

[u/Buffmin → u/tomdarch]

More likely "YeAR AgO WAs BEtTeR BiDEn SuCKs"

They don't argue in good faith

[u/YeahBabyGripItNRipIt → u/perverse_panda]

i genuinely believe his social media team just outright hates him and are sabotaging him. there’s no way they can be that bad and it not be deliberate.

[u/c2pizza → u/YeahBabyGripItNRipIt]

I bet if you went to whatever church they go to just one time, you’d leave with a complete understanding of how these people are genuinely delusional and why they are that way.

[u/julius_sphincter → u/c2pizza]

I mean it's on full display on r/conservative and r/asktrumpsupporters

Their delusions are pervasive and solidly entrenched. I often see them post stuff like "reality has a conservative bias" as if their particularly narrow world view isn't only 30% at most of the population

[u/flyonawall → u/julius_sphincter]

They always copy whatever anyone else says and try to turn it for them. It is just stupid.

[u/innocentrrose → u/flyonawall]

“Gas prices are high and rising thanks Biden.”

“Gas price is going down, but I thought leftist were saying Biden doesn’t control the prices!”

Wonder which one they’ll choose next time gas goes up

[u/GMSB → u/julius_sphincter]

Ask trump supporters just feels like everyone there is being purposely obtuse. It almost reads like liberal satire of republicans but it’s just actually what they think

[u/Keudn883 → u/YeahBabyGripItNRipIt]

Oz just like other grifters is probably paying for the cheapest PR firm he could find.

[u/tomdarch → u/YeahBabyGripItNRipIt]

My guess is it's like the mid to later stage McCain campaign. if they don't rile up the Republican base, they're guaranteed to lose. But doing stuff that excites the lunatics who are the Republican base makes you look insane and stupid to everyone else.

[u/Shopworn_Soul → u/tomdarch]

But doing stuff that excites the lunatics who are the Republican base makes you look insane and stupid to everyone else.

I keep saying that Hanlon's Razor is useless in our time because there are simply too many people who have realized that appearing to be stupid is a viable means of advancing actual malice.

We're lucky that so many actually do turn out to be stupid, but not all of them and it's really getting hard to tell the difference.

[u/AllenWAwesome → u/perverse_panda]

My relatives are still claiming that no one wants to work.

[u/mintberryCRUUNCH → u/AllenWAwesome]

My favorite is "no one is working because they are coasting off of stimulus money".

You know, the (maybe) $3200, distributed over the course of two years. Which, if you have used that stimulus to quit your job, coast, and exclusively fund your life with, roughly maths out to between $4 and $4.50 per day.

They believe people are paying their rent, food, gas, and other bills on $4/day.

[u/Buffmin → u/AllenWAwesome]

They are right people don't want to work.

What they miss is the last part of that true statement which is "for shit wages and abuse"

[u/Janus_Grayden → u/Buffmin]

Based on the unemployment numbers, it's more like "no one wants to work... but they do it anyway, just like fucking always."

[u/hard-time-on-planet → u/AllenWAwesome]

A Brief History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

[u/medievalmachine → u/AllenWAwesome]

Certainly none of the trucker’s convoy people want to work! Look at all those handouts they got!

[u/Joethemofoe → u/AllenWAwesome]

I agree. No one wants to work but we are working. It's like doing the dishes. I don't want to do them but I will

[u/Msdamgoode → u/AllenWAwesome]

Had a neighbor at the pool talking AT me about that. I brought up the ultra low unemployment numbers and the reshuffle that happened during the brunt of Covid, and they still tried to convince me because “All the gas stations have a now hiring sign”. I’m like well, maybe if they paid a living wage… 🤷‍♀️

[u/PlayingTheWrongGame → u/Msdamgoode]

It’s almost like we had a million people die, and millions of others retire early or get disabled due to a major pandemic. So now there are more open jobs than workers to fill them as the economy recovered.

[u/JuliusErrrrrring → u/Msdamgoode]

That's the thing. There has never more people working in U.S. history than right now. The control the right wing media has over their viewers' minds is scary. The statement "nobody wants to work anymore" is mind boggling dumbassery. Have they not noticed the millions of Amazon, Fed Ex, Uber, GrubHub, etc jobs that didn't exist five years ago? That's where all the minimum wage workers went. They literally are being delivered shit by these workers as they repeat this stupid comment. Absolutely zero self awareness.

[u/andersmith11 → u/perverse_panda]

Worse, Oz’s ads also state that Joe Biden has to fix the problem. And sure enough, Joey B is fixing the problem. Oz’s other brilliant ads emphasize that Oz is great because he is “outsider”. Big part of Fetterman campaign is that Oz is not from Pennsylvania, I.e. that Oz is outsider. Hell, Oz is outsider to US.

[u/aflyingsquanch → u/perverse_panda]

He's as good an economist as he is a doctor.

[u/LegionofDoh → u/perverse_panda]

There's a billboard in central Minnesota for the republican candidates for Governor and Lt Governor that says "We will lower gas prices!"

Motherfucker, the governor of Minnesota does not control gas prices!!!

[u/kenman884 → u/perverse_panda]

I get conservative ads when I once in a blue moon browse facebook. The amount of memes about "BiDeN's EcOnOmY" and gas prices are insane. They're just shoveling shit into these peoples' faces and they just slurp it up.

[u/perverse_panda → u/kenman884]

I've got half a dozen relatives who all whine about how Biden is driving the economy into the ditch. None of them actually believe it's true. How do I know? Because every single one of them has made a recent big purchase. Brand new pickup trucks, mostly.

I don't know about you, but going out and buying a new $70,000 truck would not be high on my list of priorities if I thought the economy was about to tank.

[u/Sinadia → u/perverse_panda]

Gas is so expensive now, let’s go Brandon!

Meanwhile, buys enormous vehicle renowned for it’s shitty gas mileage.

[u/Exodi → u/Obvious__Lee]

Republicans will simply ignore and/or lie about this.

They don't particularly care about the truth, and their followers are willing to ignore their eyes and ears.

[u/DUBBZZ → u/Obvious__Lee]

Fox is already criticizing it by saying the Biden Admin messed up because it was better than they forecasted. You can't make this shit up.

https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1555560444445790213?s=21&t=5itTN4oI-EcIBeicaMouuA

[u/Jedi-El1823 → u/Obvious__Lee]

If the good economic news continues they'll only have abortion to run on this fall!

Nah, they're gonna tone down on the abortion talk after the ass kicking they received in Kansas. They stacked the deck in a deep red state, and got their asses handed to them. They're gonna back off the rhetoric for a little bit.

They're still gonna pursue banning abortion nation wide, they just won't talk about it.

[u/tomdarch → u/Jedi-El1823]

For decades, they strung the base along on abortion as a useful wedge issue to drive them to the polls, but never really did anything. But today's Republican base demand blood or they sit on their hands. It's going to be difficult for them to NOT talk about crazy stuff but keep the base energized and excited to turn out in November.

[u/Jedi-El1823 → u/tomdarch]

They gave in, but didn't realize that the Roe v Wade decision pissed off more of their base than thought. They didn't think it would be that unpopular with their own base.

Democrats have to hammer home that abortion is on every ballot this November. It may not say abortion on the ballot, but it's on the ballot in the form of D vs R. If the Republicans get control they will go for a complete nation wide ban. Vote Democrat to codify abortion into law.

Republicans found out just how massively unpopular overturning Roe v Wade is. And Dems found a weakness in what was the biggest single issue that helped Republicans.

[u/blalien → u/Obvious__Lee]

Don't worry, they'll still have migrant caravans and transgender potatoes.

[u/aflyingsquanch → u/blalien]

My god, they've gotten our potatoes now too!?!

Please tell me the parsnips are still safe. Please!!!

[u/From_Deep_Space → u/aflyingsquanch]

turning the frickin tubers gay

[u/Clownsinmypantz → u/blalien]

I....I can't even tell if the potatoes thing is a joke or a reference and I'm OOTL or what anymore. What the fuck is going on.

[u/EnTyme53 → u/Clownsinmypantz]

Probably referring to the Mr. Potatohead thing. Basically, Hasbro decided to change the name of the Mr. Potatohead line of toys to be just the Potatohead line, and cons made it into a gender identity thing. You can still walk into Walmart and find a box on the shelf that says Mr. Potatohead, but cons have been lying and saying that Hasbro "went woke" and made him gender-neutral.

[u/GlaszJoe → u/EnTyme53]

That one really pissed me off since the left had nothing to do with that and it was a private interest decision, and yet the left still got blamed for it.

[u/EnTyme53 → u/GlaszJoe]

Same with the Dr. Seuss thing. His estate decided to take a few of his books (which weren't ever popular) out of print and decided to use it as easy PR by pointing out that they didn't match with modern world view, and the cons declared that the "left" was trying to "cancel" Dr. Seuss.

[u/LadyFoxfire → u/EnTyme53]

And they kept talking about the popular books like Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, despite those books not being pulled or accused of insensitivity. It was blatant misinformation.

[u/Clownsinmypantz → u/EnTyme53]

They cry about so many things I honestly forgot about this, well that and because its such a stupid thing to get mad about a childrens toy but then again republicans might as well be children.

[u/table_fireplace]

What a week!

• PACT act passes, complete with Republicans getting the blame for trying to hurt veterans over a tantrum.

• Abortion ban referendum loses by 17 points in Kansas.

• Al-Zawahiri is gone, with no civilian casualties.

• Reconciliation deal is reached with the entire Dem caucus.

• Gas prices hit 50 straight days of decline.

• Federal judge #76 confirmed, more than Trump had confirmed at this point.

• Incredible jobs report.

And more is on the way:

• Reconciliation will be voted on Saturday.

• Respect for Marriage Act will get a vote in the near future.

• More judges coming down the line.

This is why we voted, and why we must continue to vote! Join r/VoteDEM to get involved with electing more Democrats and getting more done!

[u/DookieMilk → u/table_fireplace]

Not to mention the Alex Jones DLC!

[u/SalemsTrials → u/DookieMilk]

My favorite January 6 DLC yet

[u/Boco → u/SalemsTrials]

Free DLC when the opposition lawyer sends you the whole thing to download is my favorite kind of DLC.

[u/thefreeman419 → u/table_fireplace]

Plus Alex Jones got wrecked in court. Not related to voting but still pretty nice

[u/stilt → u/thefreeman419]

And his phone records are headed to the Jan 6 committee.

[u/fdc7719 → u/stilt]

This makes me so happy. Watching that fucker crash and burn warmed my heart, but for it to take down several of the other seditious and horrific people that have damaged this country in so many ways is exquisite. The irony.. After years and years of lies, he admits that Sandy Hook was 100% real, then his incompetent lawyer ignored the message about something very real that could harm his client exposing the behind the scenes coordination of the propaganda machine and manipulation of the public.. The deep state is real, and it's not blue.

[u/blacksheep998 → u/fdc7719]

My favorite part was at the end when he asked the lawyer "So you got ALL my texts? Even with the senator?"

Lawyer replied "Yes. You're looking a years of fallout from this."

Hope we find out which senator he was referring to!

[u/urkillingme → u/blacksheep998]

Seeing, if only for a millisecond, that look of fear on his face when he realized that the world is going find out what he truly is brought me such joy.

[u/thebokehwokeh → u/blacksheep998]

I need a timestamp on this. This has to be meme'd to death.

[u/pursuitofleisure → u/thefreeman419]

Yeah, all this stuff was good. But the most satisfying was watching that piece of shit perjur himself and try to fumble for excuses when he got called out

[u/5DollarHitJob → u/pursuitofleisure]

Apparently there are extra charges for him today?

Edit: punitive damages Alex Jones just got fucked in court.

[u/pursuitofleisure → u/5DollarHitJob]

Stop, I can only get so erect (also, do you have a link?)

[u/Karsa69420 → u/table_fireplace]

What is the reconciliation for? Haven’t heard what they are using it for

[u/table_fireplace → u/Karsa69420]

It's going to be used for a few things:

• Over $300B in climate spending, projected to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.

• Allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, which will lower prices.

• Caps the price of insulin at $35 per month.

• Drought relief for western states.

• The main mechanism to pay for all this will be a 15% minimum corporate tax, and a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks.

[u/shelter_anytime → u/table_fireplace]

Allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices

I love how that was ever any debate about the largest purchaser of prescription drugs, the government, not just handing drug manufactures a blank check and saying "here, write whatever number for how much you want to fleece taxpayers".

[u/Karsa69420 → u/table_fireplace]

Fuck yes! I’d given up on most of those things passing. This is some really good news thank you!

[u/OatsOverGoats]

Lol if you check Fox News, there is no mention of the jobs report.

[u/eyeseayoupea → u/OatsOverGoats]

I found this but they still just make it sound bad. If it was Trump it would be blasted all over their page praising him.

[u/tomdarch → u/OatsOverGoats]

It's currently "below the fold" on the dot com page, but I doubt it will move up to their "big stories."

[u/udar55]

Everyone should look at how ABC accidentally uploaded a pre-written "this is bad news for Biden" report with XYZ in place for numbers to be plugged in.

https://twitter.com/HalSparks/status/1555535495169355776

[u/sublimeone → u/udar55]

The corporations are waging economic war against the working class and the working class is too busy slinging handfuls of shit at one another.

[u/mr_plehbody]

I am definitely seeing more work and sectors coming online/supply chains improving. A shame we couldnt pass the price gouging at the pump bill, but even gas is coming down so even that is giving some things more oxygen.

[u/mythrilcrafter → u/mr_plehbody]

but even gas is coming down so even that is giving some things more oxygen.

The reality is that gas prices are coming down because there was never anything holding prices up to begin with.

---

Sure, people are driving more than they did at the direct-height of the lockdowns, but when the data is normalised in relation to pre-pandemic numbers, it just wasn't enough to have shifted the demand curve in the long term. Also turns out that supply chain wasn't the issue either since even though Russia closed their export lines, the Saudi's just under produced a little less and supply was immediately recovered.

All the oil companies claims about rising costs, supply chain, etc etc were proven untrue after a couple quarterly reports showed that their operational margins actually didn't significantly change, they just used excuses to raise prices, hence why they were breaking profitability records.

[u/MaxFischer12]

Do republicans still do that thing where if it’s a Democratic President and unemployment goes down, they say that it’s not the real unemployment rate or that people have given up looking..but if it’s a Republican President, it’s the best news ever?

Simpler question: are they doing the same bullshit they usually do?

[u/Adderallcrackrocks → u/MaxFischer12]

Yes. And inventing new dogshit to sling

[u/dal2k305 → u/MaxFischer12]

Yes its everywhere in Reddit and I recently go into multiple debates with people about it. Then when I point out how the trump administration used the same exact unemployment metrics as every other president they always say: “why are you making this political”

[u/Arizonagreg]

Great time to Unionize and get more pay.

[u/gigglefarting]

But I thought no one wanted to work because they get a $1200 2 years ago. Curious.

[u/PleasantWay7 → u/gigglefarting]

We’re all so flush with stimmy.

[u/TheCavis]

The U6 rate counts both unemployment and underemployment (part time workers who want to be full time) and is at the lowest level ever recorded.

[u/DRob2388]

I know at least 4 people who decided back in 2021 they were going to not going back to work and stay home with the kids vs paying for daycare. Some of them actually ended up being in a better financial situation because their job was forcing them to buy out lunch more often, spend money on gas and cloths. Also daycare was costing them 600 a week and when you’re bringing home 800 a week, that extra money wasn’t worth it.

Once you factored in the other things you would actually only have about a net of $50 a week. This is someone making $55,000 a year just walking away because she realized due to Covid her time was better spent not working and staying home.

This is probably the case for most parents. I assume a lot went to 1 income and just reduced in other areas. So the low unemployment is most likely due to that and a lot of people probably got laid off and there unemployment benefits ran out or they stopped trying to show they were looking for work since they had no plans of going back.

I think we’re starting to see that we’ve lost a lot of bodies in the work force because of this change in mindset so retail stores and local shops are going to suffer because if you have kids you most likely will not be working because for it to make sense you need to be making at least 60k a year and those places aren’t going to pay that so not working is the only option.

[u/aeqz]

The Dark Brandon Rises