Click to enlarge.
Note that the downward trend is starting to level off.
The following chart shows the percentage drop from the peak value and compares that to the aftermath of our last recession. I've included 6 month moving averages as an attempt to detect the inflection point. In other words, I'd like to know when we might expect to see the unemployed per job opening begin to rise again.
Click to enlarge.
The chart is far from encouraging. Note how the trend in orange is pulling away from the trend in red.
Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
St. Louis Fed: Unemployed
a friend of mine is hiring in Southern California. he was telling me about all the interviews that they were conducting for a customer service rep that had to be fluent in both Russian and Japanese. I told him that it must be difficult to find someone and that I would expect them to pay a lot for that skill set. I was shocked when he told me that they had many qualified applicants for the entry level position with low pay.
ReplyDeleteThey are also hiring an entry level engineer: 100+ applicants.
And, a "level-II" engineer: ~50 applicants including phd applicants!
Interviewer: you realize that we have 99 other applicants for this position...what are you asking for?
Interviewee: free?
remy,
ReplyDeleteAmazing.
I saw hundreds and hundreds of resumes working at my last job.
I've seen one PhD applicant and I'll never forget it. It was a 7 page resume in the tiniest font possible. There was not one mention of desiring to work at a computer game company though. Bad idea!
Then there's the artist who included a resignation letter from another company as proof that the artist showed potential. Bad idea!
Another artist submitted a picture of a van that had been painted many years ago (the picture was old and yellowed) for a computer graphics job. Bad idea!
Times must truly be tough now if you can find many applicants who are fluent in both Russian and Japanese. And you don't even have to pay them much? That is shocking.
Job creation is a global problem and for the life of me I can't figure out where the jobs are going to come from in the future.
The chart is far from encouraging.
ReplyDeleteStag,
Rather than focusing on all the negatives, I've been trying to focus on some of the positives. Like how our system now rewards financial fraud and incompetence while simultaneously punishing industriousness and prudence.
It's a matter of perspective........maybe not.
mab,
ReplyDeleteMy next post will have a positive theme in your honor.
Well, mostly. Okay, somewhat.