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Comment by frfl | Hacker News Reader

It seems to be a culmination of all the worst the hiring process throws at you right now. Your frustrations aren't unique right now unfortunately, as far as I can tell. But at the same time, either to keep up appearances or for whatever other reason, others don't seem to be freely describing the same frustrations.

The public perceptions don't seem to reflect this side of reality either -- the job reports and unemployment rates at all time lows, yet the frustrations you're expressing seems more common that you'd think just looking at the headlines and reports of the job market.

For what it's worth, I think it's best to try and ride it out, until the tides turn for the better. I don't know the root cause, but the economic situation (high interest rates) would seem to be the likely root cause, but that's just a guess.

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> the job reports and unemployment rates at all time lows

I think this is because the issues described are particularly to software right now. Unemployment is pretty low, but I see a lot more people complaining about barely scraping by or hurting financially. My guess is that it’s mostly crappy jobs. Particularly in my locality there’s a massive divide between rent/property costs and average pay.

I was trying to do some basic analysis on my local job market. Sadly, that data is not easily available, but I hand compiled the jobs posted in my area for a few days. There were plenty, but they tended to be low wage, low skill work, or work requiring expensive credentials or extensive experience.

/r/antiwork and /r/recruitinghell both have accounts of people being rejected from non-software jobs as well. Additionally, crappy wages and unrealistic job descriptions. Of course I read those posts knowing there's a certain amount of echo-chamber effect in those subreddits and a small number of posts may not give a clear indication of the overall job market. But certainly provides some perspective.

> Additionally, crappy wages and unrealistic job descriptions.

What’s interesting, is from what I’ve seen, a lot of stuff is paying a lot better than I remember seeing a decade ago. However, the costs, notably the cost of things you need to survive (especially housing) has managed to far outpace those wage gains in a much shorter period of time. Although that might be specific to my location.

That makes sense. In any major city, where most of the jobs are, houses, rents, food, all the typical things, are well above what minimum wage pays so you're likely living pay check to pay check even if you do find something, even if it's above minimum wage.

> However, the costs, notably the cost of things you need to survive (especially housing) has managed to far outpace those wage gains in a much shorter period of time. Although that might be specific to my location.

It's not. That's everywhere. The difference is in the degree in awfulness.

I don't believe the unemployment rate is as low as they claim. A low unemployment rate would mean employees would be less picky but they aren't. It is almost impossible to find a job right now.

It is definitely tough to do research. A lot of the jobs posted are fake.

I see lots of employers who are not picky. Hotels, grocery stores, hospitals, warehouses, construction crews, transportation businesses, etc.

Employers in one sector being picky is not evidence of all employers being picky.

> I see lots of employers who are not picky. Hotels, grocery stores, hospitals, warehouses, construction crews, transportation businesses, etc.

Jobs aren't getting filled because they're in places people can't afford to live. Right now that's most places - including places that had been affordable for generations but aren't any more.

This all should be easily understood but it often isn't.

Insufficient pay can surely be a cause for some employers not being able to be picky, but that does not mean the official unemployment rate is false.

I think what people are dancing around is percent of people employed with minimum “acceptable” pay to quality of life at work ratio, which includes the location of the work. This figure may very well be trending down, but is not an official figure, and it seems like a difficult metric to calculate anyway.

The 'official' unemployment rate doesn't include people who aren't actively looking within X time. I would not trust the government to accurately report on a statistic that makes it look bad.

There is an official unemployment rate that includes people who are not actively looking within X time. See U-6 unemployment rate:

https://www.macrotrends.net/1377/u6-unemployment-rate

https://www.bls.gov/cps/definitions.htm

>U-6 is the broadest measure of labor underutilization. In addition to the total number of unemployed and all people marginally attached to the labor force, U-6 includes people at work part time for economic reasons (also called involuntary part-time workers) and is expressed as a percentage of the civilian labor force plus the marginally attached.

>U-6 is calculated as: ( (Total Unemployed + Marginally Attached to the Labor Force + People at Work Part Time for Economic Reasons) ÷ (Labor Force + Marginally Attached to the Labor Force) ) x 100

I've never run across that before.

I think a lot about the 20 percentage points who aren't reflected in the official BOLS' rate. Specifically about the ones who would absolutely work but are daunted by their significant barriers to job entry.

I'm hopeful these charts will reflect at least some of them.

There is always labor force participation rate if you want all encompassing:

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-lab...

And most, if not all of those jobs, are bad for your health and don't pay anywhere close to what's necessary to make up for the stress on your body. Most jobs are crap, and so are most employers. They want warm bodies to wear out and make money.

Generally, unpicky employers point to a high-turnover, high-stress, low paying environment.

You couldn't pay me enough to work those shit jobs.

Something to consider is that unemployment rates only account for people who are actively in the job market/applying for jobs, and the workforce participation rate dropped significantly with Covid. If you get so discouraged that you stop looking for work, you are no longer counted as "unemployed"

> Your frustrations aren't unique right now unfortunately, as far as I can tell. But at the same time, either to keep up appearances or for whatever other reason, others don't seem to be freely describing the same frustrations.

The only thing that keeps me going pretty much is knowing it isn't just me

I wish more people felt ok to speak out. publicly or online. it doesnt look good to be the person who says I cant find a job. It makes everyone else look at you like there is something wrong

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