The latest BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report [DATA HERE] reflects a headline of 4.3 million U.S. workers quitting in December. However, that number is 161,000 fewer quits than November. The job openings are starting to fill up.
While there is evidence the mandatory vaccine requirements are still working through the job market, we are still about another month away before the fog clears from the private sector employment data.
This Friday we will see the unemployment data from December, but in the interim this JOLT’s report is tracking with CTH expectations.
The primary driver of the quits rate has been inflation. Workers seeking higher wages in an effort to deal with inflation can get faster paycheck results by switching jobs rather than asking current employers for more money.
We have been watching this trend for several months. However, the rate of job-jumping is slowing down as the available jobs to jump into are fewer, and the vaccine mandate impact is settling down.
Despite the number of job openings, blue collar workers are starting to see job vacancies decreasing. The service industries around accommodation, food services and basic dirty fingernail positions still have many vacancies; this is the epicenter of where the job jumping takes place. Employment in durable goods manufacturing is at that phase where things are about to get sketchy for tradespeople and union workers.
The white collar jobs are static and/or slightly downsizing. The total number of hires was 6.3 million for December, a drop of 333,000 from prior month. The number of people hired in professional and business services dropped by 159,000.
(CNBC) – […] “All of this is uncharted territory,” says Rucha Vankudre, a senior economist at Emsi Burning Glass, a labor market analytics firm.
The U.S. saw record-breaking months of turnover throughout 2021, with early signs of trouble kicking off in April as vaccination efforts improved, consumer activity rebounded and businesses scrambled to re-staff to meet demand. Workers, especially in low-wage service roles, quit their jobs for higher pay. (read more)
While the situation may be unfamiliar or “uncharted,” I don’t necessarily agree that it is difficult to see what’s happening. Massive inflation is having an impact on workers across the board. Checkbook economics are the priority as working class people and families are making decisions for themselves against the backdrop of everything costing so much more.
The FRED personal savings rate for Americans overall [DATA HERE] has been dropping rapidly since March 2021, the last federal COVID employment bailout injection. All of the federal assistance has created massive data skews in the savings rate, as federal subsidies gave an artificial boost to the U.S. savings rate. Those same COVID bailout injections also propped up payrolls.
It appears the aggregate American worker has used their savings, created by COVID bailouts, to offset the massive inflation created by the COVID bailouts. The net result is a workforce going into negative savings each month as inflation driven expenses (energy, fuel, food) are higher than earnings. This is an unsustainable situation.
There is obviously a large retirement factor in the quits rate; however, it does appear the vaccination mandate was also an influence. Additionally, when talking about people living paycheck-to-paycheck, rapid inflation almost always causes job-jumping for workers to get higher wages.
Excess inventories, as noted in the GDP data, seem to indicate that wholesalers and mid-sized businesses are started to see contractions in sales or demand. With demand decreasing, the eyes of owners and managers turn toward the payroll. This outlook would match the productivity drops we noted last month.
(DECEMBER CTH) – “The value of all products and services generated increased by 1.8 percent. However, the labor cost of generating that small amount of added value increased by 7.4 percent. The difference between those two numbers is a drop in productivity of 5.2% over the entire quarter.
This is the largest quarterly drop in productivity since 1960 !
The Biden administration will blame the drop in productivity on a lack of material to produce the end product (ie. the COVID excuse). Which means employed people were sitting around waiting for goods to arrive and being less productive. There is a small amount of that which might be true. However, it is not the biggest factor, at least not on this scale. Keep in mind we are talking about both goods and services.
The more likely cause of such a massive decline in productivity is a genuine decline in demand. In the aggregate, consumers needed less goods and services. This likelihood aligns with the diminished and softened retail sales figures recently noted. It is a simple cause and effect. When gasoline, energy, and essential products like food cost more, consumers have less money for other stuff. Demand for the non-essential products drop.” (more)
When we look at the macro picture, things look a lot clearer than the financial pundits talk about.
After the March 2021 peak of savings rate (massive fed spending bill), sometime around June of 2021, the U.S. economy overall started to jam up. In May of 2021, the first round of massive inflation started, what the Fed and White House called “transitional”, but we noted it wasn’t.
Then, new home housing starts, and contracts for new homes yet to be built suddenly stopped, while at the same time (June/July 2021) new permits for construction dropped. From that moment forward prices for food, fuel and energy related products started a massive upward spike. Despite the Fed and administration “transitional” talking points, the prices continued to climb and inflation was growing month over month.
The middle class and working class started to really feel the inflationary pain in the second half of 2021. It was not the Delta variant driving this economic pain, it was inflation and the collapse of disposable incomes. By the time we get to November 2021, suddenly the low employment gains shocked the financial pundits. A few weeks later, we saw sales data from November go down, and retail hiring for the holiday season was non-existent.
Take a look at the timeline in hindsight. At exactly the wrong time last year, September 2021, Joe Biden mandated vaccination for all U.S. workers. The economic data was sending signals that things were tenuous, but no one was paying attention. The already tenuous economy and labor pool (economists ignoring) was hit with an ultimatum of forced vaccination or get fired.
It’s not a single factor leading to this quits rate data. As you can see, there is a snowball effect inside the data. Wages earned, including any pay raises, have been chewed up by much higher inflation. When we look back upon this economy in a few months, I am increasingly certain we will identify the inflection point as June of 2021. That’s when things peaked and started to go down.
When people feel inflation, they look for pay raises. Workers need higher wages to maintain their rising cost of living. Larger employers are slower to respond to pay raises driven by worker needs, and many have very structured pay raise guidance.
Ex. if a worker needs a raise (immediate inflation driven), and the boss or organization is less responsive (structured pay raise schedule or performance review), the worker can get a faster pay raise by quitting their employer and going to work at a higher entry wage rate with another firm. If the job market is tight, the worker can make much more doing this. This is called job-jumping. In my opinion, this has been a big factor for several months.
So, what does the labor market look like in your town? What is going on in/around your community and local economy? Are you seeing a drop in spending habits overall for the people around you?
Commonsense would tell us a workforce hunkering down, forced to spend savings to survive and dealing with massive rising costs (food, fuel, energy and housing); leads to a retraction of spending on non-essential items, a drop in demand for durable goods, and will ultimately lead to less employment.
Two-thirds of our economy is contingent upon consumer spending. If that spending is forced by inflation toward only essential purchases the economy overall starts to contract.
What is the employment situation around you?
Any consideration made about mandating forced medical procedures isn’t a discussion.
It’s a threat.
It will be treated as such. If this is the hill I die on, so be it. There are destiny’s worth than death and the world they want to create – where the government and their pharma buddies can inject us with whatever they want whenever they want – is one of them.
To you would-be injection jockeys going door to door with your poison needles: is this the hill you are also willing to die on?
California just discovered that 235,000 on disability are not entitled to it. Its cost $4 billion
Wow that is unbelievable. Do you have a link to a story, would love to read
https://www.kcra.com/amp/article/california-halted-edd-disability-claims-fraudulent/38918749
If the federal government kicked in to pay it, then it just gets added to CA GDP when the money is spent.
It’s amazing how fast government can weed out the fraud and waste in its social welfare agencies when it is forced to do so by collapsing revenue. Or maybe it’s not so amazing, just revelatory of their priorities.
Nope, but it’s why I acquired property in Central America
go hide
It should be nice down there when the riff raff gets here.
I remember your handle to be the name of a Notre Dame quarterback many years ago. Any relation?
Exactly how I feel. Couldn’t have said it better.
If my employer tries to mandate that I get the covid vaccine, I will immediately walk out and quit without notice.
It’s wrong for employers to mandate that their employees undergo an unwanted medical procedure as a condition of employment.
My employer might own my labor while I’m on the clock, but they don’t own my body.
What happened to, ” my body, my choice!” Or ” the government doesn’t control my body!”
But wait! That doesn’t makes sense! How could productivity be up with all the people quitting?
Nobody likes that pisoshito…https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f62d.svghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f923.svghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f923.svghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f923.svg (rumble.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FJT might be a clue (less).😁
Sorry…. this one didn’t post correctly.
The one below works.
Jokes aside, I saw a large demographic shift in my area. The fast food and grocery workers went into high demand because so many left. Now actual teenagers are back at those jobs along with the residents of a rather large community developed for older people.
The service and quality has improved quite a bit since that change. New development all up and down the main highway around here. I’m in S. Carolina not far from the border with N.Carolina and the Charlotte area.
I have also run into difficulty getting simple auto service but a new shop opened recently and I see a lot of employees out over there. Time to get some things checked out.
Glad to know.
Sounds good !
My husband and I are both in our late 60’s. I’m a retired middle school teacher after 40 years; my husband is a home builder on the resort islands off the coast of Charleston, SC. We have just downsized from 4600 sq ft to 1000 sq ft and have no mortgage. One of our two autos is paid for, but we still have areas where we can tighten our belts even more. That said; my concern is not having enough storage space to stock up on food and supplies and have even thought of storage rental. I have never had a garden but have purchased “earth boxes” to plant a few vegetables, hoping to be successful.
One would think that all is well as real estate here is on fire with very little inventory of resales. New construction in our neighborhood continues to go gangbusters. I still see “hiring” signs everywhere and restaurants packed. I feel like the only one who knows what is coming…
I’m not far from you. Im just west of Myrtle Beach. Same here. I have 5 adult kids with their own families. I’ve been trying to store enough to keep us all going. I dont mind saying that this keeps me awake many nights.
https://rumble.com/vtthdx-nobody-likes-that-pisoshito….html
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Perhaps fJT will be a clue(less) 😁
They suddenly and conveniently got covid ? Now who would believe an excuse like that ?
Yep! Right up there with Stacey Abrams having a
“scheduling conflict” when the Big Guy rolled into town
to push a Voting Rights bill….
Sure…a scheduling conflict.
Now if only law enforcement would do the same
Now people may find out whose side the Po-Po are one (hint: it ain’t ours)
Sand, lots of sand.
😁 😁 😁
Good for them!!!!! Brothers all. Well done!
That was a classic! Thanks for the memory.
I’m working…. got another job offer… and someone just called me about another one.
Everything is remote.
Wages are OK. But that’s because my current job doesn’t pay a lot, I just like it and I make enough money. I’m just working to have a new DIY audio amplifier built and likely buy one more pair of speakers. 😉
My concern is our 401Ks.
I am happy for you Tony, congrats!
You still have one which is good. Many have spent theirs just to pay bills because of mandates. People are using credit cards to pay electric, food and gas!
The sardonic joke in 2008 was “my 401K became a 201K” because so many people in their 50’s and early 60’s (pre-retirement) were overcommitted to stocks. Hopefully, people are using the bad January stock performance as motivation to seek out qualified financial planning help to diversify and protect their retirement plans. Ever since 2008, we’ve looked for investments outside of our 401K’s to place our savings while setting up our 401Ks to be more balanced for our age. Hopefully, you’re weathering the recent bumps.
Glad to hear your doing “o.k.”, AND that you have a lifestyle so that your not in dire straights, etc over MONEY.
So many get sucked into the credit trap, where they are overextended, trying to live the life they think they WANT (keeping up with Joneses) rather than what they can afford.
On 401k’s, remember theclesson of 2008; its JUST a “on paper” value, UNTIL you retire. Its gonna go up, down and up,..in 2008, people were crying, then during Trump economy cheering.
Have no idea how close you are to retiring, but if you got plenty of time, perhaps best to try to forget about your 401k, for awhile?
Mind over matter; if you don’t MIND, it doesn’t MATTER.
I’m a stubborn person, and always was someone who went without. I have NEVER owned a credit card, and always believed if you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t have it. I own my vehicle, own my home, and own extra land. Its not fancy, I never aspired to be a millionaire, just hard work, and peace at the end of the day that I owe no one. I close my gates, I got my dogs, I do my canning and grow my veg. If folk want stress and bankruptcy, go for it. I’ll sit in my 25 year old rocking chair on the porch and smile as they go by in the Porsche owned by the bank!
In tough and unpredictable times, it becomes ever clear what the important things are.
If you are in the stock market, I would rethink the 401k stat, especially if over 50.
I job jumped in January. I more than doubled my salary. It’s still not enough. I am not touching my savings.
We are being destroyed from within, and being turned into slaves and renters.
No one is talking about this. They are buying the globe. Water, wetlands, land, and even air! They want you to pay them for breathing! https://www.nyse.com/introducing-natural-asset-companies
The problem with their strategy is that if you own your home and your car – your two biggest expenses for most people other than healthcare/insurance – you are very tough to enslave. The average person would find that if they paid off their debts and owned their home outright, that they could pretty easily live on a much lighter paycheck.
My wife and I save an incredible amount of money because we own our stuff (same house for 20+ years, same cars for 10 years), and we dumped a lot of the fluff like cable TV ($200+/mo), most subscription-based things, and we don’t eat out much.
They only have power over people who are indebted or who lack monetary self-discipline…which is most people.
I went debt free over 20 years ago. I don’t have a fancy car or a big fine house, but I am more than content. Out of all the freedom possible, financial freedom is near the top.
You will be happy to know I’m just like you.
My fear is they will empty peoples accounts like Cyprus.
They will just keep raising taxes.
Whatever it takes to keep us working, while they live on our dime.
They will find a way to enslave you, even if your stuff is paid off, so they and their families don’t have to work. Why do you think the State Department and other agencies are full of friends and family of the Leftist Democrats? Because they are basically getting paid for no show jobs…. same as the big media companies, etc… paying the kids of Democrats $500,000+ salaries, annually for board seats.
I read that only .3% of Americans own their own homes outright. That is frightening……a mortgage is a yoke around our neck.
According to Psaki they all just called in sick!
they all are leaving to get jobs making tequila for all those Margheritas she suggested Americans drink
Got mine… but thinking we all be needing the upgraded version on the right! 😁
Is that Jack Dorsey on the right?
Lol idk… but it does look like him!
Looks a lot like a drunk or stoned Hunter Biden to me…
Paski cn explain it again in 30 days.
we go to their system. we get their bullshit. its clockwork orange.
Never EVER before have sick employees been considered in the job numbers. FAIL!
How many of those quits would be people moving to a different state for freedom or cheaper housing ?
Whatever these people report whether it’s jobs, gdp growth or inflation you can you bank on the numbers being completely fudged to make Biden look better than reality!
My take is the purpose of Biden and Admin is to demoralize the population. When you view it from that lens, then everything makes more sense.
Which is why the Freedom Convoy is gaining so much traction and support. After 2 solid years of disempowerment and dismay, the truckers are a true beacon of light, solidarity and HOPE for us all! HONK HONK for our FREEDOM!~
There are many reasons for the employment decreases. Death, disability, mandates, retirement, layoffs due to reduced demand. The % of each would be important to know.
In Minnesota we have 130-140 hospitals according to different sources. In an article by Fox9news Jan 28th it reports 263 covid people in ICU statewide on Jan 10th.
So let’s see, that’s about 2 covid cases in each hospital on average.
Still many businesses requiring vaccines and passports. Why?
No need to say more.
Nothing beats doing the numbers to see the truth !
Another aspect of the “savings rate” is also a practical aspect of inflation combined with -0- interest rates.
We experienced in in my household;
WHY would I continue to keep say, $7000 in savings, as an “emergency fund” when A) inflation is eating its purchasing value and B) INVESTING that $ NOW, in stockpiling food or other things that I KNOW are going to cost more later, and MAY be unavailable is more prudent?
And, I suspect it is impossible to accurately know with any degree of accuracy, the degree to which vax mandates effected what we are seeing.
How MANY decided to retire, which they were planning on doing soon anyway, because of mandates?
How many “job shopped” going from an employer forcing vax mandate, to an employer who wasn’t?
And, I think it IS relevant that some companies are encountering such severe supply chain issues, that they are laying off SOME of their workers, due to delays or unavailability of parts or supplies.
So much of manufacturing involves machinery, and one KEY piece of equipment breaks, and the repair part is either totally unavailable, or will take a month to get, is an owner really going to keep their whole workforce sitting around playing cards, for a month?
I agree on the savings. I’ve used a ton to get everything fixed that needs fixin’ now + stocking up because we don’t know what’s going to happen. And they’ve threatened to take control of the money supply by not allowing people access to their own money without a vax passport. I know some people that are actually doing what was done during the Great Depression… they are burying money on their property and/or burying precious metals, guns, ammo. Fascinating.
Lower your expectations. This is code for “demand management.” That is how we price stabilize.
I don’t think my expectations can go much lower than Biden and his regime…
Add when one person quits, the remaining ones have to make up for his hours.
20 years ago the company I worked for had four electrical engineers and one was a manager. One left for more money, and about 4 months later one of the remaining overworked engineers decided to retire early at 60. About 6 months later the third engineer left from overworking. This left the supervisor to do the jobs of 3 people. They had to farm custom electrical systems including boxes out to people who had no idea what the custom machines we built needed.
Compounding this was the requirements they wanted from applicants such as experience in about 25 different servos, controllers, microcontrollers, and a touch screen tossed in. The second engineer said they would need to change the salary from $65k to $165k to get an applicant with half that experience
I have been an industrial consultant for many years. Not too long ago, a hiring manager for a local company asked me if I knew any experienced industrial electronics technicians looking for work. I have several contacts in California that are looking for opportunities. I asked, “what is the salary?” “$18 an hour,” was the answer. I told them when you willing to offer about $75K plus moving expenses, I might be able to help.
That’s the management that gets cost-savings bonuses by reducing headcount, then jumps to another company for more $. Corporate America. The same pukes following the woke ideology and vax mandates.
Worked for a couple of companies like that. They want to pay on the cheap and ask you to do the work of 3 or four others. And the top brass drive up in luxury cars, wearing top dollars suits and living large.
I learned to read the signs, the job descriptions closely and avoided them.
As inflation spikes and the economy unravels, the PTB go DESPERATELY accelerate their TIMETABLE-to-TYRANNY:
“VACCINE” PASSPORTS => Progressive Pathways to TOTAL CONTROL
[Expanding Concurrent Paths that fully demonstrate “Progressivism”]
1 – Expanding Controls on what you CAN ONLY ACCESS with Passports
2 – Expanding Controls over what you MUST DO to KEEP ACCESS
3 – Expanding Controls over what you CANNOT DO to KEEP ACCESS
… Making Trucker Convoys our NOW-or-NEVER chance for FREEDOM
Apologies for the length of those “progressions”, but the spokesman for the Canadian Truckers set off mental sirens in sharing his border-crossing experience.
He pulled up and offered his paperwork and passport to the crossing official, who responded that his App had already transferred all his information as the vehicle approached.
As he considered that he had NOT been using cell service, he realized that their systems had connected to the Passport App via his truck’s WiFi system.
They can use the same technology to proceed down all 3 pathways above … at warp speed.
In my extended family, this past year (2021) saw huge change. This year (2022), it’s all about holding fast, tightening belts, budgeting, making do without.
Where I live (rural), it’s very hard to get trades people out for any kind of work (electrical, plumbing, repairs). I have to wait weeks. The people I have hired are independent and apparently busy all the time. Very good people, but very much in demand. I believe that independent “blue collar” workers, who are willing to cut bait with the big companies, and willing to charge a fair price, will be busy all the time. There are always opportunities in downturns, in my opinion.
Everyone is busy, busy, in our little farming and ranching community because they are running their own farms and ranches. Buyers are local. Friendships and community matter. No one wears a mask, no one asks The Question, everyone just keeps moving.
I am putting everything I’ve got into improving a self-sufficient farm, so that if I need to lock the gate for a good long time, I can. In my extended family, I’m seeing the same “preparedness” attitude on one side, and on the other side, I see some living in lala land, not realizing what’s about to hit them in the face. Some are beginning to express regret over Xiden, beginning to complain about the lockdowns, some having Vaxx side effects (while not admitting that), and I hope beginning to see what is happening so they are not caught with their pants down.
There’s still time to get out of the cities. I saw an add in our local paper and it just said “family looking for a farm to buy”. That was odd, but it sounds like they’re trying every way they can to get some land with a house on it.
Very much the same here in rural eastern Canada. Canadians appeared mask-compliant in towns but out in the country masking was always just ignored. Rural land prices have risen sharply because people are trying to get out of cities.
I personally know two white males in their mid to late thirties who “were quit” from their jobs and now cannot find a replacement. One is in HR and one is blue collar. One is in Michigan and one is in SC. Job postings that say “hiring immediately” or “hiring urgently” are ignoring applications or interviewing and then declining. Both of these men are very good at their jobs. There’s something more going on here.
IMHO many of those companies who are hiring at this particular time are trying to wait for the less-experienced applicant to walk in and agree to relatively low income and/or fewer benefits. From your description. it sounds like they are being too obvious about it, while likely trying to NOT raise any flags about possible discrimination in hiring practices…
If the available worker pool is large (high unemployment), then it is an employer’s (buyer’s) market.
The converse is also true. If the available labor pool is small (very low unemployment) , then it is a worker’s (seller’s) market.
. . or they are woke and race-shopping . . .
Always very possible these days.
This is happening at low level service jobs. I’ve seen multiple stories in the MSM and alternative media of people who applied for dozens of retail/fast food jobs and never get called – meanwhile the hiring signs are still up in the windows.
“It’s not a single factor leading to this quits rate data. As you can see, there is a snowball effect inside the data. ..”
It may not be a significant number, but some of us are choosing to help our adult children with childcare. None of my adult children or their children are “vaccinated” against Covid but the ever changing rules and school requirements are challenging. It’s much safer and easier to let Grandma and Grandpa help with the kids. If not for my grandkids I would take a part time job to try to keep up with the rapid rise in the cost of living.
Yup. Just had my little grandchildren here. They had a great time on the farm learning about various animals and helping with chores. They are homeschooled by their mom. In the current environment, their parents don’t trust “the system” as far as they can throw it (education or healthcare), and I don’t blame them. It’s exhausting but to me, making sure those little kids are protected and happy is a hill I will die on.
My sentiments exactly. My daughter’s family is still in California. Her husband doesn’t want to leave, even though my daughter is concerned the school will administer the “vaccine” despite her refusal to sign the consent. She did not sign an authorization for covid testing and the school went ahead and swabbed my asymptomatic seven year old granddaughter. She also has 2 pre-schoolers to worry about.
My son moved his family to Texas last year because he refused to mask or “vaccinate” his three children. I already spend part of the year in Texas working and volunteering at a Gold Star camp. I’m in Texas for the 6th time in a year. I love it here in Hill Country.
My husband, like my son-in-law, thinks he needs to stay in Santa Barbara because it is some sort of birthright. While I understand the reluctance to allow an invading horde to force us out of our home, I say let the commies have it. I want out before the iron curtain drops. I know my ancestors would want me to do what is best for the future of our family.
Well, as a born and bred Hill Country girl, welcome and thanks. Prayers for your family wherever they are.
I’m seeing a lot of that here…grandparents taking over from daycare as well as serving as surrogate teachers as school lockdowns come and go. Also seeing a number of elders moving in with their children and grown children moving back in with their parents. Lots of belt tightening going on amongst all age groups. Also seeing people that scoffed at those of us stocking up ahead of shortages that are starting to do the same. I’ve had a number of people asking me what items I’ve stocked up on. I refer them to this site. Friends and family are being more conservative with running their heaters as we try to keep our electricity and heating bills from skyrocketing. I have so many clothes on that I resemble a very plump polar bear, lol! I’m hearing a lot of people advocating with their employers to be allowed to work from home due to rising gas prices (those that have the luxury of being able to work from home….so many jobs are such that you must go to the job site). It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
I’m seeing much of the same. While our adult children are making a lot of money, it isn’t going as far, for the reasons you mention. Our retirement savings certainly isn’t going as far as we expected it to. I can’t imagine how people on a fixed income are surviving if they weren’t above average savers. This is especially true in Blue states like California where we have energy poverty hitting the middle class.
I’m not a prepper but I’ve been mistaken for one on more than one occasion. We keep a full pantry and freezer. While others were emptying the toilet paper, shelves we were handing out goody bags to our family and friends.
I am in quite a pickle.
I am currently unemployed and the few places that make sense to apply to with my Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering Technology do not seem to be very responsive.
Not much point applying to businesses mandating the clot shot as I am determined to not get it. Proctor & Gamble specifically comes to mind as well as most of the healthcare and education systems. Ditto for government work.
Other places I would be surely over qualified with my intentions of going on the path to be a professional engineer.
Oh, and don’t get me started on these staffing agencies low balling hourly wages in my area for IT work that I know will not cover the bills before counting inflation.
Employment in Maine does not appear promising unless you want the clot shot or work in more of the service industries where there are bound to be openings.
Hear that whooshing sound turning up a few more decibels? That is the young talent continuing to leave Maine for better opportunities elsewhere.
Scott Adams (sketchy yeah I know) coined the term “Bright-sizing” – the bright ones leave a company because they can
He might have a good insight on occasion, but one has to keep in mind that he is still quite liberal in the end.
Have you thought about or looked into looking for work in (and possibly moving to) neighboring NH? They appear to be much less fanatical about mandating quackcines.
R F Burns: You may find more attractive opportunities in the south or select towns/areas in the interior west, or, along the northern border. Given your background in EE, and if you are so inclined, you ought to check out companies making electronic gear for the outdoor products industry (hunting, fishing, cycling, off-road, etc.) and firearms industry (for example, optics companies, such as Leupold, Vortex, NightForce). Electronics abound in scopes, rangefinders, fishfinders, GPS devices, game cameras, an so forth). Many of these companies are located in rural areas similar in many respects to Maine (other than the coast) and value independence, self reliance, etc.
Firearms companies also have need for EE people, to support manufacturing. Check out Ruger (New Hampshire), for example.
You’re actually in a fortunate position. Before you make a destructive decision (i.e. taking a job you’re overqualified for), all you have to do is leave. There are opportunities in most of the free states that are not available in the communist states. If you’re in Maine, go south young man.
I don’t believe that any of this was by accident. These are all intentional actions by the Marxists/Communists currently in control of the administration to destroy the middle class – the great enemy of Communism. It is ending up having the opposite effect, as seen by the Canadian Truck Convoy and others going on all over the world. It’s called The Great Awakening and is working as planned…
Civilizations must be ended.
Globalism requires full unity. Nationalism is a Terrorist to Globalism.
America has proven to be a Globalist Terrorist.
Globalism is Terrorism to nations and the people who comprise them.
They are attacking the roots of the family. They want us all enslaved, just as the British did.
The democrats are an extension of the British family…. not by blood, but their cohorts are by blood.
They want chaos, because without chaos people would thrive, especially under Presidents like Trump.
Notice how Biden attacks Ukraine, next thing you know Boris Johnson is there, that is not a coincidence….
It is all planned by the Royal family…. the chaos, here and in Ukraine, etc. Notice how F*ck Trudeau repeats the Obama talking points…. it is not a coincidence. They are all in this together…. to bring down freedom loving people across the globe.
Are we allowed to post that they we have never seen so many non-English speaking hispanic workers at service businesses and in the building trades since, well, ever?
Sure. Given that there were over 2M illegals willfully brought into the country last year** (although the same liars claimed they stopped 2M illegals as well ) by the Obozo-Biden Administration, it’s always helpful in these unemployment discussions to note areas where obvious spikes in local alien populations have recently occurred.
** https://www.westernjournal.com/number-new-illegals-21-greater-populations-11-states/
Watch what happens when companies finally start downsizing big time. You can bet all those millions of foreign workers on work visas will probably be retained while citizens are fired.
In those cases where the company goes bust, you can also bet those foreign workers won’t leave. They’ll stay and collect unemployment and then welfare.
And of course, as US workers are laid off, there will be no discussion of halting further importing of foreign workers. That’s just not who we are.
Many retail employers were giving bonuses to hire, and bonuses to stay on in last quarter of 2021; through the holidays. In Northern Virginia there are still many job openings in retail. However, most are part time. Pay starts $15 to $17 per hour; but no benefits but accrued PTO time; and you must be available to work usually from 4-6am until 10pm to midhight; 7 days per week. There are 3 shifts; maybe 4 : early, open, mid, closing. Most shifts will be 5 to 8 hours; totaling less than 30 hours per week.
And you would starve to death on 15 dollars an hour in NOVA. That would be difficult even with a bunch of roommates.
Hershey’s has just told their employees no jab, no job. Apparently, they are also asking those who are now or will be unemployed to sign a 9 page document (in order to receive their severance) that they will not speak out, nor will they sue. I pray there will be no signatures forthcoming.
Something tells me the head office boys are chewing their nails.
Does anyone else feel like a good old fashion boycott?
Hershey’s phone: 800-468-1714
Hat tip Treehouse commenter Slowcobra.
hiding the loss of profits by using COVID.
—–
its simple, the Governor in their state or legislators can say no vaccine for job requirement.
Hershey must be in a pathetic state
WhiteBoard: Pennsyvlania. Need I say more?
full Republican majority State Legislators right? pathetic they dont vote against forced flu shots. i guess the PA Governor would veto it?
And will be getting even more so, I think, WB.
My husband job jumped in December for a 50% pay raise. We live in a rural area and he works from home in high tech. We own our home and car free and clear.
We are well stocked on food and supplies and have recently cut back our restaurant eating.
We left California a year ago and moved to a very red county in a very blue state on the east coast so that we could be closer to our grandchildren.
We are essentially the same. Car, home, no debt, and hunkering down like no one’s business. We are at an age where we can’t afford to lose any more ground than we’ve lost to the corrupt and incompetent Keynesian Fed.
already there .. no more hersheys.
👍!!
And no herseys for me then.
How many workers quit due to vaccine injury due to mandated vaccines? (Get jabbed or lose your job)
info after 6% GDP.
I’m seeing quite a few signs saying, “Now hiring age 16+” For a long time, some of the better entry level jobs didn’t want the teenagers. Now, they seem to be begging for them. And I am seeing more teens in the grocery stores.
But my oldest child (25 years of age) is in a truly remarkable situation. She works for one of the Big 4 and has in-house recruiters and other headhunters calling her almost every day based on her linkedin profile. One very large corporation seemed particularly attractive to her and she’s already had 2 interviews with them. She had thought moving in house would be less money, but she was willing to make the move for a less stressful situation. She was surprised to discover from the person who recruited her that it will be at least a lateral move and most likely a raise. This week she has what I believe will be the final interview – it’s all day. She’s meeting with six different units, all of whom could use her skills. At that point, whoever likes her will make her specific offers. She won’t know until the interviews what job titles she’s actually applying for. She’s a smart, hardworking kid and I will not be surprised if she comes out of the interview day with 5 or 6 job offers.
All that to say, I’m not seeing the job market slowing down yet. But I went to the Walmart in King of Prussia today and empty shelves were everywhere. I feel hiring has to slow down soon simply because who needs employees when there’s no product to put on the shelves?
Let’s go Brandon!
While costs at the big box grocery stores in Newport, Oregon have ben relatively stable, sale shopping on meats and produce is getting very busy.
An example is of all thing, frozen pizzas. Fred Meyer had Frescetta pizza on sale for $3.77 on their digital coupon.
The freezer had all of 10 pizzas in just three varieties available.
Safeway had their signature brand whole fryers on sale for 97 cents. A 4 1/2 pound fryer was $10.48 before the discount.
Surprise there was they had a full cooler. So even at that low price some are not buying.
We’ve stocked up as best we can, our big freezer and the ones in our spare fridges are packed.
We’re buying some canned goods and staples as we find them on sale.
As for work. I finally gave up on finding a job to match my skillsets here. Decided to file for social security and have accepted an offer to drive school bus. $17.00 per hour, signing bonus of $4,550 after I get my class B CDL. Benefits including a 401K. My supervisor told me they are short 26 bus drivers. He, along with anybody else in the office is driving to fill the gap. What may be hurting them is that they train you on their time and expense for the class A and B CDL, then folks do the bare minimum time to collect the signing bonus then jump ship as soon as they can to a trucking company. Not going to do that myself.. At 64 I just don’t much care to do commercial hauling. Even if it were just local
LTL.
The majority of available jobs are fast food, Walmart, hotel/motel Safeway and Fred Meyers. Some skilled jobs are available at the Georgia pacific plant in Toledo. The casino up in Lincoln City is desperate (losing employees due to a continued demand that employees be vaxxed or pay for their own testing), same with the Siletz Tribal jobs on the rez.
A lot of coastal employers are still offering around $15 per hour (some with benefits, some not) to start in the service sector jobs. Skill set/managerial are more in line with larger city areas.
The wife and I still don’t see how some people are making it without work. The UI subsidies are gone.
I liked Juanita Broadside tweet. She said it was February 1, and she was going to Walmart to get her groceries out of of layaway.
Broaddrick…not broadside… Spellcheck is ignorant.
Was only yesterday that someone posted an article from politico a report posted right here on the TCTH yesterday referring to the “historic job growth” ushered in by the junta. My response was “depends on the meaning of “historic” “job” and “growth”. Turns out I was way more prescient than I thought.
As an employer, 2020 and half of 2021 were a nightmare. I ran ad after ad after ad in south Florida, a market of over 6 million people. Sometimes I would get as few as five, yes…five responses. This for a job that averages $70,000.
Around October 2021, I ran the same ads and got hundreds of responses. After sorting through everything I ended up with two really good employees that are doing very well.
Two weeks ago, I ran the same ad in Jacksonville. I only got about a dozen responses, but found three that I liked. I hired two….the jury is still out on them.
The common denominator is that all four of these have been in their 40’s. Still a generation that understands the rewards that come from hard work. Mostly family men with a wife and children to support.
Doesn’t really seem to match the dynamics bought about by Obama, but I truly believe that my real employment service is located in the heavens. He has always provided regardless of market conditions.
Y0ur $70,000 job after taxes is only like $40,000 for a single person… ( people with kids get most of their money back on taxes, so you can’t really say some don’t want to work, most do, they just don’t want Biden robbing them blind on the tax end.) before their expenses. That is not much money, especially when housing is record high, Vehicles are record, high, labor costs, material, etc…. all record highs. Honestly…. $140,000 is the old $70,000. Just like $15, is the old $7
Sam, that depends on who we’re talking about. This is a blue collar job. Most of my people stay with me for years because they can never make this kind of money anywhere else. This comes out to an average of $34 an hour. That is still very good money for many. It’s a great job with many perks that they won’t find driving a fork lift or flipping burgers.
$34 before, or after their taxes….. that is a HUGE difference in Liquidity/ financial stability.
Amen!
Here in SE Louisiana people who just want to sit and watch the cars go by still get paid by gov to do so. I know more than one small business that is closing due to lack of people willing to work. They show up just for signatures to verify they are seeking employment but find excuses to turn down the work. These jobs paid 15 + dollars for people who have zero skills. The gov takes care of this sector with handouts.
Hunger is the best stimulant.
Sundance: RE “Excess inventories, as noted in the GDP data, seem to indicate that wholesalers and mid-sized businesses are started to see contractions in sales or demand.”
The excess inventories are exacerbated by round after round of “over-ordering” to overcome the bouts of “supply chain disruptions” that created persistent out-of-stock conditions followed by accumulating back-orders as delivery dates were repeatedly delayed and orders from smaller customers were cancelled to accommodate demands from larger core customers who paid extra or could not be denied.
Now, just as inflation is suppressing demand, those delayed, backordered and over-ordered shipments are inundating customers with unneeded inventory, which will lead to YUGE drops in demand back up through each stage of the supply chain!
2020 Election was Stolen.
Biggest Fraud I Ever Saw.
There are a ton of jobs still open in my area. For fun, I threw a hastily put together, not very detailed application out there and got hit up by five different places. I’m probably going to pick up a part-time from home job to fill some time on the rainy days and sleepless nights. Never hurts right?
In my mind I keep going back to what Sundance talked about in 2019, relative to election year 2020. Something big was going to happen, from Xi or proxy (NK Fat Boy) to disrupt the election because something had to be done to remove Trump from the scene.
I sense it again this year. One or more cataclysmic events are coming.
The covid narrative is being exposed, the vaccine too and, as a result losing steam.
The election fraud continues to be investigated though we don’t know if any state will actually investigate, indict, prosecute, etc.
Inflation is made by policy. The Fed can’t really raise interest rates because of the debt.
The market is overvalued.
The economy is sputtering, at best.
Energy and food chain are both also casualties of policy and shortages are predicted to grow well into the future. AND we’re in an election year where the GOP (although I don’t trust any of them) could, in a fair election, take commanding majorities.
The LIES they have told us about all of the above are held together by bubblegum.
So the question is, what will the regime do to prevent everything from resulting in a shift in power, even uniparty power? Are they MAD enough to risk war with Russia? China? Use that to declare martial law? Will they create a false flag event of domestic terrorism and use that to declare martial law? Will the food supply chain collapse? Energy or the grid? Will they release another (more) deadly virus as Gates hinted we should all prepare for? Will the economy CRASH HARD? We know they can and will steal the election if they have to, that’s easy. Something big is coming this year,
110%
Question is how they’ll sequence, cascade and compound for effect.
Levi, it does feel like something is going to happen.
After the big shut down of St. Patrick’s Day, 2019, we have such great faith in God.
Our 4 restaurants and 150 employees were all brought to a complete stand-still.
It turns out that we always had just enough to meet the immediate needs for our bills and payroll.
Looking back only gives me a greater appreciation for God having us in His hands.
It is our Faith that always pushes us forward and pulls us through.
God’s grace is so deserving of our praise and gratefulness.
All of the above.
Retired Magistrate here: We live in Delaware County, Ohio in a township which has the second highest per capita income in the State of Ohio.
We went out to lunch today (Taco Bell in the car so we could watch the trucks go by) and were pleasantly surprised to see the number of trucks going by appears about the same. Fast food restaurants, such as Wendy’s and Taco Bell, are paying between $13 and $17 per hour and they still can’t get the help they need. The Kroger store we go to is fairly well stocked because it is close to the distribution center. The down side is that a lot of people are still wearing masks and I suppose some of them will be wearing masks until the day they die.
Many establishments now have removed the mandated masks signs and replaced them with “strongly recommended” which of course I ignore because the masks are useless.
Our 65 year old house is paid for; not fancy, but everything works. We purchase our clothes at Goodwill (got a almost new London Fog lined raincoat for $5.75) and I use coupons for food. My car is 11 years old but it runs fine and is built like a tank to get up and down our steep and winding driveway.
We are in our 70’s, have health problems, but are living our lives to the fullest extent just like GOD intended.
God Bless you both.
Much appreciated report from the front lines!
Marcia, you are an inspiration!!
Rock on!
Small town western NC: We have seen plenty of entry level jobs being advertised but medical and professional jobs being lost because of vaccine mandates are not being rehired. Most nursing facilities are having recurring outbreaks of the virus among the fully vaccinate staff and residents. Some vaccinated staff members get a new case withing 3 weeks of boosters. Stores have shortages in many areas that Sundance has pointed out. Today I see that sales of $12-$29 beef have resulted in large amounts of unsold product that still is not selling at half price. Produce prices are also stopping sales especially of poor quality produce that is near or out of date. Asparagus, blueberries, beans and squash look as if the are all dried up or partially rotten. Prices are double of 2 months ago. Loss leader of meat product by local markets at double of prices 3 months ago sell out in one day of the ad. Pasta is almost non existent. That ok since homemade is better.
Do you think the “vaccinated staff members who get a new case withing 3 weeks of boosters” will notice the “coincidence”?
Do you think the food supply chains are now scraping the bottom of their barrels?
Literally every person I know who was vaccinated has had severe sickness, or health problems arise after the shots.
When are people going to wake the F*CK up???
More evidence that red areas are being targeted. I live in blue NY (in a purple county that is currently red) and we have no shortages of any of the important stuff. Prices are up, but moderately and there are no quality issues with produce aside from the usual winter issues. Haven’t seen anything double in price. Pasta is everywhere. What’s happening in your area is not an accident.
Good. I hope all the Democrats, Biden voters, and vaxx lovers find they can’t get food, fuel, medical care, etc.
These people thought it was cool to go home for 18 months+ and get paid while the retail workers, truckers, linemen, hospital janitors, etc. kept working for a lot less money than the Covidiots “working” from home.
These same a-holes then thought they could tell these workers to wear masks, jab cancer sticks up their noses, and take a deadly gene therapy for the privilege of stocking food shelves, changing old people’s diapers, and driving across states that had closed off food and bathrooms to them while earning often middle wage and no benefits.
Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn.
Bottom line: JoeBama administration paid workers not to work.
Sundance, here’s an interesting tidbit to throw into your calculations:
Federal agencies received approval to fill EVERY job vacancy- even positions that have been empty for decades (still on the books but basically obsolete due to re-orgs, funding, etc.). The tree-hugger agency went whole hog until the injunction shut them down because they jumped the gun and re-wrote PDs (position descriptions) to include vax requirements. Other agencies didn’t go that far and are ramping up hiring. Check out usajobs numbers. This info was relayed in meetings but shouldn’t be difficult to verify open source.
What do you bet it has as much to do with inflating Xiden’s job numbers as it does with people quitting/retiring/on long-term medical/dead from vax’s?
As small business owners, we have already trimmed our employee numbers through attrition. As people left, we just didn’t fill their slots. The people left are filling more roles, and we’ve had to compensate them for the increased responsibilities.
We have definitely seen a downturn for us personally. So cutting costs is a must, but we have to take care of our staff as well.
Six months ago almost every business had hiring signs out. Today, hardly a one. Our favorite restaurant has reduced their open days to Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings only.
Part of this is seasonal, as we are a lake resort area, and hopefully businesses will pick up come summer. But our business is not affected by the seasons, and it’s a concern.
Our area was fairly well protected against covid business closures in ’20/’21, since we never had mandates. A few restaurants closed, but on the whole we were blessed.
Today’s a different story. Like SD mentions, people aren’t spending like they were, and it’s affecting bottom lines and lives.
The Economic Sector Reports still do not lie, even on major upswing days in markets as well as employment and inflation spew by the government talking heads.
Look at the sub-sector reports for GDP producing products …they are still trend RED (Down), even on the major upswing days..
Those sectors are the ones with skilled labor jobs with growth potential. That matches the drop in employment numbers for Professional and Skilled positions.
There is no way for the economy to keep going….. Biden& Crooks…. have been sucking the dollars out of our pockets since he stole the WH. Funneling them to EXXON/ Rockefeller family AND HIS DONORS, Healthcare, exeCs, Unions… TEACHERS, ETC. What is gonna replace those dollars? There is no replacement.
How obvious. Piglosi pretending to criticize China, and the CCP mouthpiece replying right on time, and in character. “Bigly.” Just more communist theater. Whatever “AmericaCOMPETES” is, it surely has more to do with communism and climate change than American manufacturing. These people think everyone is stupid.
Here’s one of those 4.3million (forced by f’kin employer’s mandated VAX or else you’re terminated f’kery into earl retirement)
LET’S GO BRANDON
I spent about half of last year unemployed because I refused to take the clot shot. Such is life in a major American city these days. A private lab on the north side of town finally hired me and it’s been a good deal so far. It has a better culture, better pay, and greater potential for career development. I feel like I really lucked-out with this job. All the condescension and humiliation from the Branch Covidians helped to steer me to my current employer, so I’m happy that it worked out and I hope the cultists hear about my success and seethe over it. But not too much – the seething might give them heart attacks after all those boosters.
I wonder how many other moms of teenagers out there have been telling their kids, “get a job!” but not pushing it very hard when all the places to work either require my kids to be masked or are far enough away I’d have to drive them there and then back. There’s a place I would let them bike to (long bike ride) in normal times, but not now with homeless encampments along the way.