256k jobs added in December, yet anecdotal experience tells me this is the roughest tech job market since the great recession. Why the disconnect?

likesmarthelpfulfunny
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I saw some business writers a while back saying we're experiencing a white-collar recession. That seems about right, the general economic numbers are pretty good, and have been for the past few years. But a lot of companies, especially tech companies, seem wary of doing much hiring. I guess everyone was hoping and assuming things would pick up in the new year, but now with all the talk of tariffs and other upcoming economic chaos, that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

likehelpful

Well sure the difference in salary between blue collar and white collar is about $65-100k rightfully so.

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The disconnect is that the overall market can be performing well even if one sector is performing badly. Not every industry experiences the same cycles at the same time. If you were looking for healthcare jobs, you would think the jobs market was good.

likehelpfulsmart
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"Full-Time" jobs have declined by at minimum 1 million over the last 2+ years. There has been a hollowing out of the middle class and there are extremely specific roles and essentially jobs that anyone can do left. New graduates are having the hardest time since 2008. The gig economy will make poverty more widespread. You can live in your car and deliver packages all week and still be homeless. Watch videos on YouTube of the gig life and tell me how this ends well.

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Some people believe anything the govt tells them.

likefunny

Imagine if you took a minute to look at the actual report...

Healthcare - 46k
Retail - 43k
Gov - 33k
Soc ast - 23k
Hospitality - 43k

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

likesmart

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Imagine all the people
Livin' for today
Ah

White collar fancy privileged jobs that we work are not the reality for most Americans. The job sector is great. Just not for our small niche

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I had just seen a banner on a new site about how December exceeded growth expectations, or something to that. If the expectation was zero though, then anything would look good. The big picture usually isn’t given when those numbers are thrown around, still feels and is rough to get a job.

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Tech job hunting is as tough as it was in the drought of 2008. My company just let two IT techs go (including myself), so the job market is being flooded with super talent.
When they say # of jobs, are they only counting the number of IT RECRUITER jobs given to offshore folk???

funnylike

Lol you are not super talent. You are just one of the average folks added to the millions in the pool. Welcome to the party. 🥳

numbers are being fudged to make outlook better than necessary. there is a current negative pressure on wages from all companies.

hooray! more work and more efficiencies for LESS pay! thanks capitalism !

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Health Care: Added 46,000 jobs, with notable gains in home health care services (+15,000), nursing and residential care facilities (+14,000), and hospitals (+12,000).

Retail Trade: Gained 43,000 jobs, recovering from a loss of 29,000 in November. Increases were seen in clothing and accessories retailers (+23,000), general merchandise retailers (+13,000), and health and personal care retailers (+7,000).

Government: Employment continued to trend up with an addition of 33,000 jobs, particularly in state government (+10,000).

govt jobs are total bs to shore up the biden harris image.

likefunny

The overall economy may be doing okay but the tech sector certainly isn’t. That’s because the tech sector is heavily dependent on free/cheap cash. In other words, interest rates for borrowing money need to be low in order for them to even consider hiring. That is still not yet the case and probably won’t be for some time.

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It's the same thing different day. H1B visa workers cheaper, work off the clock, no family full time dedication.

Ghost jobs...
58 billion resumes per tech opening, (not sure if foreign agents have weaponized this yet)

funny

Farming and retail and blue collar and restaurant jobs sure. They are not factoring in the tech jobs.

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These job report numbers are always "non-farm payrolls" - agriculture is the largest seasonal sector.

likehelpful

Because the people you vote for love to gaslight you.

funny

Not all jobs are tech.

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Unemployment peaked at 10% for the great recession. Your statement is silly.

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I'm seeing a lot of jobs that I am well qualified for, some of them right up my alley, but they sit on the boards forever, not actually hiring.

Assuming I apply, and there must be other people that fit the role as well, why are they sitting there so long?

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They're not real. They exist to make it appear that the company is doing well, even if they aren't. Or, they are on a hiring freeze, but still collecting resumes to have "just in case." It's a facade to keep the work slaves slaving and the investors happy that the company appears to be "growing". (per my Talent Acquisition spouse). Personally, I think the floor is about to drop out from under Tech in the next two quarters. We shall see.

helpful

Are those 256k alleged jobs even in the U.S.? Entire teams are moving abroad.

funny

The job market is tough for tech as there was a lot of over hiring and now a lot of experienced talent is job hunting. The reality is people are going to get pushed into other sectors for a while where there is hiring demand and some will need to take a pay cut

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Seasonal jobs make up these numbers too.

"Seasonally adjusted" like the 1 million jobs that the Biden administration lied about in 2023 which were removed from the overall numbers?

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Easy, AI bruh

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