Article 43
Dealing with Layoff
Friday, April 14, 2023
H1-B Abuse 2023
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Abuse CAN ONLY take place if enough people are SILENT about it, which is to say that those who are silent about the abuse are complicit in it. EVIL can only PLAY ITSELF OUT without restraint when good people see what is happening and do nothing. Staying silent in the PRESENCE OF ABUSE, though seemingly a passive role, is to unwittingly play an active role enabling our own victimization.
- Paul Levy
Now that the Covid scare is OFFICIALLY OVER in the U.S. next month, I’m guessing travel restrictions are getting lifted everywhere else, and the corporatists will get back to their usual ways of screwing American workers with the blessings of the politicians in their pockets.
I’ve been reading stuff about H1-B abuse for almost 20 years, but nothing changes.
For instance, IN 2005:
THIS REPORT examines the wage data in Labor Department records for Fiscal Year 2004. It compares wages in approved Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) for H-1B workers in computer programming occupations to wage levels of U.S. workers in the same occupation and location. The analysis demonstrates that, despite the H-1B prevailing-wage requirement, actual pay rates reported by employers of H-1B workers were significantly lower than those of American workers. These findings show that the implementation of the prevailing-wage requirement in the H-1B program does not ensure that H-1B workers are paid comparably to U.S. workers. Moreover, the data suggest that, rather than helping employers meet labor shortages or bring in workers with needed skills, as is often claimed by program users, the H-1B program is instead more often used by employers to import cheaper labor.
In 2007, a telling video showing how corporate America gets around hiring natives was POSTED ON YOUTUBE:
Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1B workers. See what Bush and Congress really mean by a “shortage of skilled U.S. workers.” Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies are running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week… “Our goal is not to find a qualified U.S. worker,” the attorney at the podium said in the video. “That, in a sense, sounds funny but that is what we are trying to do here.”
Then there’s the BIGGEST KICK IN THE FACE to the American tech worker:
The OPTIONAL PRACTICAL TRAINING (OPT) program, in which the AMERICAN GOVERNMENT pays American employers to discriminate against American workers has grown rapidly in recent years, and during FY 2017 it used nearly $2 billion swiped from trust funds for the elderly to favor 240,000 alien college grads over an equal number of U.S.-resident grads.
It is hard to believe, but true; employers of FOREIGN STUDENTS who have a degree from a U.S. institution are given an 8.25 percent tax break if they hire an alien, rather than a U.S. college grad with the same skills, and paid at the same salary, as we described in some detail in a recent posting.
- Big Media Hides Truth On Immigration II, 2019
I’m nearly convinced there’s no redemption for the PARASITES that run the corporations that America helped get rich, and the politicians that at best are cowards to corporate control, at worst - in bed with them.
I hope the new generation is smarter than mine, because sometimes I think the people that RUN AMERICA, look down on it’s people at best, or WANT US TO SUFFER at worst.
Which BRINGS UP the SIGN on the gate of Auschwitcz that says “Work Will Set You Free”.
To an extent, it is demonstrable that the Nazi reign of terror was financed and engineered by America’s elites, the Bush, Harriman, Rockefeller, Farish and Walker families partnered with Hitler and IG Farben. Auschwitz was one of their efforts and what began as eugenics became mass murder under Hitler only to reappear as Google and Facebook decades later. In between, foundations rewrote history, recreated a “dumbed down” education system and society.
Pretty soon ROBOTS ARE GOING TO DO A LOT MORE WORK that people used to do.
Then what?
If political corruption and crony capitalism continue - we’re doomed. The multinationals will replace most of us with robots, the one percent will take all the profits, and poverty will grow faster than ever for the rest of us.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Imagine if after getting a bunch of robots on the production floor, employers realize they only need half of us.
Instead of firing 50% of their workforce, they cut the hours of all their workers in half, while keeping their salary and jobs. They still get their profits, but the rest of society gets 20 more hours leisure time.
This can happen if SINS OF EXCESS can be LIFTED from our hearts, starting with the rich, influential people who own and run the world - clinging to lusts for greed, power and control.
I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon. Not in the U.S. anyway.
A revolution of the working class is doable.
There is one last hope for the United States. It DOES NOT LIE in the ballot box. It lies in the union organizing and strikes by workers
Most of these gains made in the 1960s have been rolled back under the onslaught of neoliberalism, deregulation, and a corrupt campaign finance system, legalized by court rulings such as Citizens United, which allow the rich and corporations to bankroll elections to select political leaders and impose legislation. The modern incarnation of 19th-century robber barons, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, each worth some $200 billion, summon us to our radical roots.
Class struggle defines most of human history. Marx got this right. It is not a new story. The rich, throughout history, have found ways to subjugate and re-subjugate the masses. And the masses, throughout history, have cyclically awoken to throw off their chains.
Until then - exploitation of workers goes on.
Today’s picture of the week of an Amazon FACTORY IN MEXICO helps drive THE OTHER POINT of worker exploitation - outsourcing, offshoring, and relocating to where the cheapest labor is.
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Tech and outsourcing companies continue to exploit the H-1B visa program at a time of mass layoffs: The top 30 H-1B employers hired 34,000 new H-1B workers in 2022 and laid off at least 85,000 workers in 2022 and early 2023
By Daniel Costa and Ron Hira
Economic Policy Institute
April 11, 2023
Key takeaways:
· The H-1B visa program was created to fill labor shortages in professional fields and could be a valuable temporary work visa program, but new data show it is being subverted by employers that are not facing labor shortages and by outsourcing firms.
· H-1B use is overly concentrated among a small number of employers. In 2022, the top 30 H-1B employers hired more than 34,000 new H-1B workers, accounting for 40% of the total annual cap of 85,000.
· The top 30 companies also laid off, or will imminently lay off, at least 85,000 workers in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
· Thirteen of the top 30 H-1B employers were outsourcing firms that underpay migrant workers and offshore U.S. jobs to countries where labor costs are much lower.
· Laid-off H-1B workers, who likely number in the thousands, must find a new employer to sponsor their visa within 60 days after their layoff or they may be forced to leave the United States.
· President Biden should use executive authority to fix the H-1B program and implement new rules that raise wages for migrant workers and prevent outsourcing companies from exploiting the H-1B program.
The H-1B PROGRAM is the largest U.S. temporary work visa program, with a total of approximately 600,000 workers employed by 50,000 employers. The program’s intent is to allow employers to fill labor shortages for jobs that require a college degree, by providing work authorization for migrant workers in fields like accounting, journalism, health and medical, and teaching. Most H-1B workers, however, are employed in occupations like computer systems analysis and software development.
Visas for new workers are capped at 85,000 per year, but many employers are exempt from that annual cap, including universities and their affiliated nonprofit entities, nonprofit research organizations, and government research organizations. Approximately 130,000 TEMPORARY MIGRANT WORKERS will receive new H-1B visas each fiscal year to begin new employment for capped and cap-exempt employers, with another 300,000 RECEIVING RENEWALS (which are not subject to the cap). Every April 1, the government decides, via lottery, which employers will receive the 85,000 new visas subject to the cap.
The H-1B program has many flaws that have become especially evident in light of recent mass layoffs in the tech sector. Instead of being used to fill genuine labor shortages in skilled occupations without negatively impacting U.S. workers’ wages and working conditions, the latest data show that the H-1Bs biggest users are companies that have laid off tens of thousands of workers in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. The rest of the companies that dominate the program have an outsourcing business model that exploits the program by underpaying skilled migrant workers and offshoring U.S. jobs. President Biden can and should implement regulations and policy guidance to prevent misuse of the program, stop the exploitation of college-educated migrant workers, and ensure the program is consistent with congressional intent.
The top 30 H-1B employers hired more than 34,000 new H-1B workers in 2022 and laid off 85,000 employees
The H-1B program was created with the intent to attract skilled and talented workers to the United States to fill labor shortages in professional fieldsa sensible goal that has widespread support. But its implementation has been bungled by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Homeland Security. Since employers AREN’T REQUIRED TO TEST the U.S. labor market to see if any workers are available before hiring an H-1B worker or PAY THEIR H1-B WORKERS A FAIR WAGE, employers have exploited the program. Rather than turning to the H-1B program as a last resort when U.S. workers cannot be found, most employers hire H-1B workers because they can be underpaid and are de facto indentured to the employer. This is evidenced by government data showing that technology companies continue to hire H-1B workers in large numbers while significantly reducing the sizes of their workforces.
TABLE 1 at the end of this post illustrates this by showing the top 30 H-1B employers that are subject to the annual cap according to the number of approved petitions for initial employment (i.e., for hiring new H-1B workers, not extensions for existing H-1B workers) for fiscal year 2022. In 2022, 48,000 EMPLOYERS REGISTERED with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in hopes of hiring at least one H-1B worker, and nearly 30,000 employers ultimately hired at least one new H-1B worker. However, visa use is and has been highly concentrated among a small number of employers: The top 30 H-1B employers - representing 0.001% of employers that hired a new H-1B worker - hired more than 34,000 new H-1B workers, accounting for 40% of the new H-1B visas available under the annual limit for cap-subject companies.
Stanford University ranked 29th in fiscal year 2022 according to the number of H-1B petitions approved for new H-1B workers but was excluded from Table 1 because, as a university, it is exempt from the 85,000 annual cap. Stanford was the only cap-exempt employer in the top 30.
We then looked to see how many of the top 30 H-1B employers had announced layoffs of their workers in the United States, and how many of those workers were laid off in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. To compile these data, we referred to LAYOFFS FYI, an open source website tracking tech industry layoffs from publicly available news reports. (LAYOFFS FYI has been WIDELY CITED BY THE MEDIA, due to the fact that the federal government does not track layoffs with specificity in terms of individual firms.) For firms on the list that did not appear in LAYOFFS FYI, we did basic internet searches for news articles and included the citations in the source section of Table 1. Because of the limited nature of available data on layoffs by employer, as well as the LAYOFFS FYI website and our searches, the number of layoffs reported in Table 1 should be considered a minimum of layoffs at the top 30 H-1B employers.
As Table 1 shows, 13 of the top 30 H-1B employers announced layoffs in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. The layoffs at those companies totaled nearly 85,000, the same number as the H-1B annual numerical limit for cap-subject employers.
Amazon was at the top of the list in terms of both new H-1B workers and layoffs. Amazon hired 6,400 new H-1B workers in 2022, and HIRED THE MOST NEW H1-B WORKERS in 2021 as well, when it hired nearly 6,200 workers. Amazon has either recently laid off or plans to lay off 27,150 of its employees, more than twice the number of H-1B workers it hired in 2021 and 2022 combined.
Google and Meta (the latter formerly named Facebook) are both long-time top H-1B employers, together hiring over 3,100 new H-1B workers last year. Meta employs so many H-1B workers that for years it has declared itself an “H-1B dependent” firm in GOVERNMENT FILINGS because more than 15% of Meta’s total U.S. workforce is made up of H-1B workers. Together, Google and Meta laid off 33,000 employees, almost 11 times the number of new H-1B workers they hired in 2022. For more than a decade, top Google and Meta executives have been at the forefront of industry’s public calls for large increases in the H-1B cap, with Meta CREATING A LOBBYING GROUP, FWD.US, almost exclusively to push for more visas.
Four other leading tech companies on the list have announced mass layoffs. Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, and Cisco are the 13th-, 15th-, 18th-, and 28th-largest H-1B employers, respectively. Microsoft founder Bill Gates himself has testified before the U.S. Congress to decry the cap on H-1B visas, ARGUING for raising the cap significantly, even in the midst of the Great Recession in 2008. Together, these firms hired 2,735 new H-1B workers in 2022, but collectively they laid off close to 14,900 employees, nearly five and a half times the number of H-1B workers they hired.
Two nontech firms in the top 30 also announced significant layoffs: Goldman Sachs - the worlds second-largest investment bank which operates a services subsidiary - and McKinsey & Company - the well-known management consulting firm. Together, the two hired just over 1,000 new H-1B workers while laying off 5,200 employees.
Mass tech layoffs have left migrant workers vulnerable
It is important to note that no information source is available that reveals whether laid-off employees were migrant workers on an H-1B or other temporary visa, or if they were permanent residents, or U.S. citizens. We do know anecdotally - thanks to various NEWS REPORTS - that many H-1B workers were dismissed as part of recent layoffs, including AT LEAST 300 AT META.
Because H-1B visas are tied to a specific employer, H-1B workers are in a precarious position if they are terminated. If they want to remain in the United States, they must find a new employer to sponsor their visa within 60 days - no easy task during a time of mass layoffs in the tech industry.
This is especially heartbreaking considering many H-1B workers have deep ties to the United States and their local communities. Many are married and have children who are U.S.-born, and own homes. This is to be expected, given that H-1B visas are valid for up to six years, and many workers remain in H-1B status well beyond that because their visas can be extended for longer if they are waiting for a permanent immigrant visa to become available while they remain in the green card BACKLOG. If a laid-off H-1B worker canҒt find a new job within the time allotted or adjust to another valid immigration status, they will have to leave the country, along with any family members who are also on a temporary visa.
While all H-1B workers have little power to bargain with employers BECAUSE OF THEIR TEMPORARY VISA STATUS, laid-off workers are in an extraordinarily weak bargaining position. With the 60-day clock ticking and massive layoffs in their industry sectors and occupations, they will feel pressure to accept a job offer that pays substandard wages and offers poor working conditions just to remain in the country.
The H-1B workers who remain employed face other substantial pressures. For those workers, the very real threat of a future layoff will make them less likely to complain about longer hours, cuts to benefits and pay, and other forms of workplace exploitation - which in turn will degrade labor standards for all similarly situated workers. And their prospects for becoming permanent residents have now diminished greatly, because some tech companies like Google have decided to PAUSE THEIR EFFORTS TO OBTAIN GREEN CARDS for their H-1B workers in light of recent layoffs.
Outsourcing companies were again the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa in 2022
In addition to employers exploiting the H-1B program while laying off tens of thousands of employees, outsourcing firms once again dominated the H-1B visa program in 2022, even among the top 30 H-1B employers. For more than 15 years, leading lawmakers from both parties have CRITICIZED outsourcing firms’ exploitation of H-1B and OFFERED BIPARTISAN FIXES, yet the abuse continues unabated. Thirteen of the top 30 H-1B employers were outsourcing firms, and they were issued a total of 17,534 visas for new H-1B workers (21% of the total annual cap).
AS WE DISCUSSED IN DEPTH THIS YEAR, this continues to be problematic because outsourcing companies - which have a fissured business model, do not make a product, and are STAFFING FIRMS THAT RESELL LABOR TO OTHER FIRMS - have been associated with paying their H-1B workers the LOWEST WAGES permitted by law, much lower than the U.S. market rate. Wages account for the vast majority of information technology service firms operating costs, but the outsourcing firm business model is viable only if it cuts the customers’ labor costs substantially while also earning profits for its shareholders. After cutting costs in the United States by using the H-1B visa, the outsourcers realize further cost savings and profits by SHIPPING AS MANY OF THE U.S. JOBS AND TASKS AS POSSIBLE to their OVERSEAS OPERATIONS where wages for tech workers are substantially lower.
In addition, we recently published evidence that at least one outsourcing firm is LIKELY STEALING TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars in wages from its H-1B employees, something we hope the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will investigate. It is also notable that one of the major outsourcing firms was hit with the LARGEST EVER CIVIL FINE FOR A VIOLATION OF U.S. VISA LAWS.
And finally, among the top outsourcing firms, only one - IBM - announced layoffs, with 3,900 workers laid off after hiring 1,239 new H-1B workers. Over the years, however, there have been countless shocking revelations in the press about HOW OUTSOURCING COMPANIES have used the H-1B program to help U.S. companies subvert the law to lay off hundreds of their well-paid employees at a time. U.S. companies do this by contracting with major outsourcing firms like Infosys (#2 on the top 30), Tata (#3), Cognizant (#4), and HCL (#7) - and replacing their employees with H-1B workers paid TENS OF THOUSANDS LESS. Some of the documented cases were with clients like DISNEY, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON, and even the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
DOL could end this shocking abuse of the program by closing the outsourcing loophole through new policy guidance that simply requires the end-user companies like Disney that contract with outsourcers to file an H-1B LABOR CONDITION APPLICATION (LCA). In the LCA, companies would have to attest that their use of the H-1B program will not adversely affect the working conditionsӔ of their employees, and DOL would be able to enforce that promise.
H-1B needs major reforms to prevent the degradation of labor standards and exploitation of migrant workers
While the H-1B visa program has become a common pathway for attracting skilled migrants to the U.S. labor market, it has been usurped by employers that are not facing real labor shortages and by outsourcing firms, and all employers remain allowed to PAY H1-B WORKERS LESS than the local rate for the jobs they fill. These problems are well known and well documented but most members of Congress and presidents from both parties have taken no lasting action to fix it.
The good news is that as a candidate, President Biden EXPLICITLY supported reforms to U.S. work visa programs - and now as president, he has the authority to make them a reality. President Biden can issue new regulations, policy guidance, and other rules that would preserve and create good middle-class jobs, increase productivity by attracting skilled migrant workers who complement the U.S. labor force, and ensure migrant workers are paid fairly according to U.S. standards. Last year, the Congressional Progressive Caucus reminded him of this by CALLING ON THE PRESIDENT TO FIX THE H1-B PROGRAM using his executive powers.
In the remainder of his term, President Biden should implement these essential reforms to restore integrity and fairness to the H-1B program:
· Fix the outsourcing loophole by issuing policy guidance from DOL that requires secondary employers of H-1B workers (the companies that hire outsourcing firms to provide contract workers) to file labor condition applications. GUIDANCE to require this was recently considered but never finalized, which would have prevented firms like Disney from replacing their U.S. employees with contracted H-1B workers.
· Implement DOL’s delayed H-1B PREVAILING WAGE METHOLOGY RULE, so that H-1B workers are paid a fair wage and employers are prevented from undercutting U.S. wage standards. The rule currently appears on the White Houses regulatory agenda but it is unclear whether a rule will ever be proposed.
· Issue an updated version of USCIS’s H-1B VISA ALLOCATION RULE, which would distribute H-1B visas by wage level rather than random lottery. A rule like this would ensure that the highest-skilled H-1B workers are awarded visas and it also has BIPARTISAN SUPPORT.
· Direct the Wage and Hour Division to enforce the requirement in the H-1B LABOR CONDITION APPLICAIION for employers to pay the ACTUAL WAGE rate they pay to other employees with similar experience and qualifications. Particular attention should initially be focused on firms that continue to hire large numbers of H-1B workers after conducting mass layoffs.
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Tuesday, January 03, 2023
The Desperate Job Seeker
10 Signs of a Desperate Job Seeker: 5 Steps to Avoid Acting
Being able to bag a job in the present economic condition is a tough feat indeed. There are many people out there who try hard as they are unable to get a good job and because of this, they are forced to just settle for anything which happens to come their way. The manner in which you conduct yourself during your interview will determine whether or not you will be able to bag a job. So continue to be confident and never lose hope. Given here is a list on signs of whether you are a desperate job seeker or not and also a list on how to avoid acting in such a manner.
The Signs of a Desperate Job Seeker:
1. He or she is a yes man no matter what it is that you say:
You can immediately identify a desperate job seeker by the manner in which he or she will be carefully listening to whatever you have to say and nodding in agreement to every term as well as a condition which you happen to put forth. A person who is not a desperate job seeker will listen to what you have to say and go ahead to analyze the pros and cons of ACCEPTING THE OFFER. However a person who has no other alternative will have to accept every and any job which comes his way, so that he can be able to keep his head above the water.
2. He or she will say that he is willing to do any kind of jobs:
No matter what kind of job description you might give, a desperate job seeker will be willing to do it all without even a peek. He knows that if he offers even the slightest of resistance then this might not sit very well with the recruitment. However, if you present yourself as someone who is a desperate job seeker then the company people are bound to exploit you and even take advantage of your position. So no matter what, you must ensure that you reveal no signs of weakness or vulnerability as that is bound to cost you.
3. He or she is desperate to please:
Desperate job seekers know that one of the only ways in which he can be able to BAG THE JOB is by getting on the good side of the person who is taking the interview. So at such a time, they try their best to please the interviewer and go out of their way to create a good impression. Behaving in such a manner or even resorting to flattery is something which is not desirable at all because recruiters are skilled and experienced professionals who know every trick in the book!
4. He or she has no inhibitions about groveling:
One of the main signs that someone is desperate for the job is when he or she will resort to a kind of begging saying that they will do anything for the job and might even go so far as to break into tears when you say that they have not made the cut. Being in such a situation is most certainly unfortunate and many a time even people with the best of qualifications are unable to bag a job simply because luck is not in their favor. Keeping ones eyes as well as ears open at all times is vital, so that you do not miss out on good opportunities that happen to come your way.
5. He or she will claim to be able to do any job:
No matter what, a smart job seeker will make tall claims to be able to do any kind of job. If you are someone who is a recruiter then you should ensure that you keep an eye out for such Jack of all trades who will eventually prove to be a liability to the company as they will be a master in none of the trades. Be sure to only hire those individuals to the company who you are absolutely sure about because if you make a wrong decision then it could cost the company heavily in the long run.
6. No matter what salary or perks you offer will be acceptable to this individual:
A person who is desperate to bag a job will accept the job simply because it is a means of employment and will not even ask too many questions about salary perks or anything of the kind. For such a person, getting some salary at the month is better than not being able to look forward to any money. No one is a desperate job seeker by choice, it is a compulsion for many people who try as they might are just not able to bag any job. It is only when the economic condition is better that such things can stop.
7. He or she will not ask about vacation details or perks:
A person who wants to just bag the job under all costs will not even come prepared to ask any questions to the interviewer or recruiter; rather he or she will just try his level best to get the job. Things or luxuries such as these do not even matter to this individual and he just wants an opportunity to prove his worth and to show that once this opportunity has been granted to him, he will prove himself to be an indispensable part of the company. So this is a sure sign that the interviewee is a desperate job seeker if he or she doesnt counter question you in any way at all so as to not antagonize you.
8. He or she will send resumes to all companies:
A desperate job seeker is someone who is finding it tough to make two ends meet and because of his need to bag a job he even resorts to sending resumes to all companies in the hope that he will be able to hear from at least one or two of them at the earliest. He does not even look to send his resumes to the top companies or the best in the business, rather his prerogative is merely bagging the first job which comes his way because he is well aware of the fact that he is someone who most certainly cannot afford to be picky or choosy.
9. He or she will keep mailing a company or making trips to the office:
In addition to sending the resume, a desperate job seeker will keep contacting the various companies to ensure that his resume has reached and even to inquire whether or not he will be called upon or contacted anytime soon. In addition to this such a desperate job seeker who is currently unemployed might even go so far as to make trips to several offices to find out in person if there are currently any job openings which need to be filled immediately. After all, desperate times do call for desperate measures.
10. Will not be very confident:
A person who is a desperate job seeker will not be very confident as he knows what personal worries he has because his financial position is not very stable. It is all these worries that will be bowing him down causing him to have a worried look in his eye and might even cause his confidence to flutter a little bit. He is well aware of the fact that with each job interview he has so much on the line that he cannot afford to make even the smallest of mistakes, lest an employment opportunity will slip through his fingers.
5 Steps to avoid looking desperate in a Job Interview:
1. You say whatever is on your mind:
No matter how eager you are as a job seeker you should ensure that you speak whatever is on your mind and do not agree with everything which is being told to you. You have the courage to put forth your convictions without having any kind of qualms. Companies are always willing to hire those individuals who are bold and confident about their feeling. They put forth their views in a respectful and coherent manner, causing other to sit up and take notice of them.
2. You are confident at every step of the way:
As mentioned above a sheer sign of someone who is a desperate job seeker is that he or she will be LACKING IN CONFIDENCE, so it is important that you do not let your confidence levels to go down at any cost or this is bound to create a negative impression in the minds of those who are taking your interview. You should ensure that you try your level best at all times and leave the rest up to fate. There is only so much which you can do when you go for an interview. Worrying is not going to help you in any way rather it is going to negatively impact your performance.
3. You do not accept all terms presented before you:
A way in which to show that you are not someone who is a desperate job seeker is by not accepting terms which you are really not okay with. If you feel that there is something which you are not willing to do then you should just go all out and say it, this is better than making promises which you will not be able to keep. Being a yes man and agreeing to everything is not merely desperate but it might cost you your job at a future point in time.
4. You take your time to make your decisions:
A desperate job seeker is someone who will not even take a moment to soak in all that is being told rather he will just give his consent. One of the signs to show that you are someone who isnt desperate is by taking your time to take your decision thereby keeping the company on their toes. The moment you start putting up your price then the company people will automatically get the drift that you are someone who is sought after and if they do not act fast then a good employee like you might even slip through their fingers.
5. You ask questions pertaining to salary and perks:
Only a person who is bold and carefree will ask questions pertaining to salary and will be willing to negotiate with the company rather than just accepting things as they are. In order to really raise your own value in the eyes of the company recruiter, you have to be able to put on a good show. No matter what your condition is you must never stoop to any low levels to be able to bag a job. However, this being stated you must ensure that you do not go overboard and end up looking like someone who has an attitude problem and does not respect authority.
Final Words:
So these are the points which explicate on what are the signs of a desperate job seeker. What you must remember is that if employees see that you have such signs of desperation then they will not be willing to hire someone like you. It is up to you to hold your own at all times so ensure that you conduct yourself with grace as well as dignity so that at all costs you always have yourself respect as well as dignity intact. So accept things as they are and never do something which might go ahead and tarnish your reputation.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2022
The Expendable White Male
Back in 2004 AT&T layed off lots of inside and outside plant technicians, and replaced them with contracted techs.
A friend who was an AT&T executive at the time called it a transition to a FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE.
THE CWA UNION WAS OK WITH THIS, and encouaged layed off members to apply for jobs with the contracting company - doing the same job they did at AT&T - at considerably less pay and benefits, but still represented by them.
TUCKER TECHNOLOGY, INC is a full service Information Technology firm with special emphasis on providing full-service Telecommunications and Information Technology solutions to our customers for Voice and Data applications
Today, the Tucker Technology website redirects to TTI-USA (Tucker Technology International I guess) that says:
TTI is a women & minority-owned 5G telecommunications installation company that utilizes staffing & supplier aggregation to expand the nation-wide 5G network.
I see so many minority-owned, minority-run, and EVEN THE EEO SELF IDENTIFICATION PAGE for government and contractor jobs lists minorites first.
The days of the white male dominated job market may be over.
In 2020 Time Magazine POINTED OUT:
White, non-urban, non-college educated men have the slowest wage growth in every demographic category.
That the majority of white men have benefited from almost none of this growth isn’t because they have lost income to women or minorities; its because they’ve lost it to their largely white male counterparts in the top 1 percent who have captured nearly all of the income growth for themselves. According to economist Thomas Piketty, men accounted for 85 percent of the top income centile in the mid-2010s - and while he doesn’t specify, these men are overwhelmingly white…
Thus, by far the single largest driver of rising inequality these past forty years has been the dramatic rise in inequality between white men.
It stinks that the gap between rich white men and all other white men is growing, - but if the point Time is making is that one percent are mostly white men - I agree. But this isn’t a post about the one percent. I see ads whose first bullet item is “must speak the local language.” For a job. In the United States.
A MAJORITY OF WHITE AMERICANS believe discrimination against white people exists in America today. Many believe its getting worse, even more prevalent than discrimination against black people. According to a Pew Research survey, 14 percent of white folks said being white holds them back from getting ahead.
In 2017 NPR WROTE
More than half of whites - 55 percent - surveyed say that, generally speaking, they believe there is discrimination against white people in America today.
“If you apply for a job, they seem to give the blacks the first crack at it,” said 68-year-old Tim Hershman of Akron, Ohio, “and, basically, you know, if you want any help from the government, if you’re white, you don’t get it. If you’re black, you get it.”
Add that to ageism for white male boomers that don’t have enough to retire, and the situation is as dire as when I ALMOST TOOK MY LIFE ten years ago.
2019
AS MANY AS 25,000 COMPLAINTS CLAIMING AGE DISCRIMINATION have been filed each year since 2008, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission… A work study conducted by AARP in 2017 found that age is the leading reason for negative treatment by an employer.
2021
THERE ARE SOME STARK DISPARITIES in both gender and race when it comes to SUICIDE. Men die by suicide 3.6 times more often than women, and the suicide rate is more than twice as high among Whites compared to African Americans or Asians and Pacific Islanders. The result? White men account for nearly 70% of suicide deaths.
The ENGERS VS AT&T LAWSUIT led to my first retirement kick in the face:
In 1997, AT&T converted its traditional defined benefit pension plan to a cash balance plan. As a result of the conversion, the accounts established for older participants were significantly less than the value of the accumulated annuities they had already earned under the old plan. The workers sued, claiming that the conversion discriminated against older workers and that AT&T executives knew that employees within seven years of retirement eligibility would not earn any additional pension benefits for several years… The bad news for those people who had their AT&T pensions cut from the cash balance transfer years ago - is they lost the 12 year court battle.
Over the years
WE’VE SEEN MANY LARGE CORPORATIONS choose to cut employee benefits whether that be pension, 401(k), or healthcare. Verizon created headlines all the way back in 2005 when they announced they would freeze their pension program.
[AT&T] Employees retiring after 2022 will be hit the hardest, as they will lose all medical coverage typically given to retirees. AT&T will no longer supplement monthly premiums for medical or dental.
Things like this may help explain the violence from so-called right-wing EXTREMIST groups of mostly white men like the ones President Trump coaxed to BREAKING IN to the Senate chambers last January.
THESE ARE GUYS that really think that they don’t matter in the world and have been tossed aside.
Some say it’s a conspiracy theory.
THERE IS A RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY theory called the great replacement, which says that white people are being overtaken by minorities and that this is going to cause a loss of rights for white people. It used to be on the fringe. Its been around a long time, but what’s special now is that that theory is embraced in full-throated fashion by major political leaders and also by major media figures. If you live in an area thats losing white population, you can start yourself to connect the dots to the spinning that’s going around with these narratives.
Not me. Like I said before - even the SELF-IDENTIFICATION PAGE on job applications I fill out lately defaults to Hispanic or Latino.
I lost a central office tech position because of EEO QUOTAS in 1988, that saved a black guy’s job who had less seniority than me. But I didn’t wind up hating black people. It’s hard not to notice most techs were white men, and coming from BROOKLYN where just about everyone black was poorer than me and my mom - they deserve a break.
IN THE BEST OF TIMES, many African American communities are forced to tolerate levels of unemployment unseen in most white communities. The 2001 recession pushed the white annual unemployment rate up from a low of 3.5% in 2000 to a high of 5.2% in 2003. During the same period, the black unemployment rate shot up from 7.6% to 10.8%. National recessions take African Americans from a bad situation to a worse one.
What I object to is the SYSTEM THAT CREATED THIS SEPARATION AND FRICTION, feeding hate and resentment between all workers.
Today it’s WHITE MALES being shafted in the job market along with THE GIG ECONOMY bringing everyone down. Before that TWO-TIERED PAY, before that the FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE with CONTRACTORS AND TEMPS, and the big ones going on since NAFTA - OFFSHORING and OUTSOURCING to cheap overseas labor that may have slowed down from COVID TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, and the RUSSIA/UKRAINE WAR - but after that will probably pick up again.
Let’s remind ourselves again, in 2020 70% of suicides in America were WHITE MEN.
The rate of suicide is highest in middle-aged white men.
White males accounted for 69.68% of suicide deaths in 2020.
In 2020, men died by suicide 3.88x more than women.
Not to mention
SINCE 2000, the suicide rate in the United States has risen 35 percent, primarily because of the significant increase in such deaths among the WHITE population.
[T]he death rate among men tended to rise in cities where jobs were vanishing because of competition from cheap foreign goods.
In 2015
A STUDY released late last year by two Princeton academics, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who won the 2014 Nobel prize for economics, revealed that the DEATH RATE FOR WHITE AMERICANS AGED 45 TO 54 has risen sharply since 1999 after declining for decades. The increase, by 20% over the 14 years to 2013, represents about half a million lives cut short.
What does my crystal ball think?
President Trump may come back STRONGER than ever in 2024 with promises of a new ARYAN world.
Remember these guys?
IN GERMANY, the Nazis promoted this false notion that glorified the German people as members of the “Aryan race,” while denigrating Jews, Black people, and Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) as “non-Aryans.”
But this fat, old white man, who isn’t happy with our system of rule, isn’t someone they’re looking for.
Nor would I want to be one.
We’re all human beings, and we ALL deserve a good life.
In 2011 OCCUPY WALL STREET was called A MOVEMENT TOO BIG TO FAIL, and I really thought it would be a defining moment in taking back our country from the OLIGARCHS and PLUTOCRATS that took over.
It wasn’t.
Then in 2020 we tried to roll out the President’s chair for America’s most loved politician - BERNIE SANDERS - who may have sold us out, and backed PRO CORPORATIST, REPUBLICAN LITE, FASCIST WANNABE Joe Biden - the same Joe Biden who WROTE ME in 2012 asking for a camapign donation after I asked to help the long-term unemployed - whose now our 46th President, throwing us into the WORST SUFFERING we’ve ever experienced.
I’m guessing a food crisis will lead fossils like me (and the poor, and the disabled, and anyone not FITTING the neo-fascist mold) into the gas chambers so the HARD WORKING Aryans have food.
IN MARCH 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a hurricane of hunger and a meltdown of the “global food system” in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine.
Guterres said food, fuel and fertiliser prices were skyrocketing with supply chains being disrupted and added this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe.
Rember what the GEORGIA GUIDESTONES said
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual BALANCE WITH NATURE.
Did you know
In many states, laws say that doctors can sterilize disabled people against their will. This is called forced sterilization. MOST STATES ALLOW FORCED STERILIZATION today. Laws allowing forced sterilization exist in 31 states plus Washington, D.C.... Sterilization is an operation that stops someone from ever having babies.
The only reason they may be keeping old people alive is because they’re big dollar signs to the drug and health care industries.
“In 2003, SENIORS IN MEDICARE MANAGED-CARE PLANS will pay an estimated $1,964 in average out-of-pocket expenses for health care, 10 percent more than last year and twice as much as four years ago.” (Marsha Gold and Lori Achman, Average Out-Of-Poket Health Care Costs for Medicare+Choice Enrollees Increase 10 Percent in 2003.” The Commonwealth Fund, August 2003).
Costs are expected to grow because scientists are continually discovering medicines to treat diseases of aging and people are living longer. The elderly population, now 36 million, is expected to reach 70 million by 2030. (Robert Pear, Prescription Drugs Now, Day of Reckoning Later, New York Times, 19 August 2003).
Today more dollar signs are waving at big pharma.
LECANEMAB is the first drug to help improve the symptoms of Alzheimers by slowing the disease. These are very promising results, although the only data we have at the moment is from the drugmaker’s PRESS ELEASE.
When famine is the issue, there may be a big fight between the companies that want to keep pill popping seniors alive, and goverment propaganzing there isn’t enouigh food for everyone - turning into a war between the young and the old.
And the old divide and conquer will go on like it always has.
IT IS AS IF millions of our fellow citizens have fallen asleep, as if they have become hypnotized and brainwashed by the powers-that-bes incessant managing and massaging of reality. These powers simply manipulate an already gullible and highly suggestible public into a game of “divide and conquer.” They get rich off of others’ blood - they incite conflict, and covertly support both sides, as they themselves reap the benefit of the conflict.
Chris Hedges PREDICTS:
The step from dysfunctional democracy to full blown fascism was, and will again be, a small one. The hatred for the ruling class, embodied by the establishment Republican and Democratic parties, which have merged into one ruling party, is nearly universal.
By next spring, following a punishing winter of rolling blackouts and months when families struggle to pay for food and heat, what is left of our anemic western democracy could be largely extinguished.
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Thursday, September 29, 2022
Maine Battles Ageism
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How does a hiring company legally get your age for an interview? Easy. Make the person first fill out a job application and/or agree to a background check giving name, social security number, drivers license number, and birthdate. A lot of companies like Sprint do that, and the EEOC says it’s perfectly OK.
- Sneaky Way to Get a Job Applicant’s Age
The program is one of the latest efforts aimed at tackling the thorny problem of long-term unemployment. Millions of people have been jobless for months or years in the wake of the Great Recession, and its much tougher for them to work their way back into the labor force, particularly if they are older… “Subsidized employment allows older workers to dispel the myths many employers have about those over age 50, said Emily Allen, a vice president at AARP. “Older workers have the highest long-term unemployment rates of any age group.”
- Platform to Employment
As many as 25,000 complaints claiming age discrimination have been filed each year since 2008, according to the U.S. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION.
- Ageism, 2019
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How do you stamp out ageism? This state wants to try.
By Jessica Hall
Market Watch
September, 29, 2022
The state of Maine wants to end ageism in a decade. Really.
In a move to improve the health of Maines 1.3 million residents, reduce workforce struggles and improve the economy, the MAINE COUNCIL ON AGING said it launched an initiative to end ageism within 10 years.
Ageism refers to the stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination directed toward people based on their age no matter what their age might be. It can be institutional, interpersonal or even self-directed. Globally, one in two people are ageist against older people, according to a United Nations report.
“It’s also the right thing to do,” the council said.
“Americans don’t believe AGEISM IS REAL. Or that it’s not as bad as the other ‘isms’,” said Jess Maurer, executive director of the Maine Council on Aging. “But it costs us a lot financially. It costs us emotionally. It taxes our health systems. It affects housing. It affects our workforce. It costs us a lot.”
The Maine Council on Aging set a goal to eliminate ageism in the workplace, in the media, and other leading segments of Maine culture by 2032, in part, through targeted discussions with different business sectors, community leaders, and policy makers. Maine has the oldest population in the U.S.
Eradicating ageism is also important for the health of the economy. A STUDY from AARP found that the lost economic activity from older Americans not being able to find work, change careers, or earn promotions because of age discrimination cost the U.S. economy $850 billion in lost gross domestic product in 2018. In the long-term, age discrimination could cost the U.S. more than $3.9 trillion in 2050, AARP found.
Meanwhile, a Yale University study found that discrimination based on age increased healthcare costs by $63 billion annually.
The Maine Council on Aging isnt alone. Last year, the World Health Organization announced a global campaign to combat ageism with strategies such as educating people about ageism, fostering intergenerational contacts, and changing policies and laws to promote age equity.
Why now?
Maurer said the pandemic highlighted societyҒs prejudice against older people. Seniors with comorbidities were more vulnerable and died in increasing numbers from COVID-19 than younger, healthier people.
“COVID hit us over the head with a two-by-four. ‘Older lives do not have the same value as younger lives.’ People were willing to say that out loud. We knew we had to do something,” said Maurer.
“Were all ageists and we will all be victims of ageism. Every last one of us,” Maurer said. “The irony is that when you talk to people, 90% of them get it - that denigrating getting older is ultimately about them. Stop pretending it’s somebody else. You’re experiencing aging right now. Otherwise, youҒre dead.”
Last year, the council launched a program called the Leadership Exchange on Ageism to help Maine business and community leaders fight ageism. So far, 60 people have gone through the program and the council secured funding for an additional 40 participants, as well a chance to replicate the program in other states.
A similar effort has started in Australia, where more than 20 high-profile organizations and individuals formed a coalition to help fight ageism and age discrimination called EveryAGE Counts.
In Colorado, a different approach, called CHANGING THE NARRATIVE, has been used; it has raised awareness about ageism through workshops educating the public about ageist language, beliefs and practices. It also launched a campaign calling attention to ageism in healthcare and the workplace, and pushed for age-friendly policy initiatives and pop culture changes.
How will Maine actually wipe out ageism?
“We’re going to change hearts and minds one at a time. It’s a top-down, bottom-up and everyone in the middle approach,” Maurer said. We’re going to start with the early adopters. You don’t start with the people who are skeptical. You start where you can.”
One metric the Maine Council on Aging will track is the number of people over 65 who are in the workforce. Another metric will follow the number of healthcare institutions, from primary care practices up to hospitals, that implement the Age Friendly Healthy System program supported by the John A. Hartford Foundation and others.
The council also will push for a reduction in age-based stereotypes and language in reporting after an intervention with local media, as well as track the investment that the state of Maine makes financially in infrastructure that supports healthy aging. Other efforts will focus on giving older people an opportunity to make decisions on how public money is spent to develop affordable housing for older people.
“Its a lofty goal. Whenever we put our minds to tackling something as big as an ‘ism’ - it’s admirable. Addressing ageism is going to take a movement like this,” Tracey Gendron, chair for the Virginia Commonwealth University’s department of gerontology and executive director for the Virginia Center on Aging. “I do think this will make a difference. They’re putting action behind their words.”
Gendron likened the Maine campaign to other public health efforts such as getting people to wear seat belts, use sunscreen or stop smoking.
“People DON’T UNDERSTAND the consequences of ageism and this will help,” Gendron said. “It’s important for anyone to take the lead. What Maine is doing is creating a playbook that can be replicated. Here’s what we’re doing, here’s what were reading. This is the training we’re doing. Here’s the steps we’re taking. So it can be replicated in other states.”
Janine Vanderburg, director and chief catalyst at Changing the Narrative in Colorado, said she believes Maine’s efforts can make a difference and help eradicate ageism.
“We don’t wave a magic wand and ageism disappears. But goals are important. The more were all spreading these ideas around, the more work gets done” Vanderburg said.
Maurer admits that the amount of change needed will be tough to manage.
“Ageism is going to IMPACT EVERYONE and it’s uniformly bad. If we do nothing - this suffering is coming to a theater near you,” Maurer said. “Change is hard. Humans only change things when things don’t work. The next 10 to 20 years is going to involve a lot of change, and it’s going to be hard.”
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Monday, September 19, 2022
Preying On The Job Seeker 20 - Ghost Jobs
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Applicants say they’re being ghosted by recruiters, having their resumes eliminated by applicant tracking systems (ATS), and struggling to find remote work opportunities. At the same time, unemployment benefits have been cut off.
By the end of September, Holz had sent out 60 applications, received 16 email responses, four follow-up phone calls, and [one] solitary interview.
- Job Hunting 2021
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That’s not a real job opening
Some companies are posting ‘ghost jobs’ but don’t actually plan to hire you - or anyone
By Rebecca Knight and Juliana Kaplan
Business Insider
September 18, 2022
· The number of job openings has been sky high over the past year in the red-hot labor market.
· But some job seekers are still striking out, especially as the economy faces headwinds.
· That could be because some firms are posting “ghost jobs” that they’re not actually hiring for.
After applying to more than 300 jobs in the last six months without a single bite, Will no longer bothers to read job descriptions or research companies.
It’s just a waste of time at this point, said Will, whose real name is withheld but known to Insider.
He spends six to 10 hours a day on LinkedIn churning out applications, but says that he and his peers with similar credentials master’s degrees and MBAs from top schools - are having no luck getting interviews.
“I’m seeing all of these articles about how COMPANIES CANNOT RECRUIT PEOPLE fast enough and how there’s all these job openings,” said Will, who aims to land a consulting role. “But I’m also seeing my own personal experience and seeing other highly qualified candidates who can’t get interviews or can’t get jobs and I’m like, ‘Something is wrong with the system.’”
It is a puzzle in this remarkably tight labor market. While many EMPLOYERS CAN’T FIND ENOUGH WORKERS, some qualified candidates are applying to open jobs and AREN’T HEARING ANYTHING BACK.
That applicants are, on occasion, GHOSTED BY EMPLOYERS is nothing new, of course. But lately questions have been raised about whether a company’s job postings are reflective of actual open positions, or instead “ghost jobs” listings that employers are no longer actively hiring or recruiting for.
According to a RECENT SURVEY of roughly 1,000 hiring managers conducted by Clarify Capital, a boutique lending firm, 40% of managers have had a job posting open for over two to three months; one in five managers said they don’t plan to fill their current open job positions until 2023; and half of managers said they keep job postings up because they’re “always open to new people,” even if they’re not actively recruiting.
“We have over 150 million people working in the US economy,” Kathryn Edwards, an economist at the RAND Corporation, told Insider about the GREAT RESIGNATION. “Whatever can be true is true for at least one person. Having that many workers means that you can have two true stories that are in absolute conflict, and it totally makes sense that they’re both in our labor market.”
SOME RESEARCHERS SAY that “job openings” might mean something different today than it used to, and that companies routinely ADJUST TO FORCES in the economy and their industries by ramping up and down the intensity with which they recruit. OTHERS, MEANWHILE, HAVE SPECULATED that companies today are posting jobs but not trying hard to fill them, perhaps due to uncertainties about the economy. But at a time when many workers are still QUITTING THEIR JOBS AT ELEVATED RATES emboldened by the apparent strength of the labor market, the ghost job phenomenon underscores the idea that EMPLOYERS STILL HAVE THE UPPER HAND.
“Evergreen" postings in an uncertain environment
There are many reasons why companies might post vacancies with seemingly little urgency to fill them, recruiters say. Sometimes they want to give the impression that the company is growing ח but in an inflationary economy, growth is expensive, so they’re hedging their bets.
Sometimes they leave listings open with dreams that the perfect, unicorn candidate might apply. Other times they might post jobs to pacify their exhausted employees and demonstrate that they are indeed at least trying to hire more help.
There are also some jobs that are so in-demand think: mobile developers and software engineers ח that employers might leave up openings in hopes that someone, anyone will apply.
Allyn Bailey, a former recruiting strategy executive at Intel and now a director at Smart Recruiters, a talent sourcing and hiring platform, said that companies are more often posting “evergreen requisitions” listings for jobs that, in theory, they always need even if they don’t have the budget to hire. “That way they have a pipeline to leverage when they’re ready,” she said.
Of course, candidates don’t know that. They apply in good faith, ignorant of this strategy, and when the company eventually calls them, she said, “the talent is either not interested, has moved on, or is annoyed.”
Some recruiters say that ghost jobs are on the rise due to the heightened level of uncertainty that’s persisted for the past two and a half years. With the ENDURING LABOR SHORTAGE and high turnover, they can no longer accurately predict candidate behavior and flow. That, combined with a slowing economy, has created an air of tentativeness.
“The companies I talk to are struggling with how they think about HOW TO GET STRATEGIC WORK DONE because the contours of their business are changing rapidly,” said Pat Pettiti, CEO of Catalant, the online platform that connects independent consultants for projects at large corporations.
“They don’t understand who or what they need - and so they’re hesitating when it comes to hiring.”
Moreover, fears of a looming recession have made them hesitant to commit. “That’s why you have some managers thinking, ‘My boss told me to hire someone, but am I going to have to lay them off in three months?’”
William Stonehouse, the president of Crawford Thomas Recruiting, the Orlando staffing firm that matches jobseekers with Fortune 1000 companies, said that he often coaches employers on the perils of posting ghost jobs.
“A lot of businesses don’t understand the impact that a negative hiring process can have on future applicants,” he said. “If your listings are a graveyard of old positions and candidates are uploading applications into a resume black hole, it doesn’t set a good tone. People want to be treated with dignity and respect.”
“There are too many jobs posted”
Andrew Flowers, a labor economist at Appcast, the recruitment advertising technology company, expressed skepticism that “ghost jobs” are a widespread problem. “Some employers no doubt are fishing they have a job opening, but aren’t planning to hire - but I think this is a small minority of employers,” he said in an email interview with Insider.
Flowers pointed out thatings in each month, rem the overall job fill rate, the ratio of hires to openains very low, which reflects the tight labor market. Meanwhile, other economic research shows that recruiting intensity matters less for the job search-and-matching process than factors like candidate skills and quality and the macroeconomic environment.
“It seems plausible that the job openings figures overstate the amount of active recruitment going on, and perhaps by more than in the past,” he said. “But it’s also very clear that there are lots of openings right now.”
“When employers first started grumbling about a labor shortage,” Erica Groshen, a senior economics advisor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was a little suspicious of the high number of job openings. But as she watched wages rise and job switching soar, she was sold on the phenomenon of real hiring.
Even so, “the advent of the internet means that applying for jobs is much easier,” Groshen told Insider.
“You can apply to so many more jobs, which then means that companies have to SORT THROUGH SO MANY APPLICATIONS many more than they ever used to before - which means that they employ algorithms to do this sorting,” Groshen said. “Those algorithms are going to be fairly crude.”
The number of openings and ease of applying are cold comfort for Will, who’s still fruitlessly job hunting day after day. For jobseekers like him, who come in with degrees and specific qualifications, the reality might have to be abandoning those ghost jobs altogether and seeking out poorer matches. After all, about a third of college graduates are underemployed, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, meaning that they’re in roles that don’t typically require a degree.
That’s because, even as workers are in a red hot labor market, they still don’t have the upper hand when it comes to work. Because workers in the US ultimately need a job to eat, pay for housing, and have health insurance, employers have what’s called monopsony power, which allows them to dictate wages, working conditions, and scheduling and it lets them post jobs they might never fill or accidentally filter the right candidates out of.
“There are too many jobs posted, he said. And the “websites - some of them are just broken and some just don’t work. It’s almost comical.”
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