Jobs Market Is Horrible

If recession arrives, will only get worse

Don’t let the economic headlines fool you. The jobs market is terrible right now.

While the unemployment rates in the US and Canada are near a record low, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to find a job. Most large companies have frozen or slowed hiring. Roles are not getting refilled as people quit (or are fired) leaving the employed with a growing stack of responsibilities.

The postings that do exist receive hundreds of applications from highly qualified, desperately hungry candidates. Labor shortage? It’s bullshit. Hiring fairs for bottom-end foodservice jobs at McDonalds get lineups of desperate people that extend around the block.

Comments from people recently lining up for McD’s job in Ontario:

"I've been trying to find a minimum wage job in Toronto for 4 months. Applied everywhere and there is no place."

"I waited in line for 4 hours just to be turned down for a cashier interview."

With growing ranks of laid-off workers, competition for managerial and white-collar work is also intense. Good luck finding a job if you don’t check all the boxes, aren’t a skilled presenter, don’t look the part, aren’t a bootlicker and aren’t already acquaintances with the hiring VP. So the few mid-range jobs that do get posted are virtually impossible to attain.

We’re in the “be thankful you have a job” phase of the business cycle. It’s shitty for both the employed and unemployed. Surging labor competition makes every employee replaceable in the eyes of management.

What do employers do with a replaceable employee? Treat them like crap. Give them more work than they can handle. Pay them less than they’re worth. After all, it’s a win for management because a smaller overworked and underpaid staff is great for profits.

Those who find themselves unemployed are getting ground down after months of searching.

The following is an example of a highly skilled IT worker with over 7 years progressive experience in software engineering and cybersecurity:

I just cannot get any traction.

I’m starting to give up hope, it is so demoralizing. Applying for any job from LinkedIn or Indeed just seems like an utter waste of time at this stage. Every job has 400+ applicants and even then, sometimes I really wonder are these positions even real or if they’re just some sort of modern advertisement for the hiring company.I even tried looking for construction labouring jobs just to get some income and for everything I applied to, I either heard nothing back or when I followed up on my application, was told that it was actually not an entry-level position.

It’s starting to become soul-destroying. I’m beginning to lose all my self-confidence. I would’ve always thought of myself as good at my job and being quite intelligent. I had several promotions in my previous job that came much faster than most of my colleagues but now I just feel like an idiot.

The scary part is it’s not even that bad yet. If and when a real recession hits, it’ll get ugly.