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Feb 5, 2023Liked by Joseph Politano

Thanks Paulo!

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I find it still confuses me to figure out the difference between the unemployed and those not in the labor force but want a job!! What am I missing here? This is a very confusing subject to say the least given the spectacular payrolls numbers and yet, somehow, some degree of disinflation. Thanks for a first stab and trying to sort this all out Joseph.

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Feb 4, 2023·edited Feb 4, 2023

I'm still long-term unemployed but I'm an older tech worker, and in addition to all of its other problems there is a lot of ageism in that industry. Though the discrimination mostly happens through intermediate recruiting companies to keep employers' hands clean.

I don't think I count as "unemployed" according to the official definition though. I'm not actively looking for work, since the job market is flooded with candidates right now from the big tech layoffs, it will make everything that much harder for me. Even though I'm not looking to work at big tech, those candidates being available causes a trickle down effect of lower tier companies looking for unicorn candidates.

Still I'm glad those layoffs are happening because the industry was paying too much IMO and those overpaid workers were contributing too much to inflation, because they were not price sensitive. The high end of tech workers have had a nice run for the past few years, but they need to be reminded that with high reward comes high risk.

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This is not good news. It will encourage the fed to keep raising rates in its false belief in NAIRU and transfer even more wealth from middle and working class people to the elite and rentiers.

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