Category: General

Why the Unemployment rate is Wrong and why you should care!

Paul3 Replies

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The Unemployment is at 3.7% for January(2024)!

Now that isn’t bad for the economy if this was actually true. I know that there are even more people searching for a job than you can imagine. Is the unemployment rate wrong?  I suspect it is way higher than what the US government knows about due to the fact that most of the jobs that people got let go from were less than 6 months contracts or some probably even have money in their account to survive for a while unemployed. I am one of those who have enough money right now to have 3 or 4 months off and not have to worry about anything. I don’t have any major debt and I have no loans out that would be cause for me to have to make payments on those things. So the real question we need to ask is what is correct percentage of people who are unemployed. I think it would be more like 5 to 6% right now if everyone would file for unemployment. I think some worry that if the unemployment rate goes to high then it will cause problems in finding a job even more.

Understanding the Unemployment Rate

It can be quite difficult to figure out what the unemployment rate is actually but I do think we have to at least consider that it’s higher than we thought it is and we may be in a form of recession / Depression scenario.  I saw a video that I’ll share with you and you can see how this might be viable to what is happening now.   I encourage to watch all of it and decide for yourselves if this is even a possibility.  I however know that the ones I have talked to have not filled unemployed for one reason or another.

Now after watching this video, I am sure you have some questions that you might want to ask. One of the obvious questions I came up with myself is this relevant to what is happening now. I would say yes it is due to the fact that I am seeing this more and more the last few weeks with people struggling to keep a job and applying to jobs in general. We aren’t going to get out of this real quickly and I even think we will have more aggressive layoffs in the future just by looking at the spike of layoffs we’ve already had in the January.

chart from layoffs.fyi

Since most companies only worry about Quarterly earnings the next quarter starts in April and as such it would seem that companies will downsize even more either March or April. It would be a good guess that it would be likely in April after the earnings report for each company is looked at and examined by the stock holders and CEO. They will execute a decision to layoff more people to keep the projected earnings reports from impacting their bottom dollar. It will also keep the stock holders happy that they don’t see any layoffs that month before hand. It doesn’t look good to the stock when layoffs happen right when the earnings report becomes available to them.

Unemployed people are just burned out!

The reason why the unemployment numbers a re wrong is that most of those who have been trying to find a job ever since they have been laid off is they are just burned out and are tired of getting those rejection letters and companies that say they are hiring but looks to just be phishing for the right person and not really looking to hire people that could fill the spot they are advertising about.  So that being said, they haven’t even filed for unemployment and that is why you haven’t seen the unemployment rate getting higher and people thinking we aren’t in a recession or even a Depression due to that the Government doesn’t know they are looking for a job.  I know that most of the people want a job but they either pivoted to work where ever they can or created other ways to earn income right now without having to file for unemployment benefits.  I would bet they either took part time jobs or they have other ways to bring in the money to help them survive.

Did you apply for unemployment or did you find ways to bring in income without having to work at an office job for the time?  why not leave a comment and let people know what you’ve done to keep bringing money in so you can let others know how they can earn money even in this trying time.

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The Real Struggle to Finding a Job in 2024

Paul3 Replies

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Why is Finding a Job in the US Really Hard?

I don’t say this lightly because I’ve come across so many people talking about this that isn’t even funny. Most of these people are just trying to find a job and it seems that they aren’t even able to land any real interviews. I’ve had that same problem as of late, no one wants to interview they just go to another qualified applicant and either Ghost me or tell me that I wasn’t selected for the interview.

I’ve personally been dealing with the Stress of looking for a job for over 2 weeks. It can be quite hard not to worry and think about what may come but this is just another example of what it is like to find a job in the year 2024. Even if the US Government says we have all these Jobs that were created, I seriously doubt this is going to help those who have been laid off and the one that may be lay off in the future.

Few Examples:

User from Glassdoor job hunting.
Linkedin Layoffs Trends By Nicole Roundy

Why Can’t People find a job?

Why Can’t I find a job – Google Trends

More and More people are asking the same thing. “Why can’t I find a Job?” on Google. That seems more than plausible, if the US economy was so robust and we had all these jobs than it should be easy for everyone who was laid off to find a new job. It however isn’t that way and I hate to say it doesn’t look promising for the future. As I have been doing my research more and more people are having the same issues as I am and if people are not finding jobs and they have more qualifications than me then It just can’t be how I am applying and that I am applying. It has to be deeper than that and I believe it is.

Even now it isn’t clear on what people should do, because more and more people are asking the same thing.  Even more “experts” try to give advice.   I put quotations around the word to make sure you know that I don’t know if they are right or wrong or if they are actually experts or just people who know how to get a job easier.

I’m not here to tell you who I believe is or isn’t a expert in this field but to at least tell you that even if you do some of the things these people tell you to do to get a job may or may not work in your situation.   I’m going to at least talk about what I am doing to try to get a job that may help you in your job search.

My Job Search Activities

What I am about to tell you is what I’ve been going through trying to do to hunt for a  Job.  However, This doesn’t that this is how you should do it but it is something to consider while you are looking for a job.

  • Setup Email Alerts on Job openings — This can be quite helpful.  I’ve done this for sites like Indeed, Monster, Linkedin, Google, and even Bing to find new jobs around me that I can apply for it and it helps to keep me from spending to much time each day to look for jobs.   Each of these are easy to do and you can have each site email you daily or when there is a new job that pops up that you are looking for.
  •  Spend a Maximum of 2 or 3 hours and No more looking for Jobs —  I say this because I’ve heard people say they were looking for job as if they have a job Full time and that can’t be good or healthy to the individual.   There is no way you can find jobs and apply to them all day.  You should spend only a limited amount of time finding jobs.  That is the best approach.
  • Get Resume Help — This can be quite easy for some of you but others might need to search their  local community to see if you can get someone to help you write your resume even better.   It never hurts to get someone to check it out and give you some advice on how to get the employer to see your resume.
  • Apply for Jobs that you have excellent Soft Skills for —  This is something that seems to be overlooked but you should always apply to jobs that match your soft skills even more.  This will get employers more interested in your application.  If you can show them you have the soft skills they are searching for they may want to get an interview with you.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help with Friends And Family — This can be really helpful to be able to talk to your friends and family.  It can help with your stress also but they may know of jobs that may be able to get your foot in the door.  It’s what they call networking which has helped me in the past and this is something I am constantly doing now but still haven’t gotten past the interview stage.

As you can see these are just a few tips that I can give you to better keep you in the know of new jobs and how to deal with the rejections you may get.   I’ve seen more and more of those rejections come my way but with all this it helps to keep me from getting depressed and discouraged.   You should consider how you can better help yourself from getting that way too.

Are you looking for a Job?  If so, we are both in the same boat but you can always subscribe and find out even more tips on Job hunting and just technology industry in general.   Remember you’re not alone in this and we are all in this together.

 

In Depth Investigation of the Job Market and How it looks

Paul4 Replies

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The Job Market

First and foremost we will at least talk about what I mean by Investigation of the job market.   According Websters dictionary, the meaning of investigation is “to observe or study by close examination and systematic inquiry“.  Now since we will study this and look into other aspects of this to see how the Job market is looking you can see this will be quite enlightening.  First we need to look at the DATA of the whole situation of the Job Market for 2024.   Let’s start with looking at trends and see if we see anything that shows us what it’s look like.   I am going to look at what people are searching for in Google using the Google Trends that is quite useful for this data.

 

2004 to Present – Job Market

Recession in 2007 and 2009

According to the Federal Reserve History:

The Great Recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, which makes it the longest recession since World War II.

In history we are most likely going to start looking back and saying yes we are in a recession.   If you look at the graph from Google Trends you can tell people stopped searching for the job market after 2009 and it started to decline.   We really need to stop denying this and just buckle up and be ready to slow our spending and slow down trying to spend.   If you have any debts, it is best to pay them off as quickly as possible and try to not spend to much right now.  Here’s another indicator that people are starting to ask the important questions.

Is the Job Market Bad? 2004 to Present

Understanding that people are searching for stuff like this can help you see how many people are actually asking these questions.   If the Economy is so strong and working properly, then why are people asking these questions, should be your first question?

As you can see people are asking “is the job market Bad” and that is something you should consider when you look at the stats.  Why are a lot of people asking the same exact question.   I drilled down and looked and I see people are searching for Remote Work, WFH, Work From Home,  Job Fairs, and other things that seem to indicate how many are actually looking for a job.

I am sure there are some people who will say this doesn’t mean that we will be in recession but I honestly think we will or we are in a recession right now due to how hard it is for people to find a job.   This could also be considering us into a Depression that looks like a recession.   I can’t tell right now but I do know Something isn’t quite right.

Biden Economics as some would say would refute this because it’s being the year of the presidential elections and they don’t want you to know this.  If you haven’t looked at how it is going down then you should check it out how many people are starting to doubt that this will help them in finding work.  Just to clarify what it is:

Biden described his economic philosophy via Twitter in June 2023: “Bidenomics is about growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.  Wikipedia

Conclusion and Thoughts

Google trends Past 12 months

Finally we come to the conclusion of this because it really looks like we are not at stable as the Government is actually telling us and we should be careful to, not repeat their comments, because until you actually do your own research you will not truly understand.  I’ve been researching this for the past three weeks due to my layoff.  I’ve even researched, what others are saying on video.  You should check out the Friday Video Posts to help you see what others are saying.  I honestly think we should tighten our belts and stop spending as much as possible and try to find ways to buy food cheaper.  You should try to find a job anyway you can, I have yet to find a way to do it but I have been trying and get the dreaded letter that they haven’t selected you for the next step.  It can be quite depressing but it is just a matter before I find a job.

Are you jobless and have similar experiences why not leave a comment and tell people your experience so they know they aren’t alone?  We are all in this together.   We just need to keep encouraging people that are having the same situation and tell them you’re not alone.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for more posts like this and others.

 

Friday Video Picks : 2/9/24 Job Market and Aggressive Layoffs in March

Paul3 Replies

Aggressive Layoffs in March(2024)!

Economists estimate that we will have aggressive layoffs in March.   A very thorough look at what it could become like in the later months.   I am not going to say that she is right but I do think she has some very good points.  If you haven’t seen this video you should watch it and decide for yourself how much of this will happen.   Is there going to be a recession in 2024? Some information in this video actually shows me that someone is messing with the labor numbers and it is worse than than the US wants us to believe.   I am not going to say that we aren’t already in a Recession but I wouldn’t think we will be finding the jobs easier than we did in the past.   This is probably a good time to pivot and start applying to other jobs that are away from the tech industry for a time and then maybe when this is all over with you can come back to it.

Are they Lying to use about the Job Market?

Hyper Specialization is one thing that might be causing them to lie about the job market and this video goes into even more details about it. I’ve suspected something was going on with the job since I have started looking for a job the last few weeks. Nothing seems to correlate with why I haven’t gotten one interview in the last few weeks unlike previous where I could apply and have an interview at least once a week or twice a week and be feeling like I am accomplishing something.   This industry is not looking good for the for see-able future and we are going to have to consider other ways to make money.

I’ve been Applying

I will say that I’ve kept applying for jobs that I know I could do because of the my work experience.  I haven’t been in IT long so I have Production, Forklift, and Grocery store experience.   The problem I think is that with the mass amount of layoffs going on everyone is trying to find any job they can and that means everyone is applying for the same jobs and those in bigger cities will see applications for general work also skyrocket.  So the real questions is why does it feel harder to find a job and even get an interview than ever?  I’d be curious as to how long this will last but I am not going to hold my breathe on how long it will be before the real numbers actually show us that we are in the a Recession.

I’ve researched this as much as possible while not looking for a job to find out what I could do to get a job and so far everything I am a seeing is not promising and we should just tighten our belts on this to make ourselves get through the storm.   I am going to keep applying for jobs and networking to try to find people who might be able to get my foot in the door for places that I can work and hope that this doesn’t get to serious in the coming months.   I’m still hanging on to the fact that someone will hire me and let me work in IT but I will have to start looking other places also like Remote work, and Work From Home Jobs.  Again those will be flooded by people trying to find jobs and you are going to be Ghosted and forgotten most likely due to the high volume of applicants.  I don’t see this coming out any other way but we must be willing to take whatever we can to survive.

Are you looking for a job?  how is it going for you?  Have you had any success with interviews?  Leave a comment and tell me your story, I’d love to connect and find out what others have done and if they have had any interviews that didn’t pan out.   Remember subscribe to my blog for even more topics about this and other stuff.

Unlock the Ultimate Minecraft Experience on Steam Deck!

Paul

Portable Powerhouse

Can you install Minecraft onto the Steam Deck?  Yes you can.   Having been using Steam Deck to play Minecraft, I thought I would at least talk about how to be able to play it and make it portable.   Some of the ways I talk about doing this others have talked about but I have been playing around with it and It isn’t something that some people can do easily.  This won’t be a Step by step but it will at least help you to understand what you might have to do get to play on the Steam Deck.   You’ll need to have several things before you can do it on the Steam Deck like having a Minecraft License.  I already created an ultimate Gaming Shell Script for Linux Mint which you could use if you use Linux Mint as your OS while using your Steam Deck.  I’ve not really tried this but It seems like a good way to do it.  Other ways to use Minecraft would be to install Windows 11 to your Steam Deck.  I’ve also heard this be a possibility but I never found this to be very good.  I must be one of the few who doesn’t like using Windows 11 with the Steam Deck due to it just not working properly.  You can however Take your favorite block-building game anywhere with the handheld power of Steam Deck and that is where we will begin.

Install Minecraft

There are multiple ways to do it.   Install something like Prism Launcher in your Linux Desktop environment.  You’ll need to use the Desktop Mode, which is easy by press and Hold the power button until the power menu comes up and select Desktop Mode.  You’ll probably should use a mouse and Keyboard and you can even use small dongle connection to do it temporarily so you can do what you need in the Desktop Mode.   Once in the desktop Mode, You can either download Minecraft which would require some work around to keep you from having to login to Microsoft every time you launch the game or click on Discover and install one of the many Minecraft Apps available to install it.    I suggest trying one of those to see if it will keep your login credentials when you launch the game.   You’ll probably need to search for a work around on some of them to keep from having to login every-time.   I can’t remember how I did but I think I installed the key-ring credentials to use the java version.

Adding it to Steam

You’ll want to click on Add a Non-Steam game!

Some things you will need to find out is where the Minecraft launcher is on the Steam Desktop. If you did it right it should be on your desktop. However, if you didn’t do it right, you’ll need to track down where it is on your steam os file system. However, it shouldn’t be hard to find and it should be hard to direct steam where to launch the launcher and stuff.  I’ve done it on my Steam Deck and there are even instructions do it for Prism.  I’ve not used Prism so I don’t know how well this will but it should work in theory.

Seamless Integration

Discover how Minecraft seamlessly integrates with Steam Deck’s controls for an immersive gaming experience. This is something you should be done before you do anything is to customize how it looks. You will probably need to add a custom Background and Custom Logo.   You can easily do that by using clicking on the right mouse button and finding a background that would work for you.   I typically search for a good background and save it to the Steam Deck to use.   This helps when you leave the Steam OS desktop.  You’ll need to also probably also look for a good Logo that you want to use as a way to identify with it as being Minecraft.   This is something that can be easily done in the Desktop.   Also you will need setup the control by clicking on the little COG icon and selecting the proper controller setup for Minecraft.   I believe the WASP / Mouse settings work best for me and you will need to customize that to make it even more easy for you.   Play around with the settings to see what works well for you.

What games are you using with the Steam Deck?   Why not leave a comment and tell use what you are doing with yours and how you are using it?  it can be very useful to know which games work on the Steam Deck?  Don’t forget to subscribe for more Steam Deck tips and tricks.