Jobs data is super bad

Why is it so bad?

1. Companies over-hired

   Following COVID, companies were encouraged to hire and they did. They made huge commitments to growth and hiring projecting years into the future. Then, 2022 rolled around and the Federal Reserve needed to raise rates to calm inflation. This paused much of the projected expansion. Now, in 2025, companies realized that, with still restrictive rates, they have over-hired and we are seeing some of the largest job layoffs in recent history.

2. Companies are ageist

   If you are older and you get let go from some of these companies, good luck getting hired anywhere else. Many will claim you to be “overqualified”. Meaning, you will expect too much pay in a lower level position. Have too much experience and you will become nearly unemployable, or at least fighting with many other for the same job.

3. Graduates are having a hard time finding placements

   At the same time as these layoffs are happening, recent graduates riddled with debt are having some of the most difficult times finding a job in the field they studied. To be fair, sometimes they studied topics they should have been advised against as there are few jobs in their degree to begin with. But even jobs like entry level coding are being swallowed up by Artificial Intelligence. A degree does not guarantee a job, just ask Palantir, a billion dollar company who has said they will no longer hire kids who go to university. It may be that, for some, university is a detriment and not a plus.

4. We are in a recession

   If it were not for the huge spend on Artificial Intelligence we would be in a recession. Low income and middle class (if that is a thing still) are being crushed by debt, inflation, wage stagnation, and now job pressure. Not that long ago, people were “quiet-quitting” their jobs. Now people are at real risk of being let go though they desperately cannot afford to be.

None of this would be as much of an issue if we were all more self reliant. But we are far from that reality. Not only do people not understand how to construct their iPhone or computer, or how to make their clothes or build much of anything; most don’t know (or care) where their food comes from.

We have become a nation of debtors, of consumers, of watchers. We are employed rather than entrepreneurial. We rent and do not own. We invest in others and yet feel it too risky to take a chance investing in ourselves.

So many people are at the mercy of the system going on the way it always has. We are dependent on government subsidizing our lives. We need a corporation to hire us, knowing full well they are beholden to stockholders, not their employees.

So many hate the system, and yet cannot afford it to change. Just like how most people dislike their job but would be crushed if they lost it.

The jobs data is bad, but it reveals an ugliness in our society that is much worse — fragility and dependence. Solve these things and you won’t have a jobs problem.

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