The unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in April. The Federal Researve considers full employment to be between 5-5.2%. That means there are barely enough workers to fill current demand.
There is something he is not telling us.
The labor participation rate is also up slightly from the Obamaconomy. Speaking of which, "Hobo" was laid off in that wondrous Obamaconomy. There's definitely more to this story, IMO:
* Outsourcing is as much bogeyman as reality. It has and does happen. And some outsourced jobs have been returning, for several years. The problems of communication, skills match, quality, and employee have shown US companies the downside of outsourcing;
* I went through an unforced job search last summer. I'm not a young guy, but I started my new job after 2-3 months' search, and another company was also interested in me. If you have the desired/needed knowledge and skills, age is not an insuperable barrier;
* The "Survival Job" (low-paid near entry-level job) strategy can work, but you have to understand 3 things. First, the prospective employer knows you will bail as soon as you find a job in your field. So the cost of employing you includes having to retrain a new person, possibly very soon. Second, you will have a lot of competition for an entry-level job. Third, entry-level jobs are a threatened species. Even before the $15 per hour movement, minimum wage increases have forced employers to minimize entry-level jobs. And if you live in a $15/hour city, YASS!
Unless "Hobo" lives in a dying employment market, there's probably some performance-character issue that's keeping him from being hired. "Medical" MJ? Job-hopper? Criminal record? Known malcontent? Posted stupidity on FB? Lots of possibilities.
