Looking at the March jobs report,<p>-March, full-time jobs dropped by 6,000 as Part-time jobs soared by 691,000<p>-the unemployment rate for Blacks (6.4 percent) increased in March to the highest level in almost two years<p>From 12 months ago,<p>-in February 2023 the US had 133.2 million full-time jobs, or more than it does one year later<p>-all the job growth since then has been in part-time jobs, which have increased by 870K since February 2023 (from 27.020 million to 27.890 million)<p>Over the last four years,<p>-all net job creation in the past 4 years has been for foreign-born workers<p>-zero net job-creation for native born workers since July 2018<p>Source: bls.gov
I do think there's reasons for this that people aren't accounting for. It started before covid but only in small amounts but after covid a lot of people's job mindset has shifted. Post covid a lot of people realized they did not need to work full time and they don't want to work full. So job seekers have changed in what they're looking for and what they're willing to accept.<p>When looking at the job markets I don't believe this is strictly a trend of employers choosing only part-time workers and reducing full-time workers. Some may be but I believe the vast majority of companies are responding to the labor force and what the labor force is asking for. Companies would prefer to have full-time people because those people tend to be more stable in their work environments and their dependability and the value that they can bring to the company. Part-time work is great for low skill, no skill jobs but we're seeing a vast growth in part-time work available for medium skill jobs which is a vast departure from what things used to be. Companies having to invest time and money into training a part-time worker for a medium skill level job isn't a great bargain for them but if the work needs done they have to do it if that's the only people they can get.<p>It's really the natural evolution from the gig economy that started pre-covid with Uber and other gig style things. Now other businesses are having to adopt that kind of flexibility. Because what they're also not saying is not only is it part-time workers as a general classification which is really flexible workers but also salary payouts have changed drastically. It used to be normal you got paid every two weeks and it was on a two-week delay. Some jobs may have even been monthly pay with several weeks to a month delay in getting your payment. Now there is a vast number of jobs that are offering daily pay or weekly pay and it is immediate at the end of the term. So you just worked your work week it drops into your bank account immediately.<p>All of this is not something that the businesses are pushing for because for them they would rather keep a more stable worker but it is what the workforce is demanding. So calling the US Labor market weaker, yes, maybe, but it's really just a shift responding to what the workers want and not what the business is need. Some job sectors go up and some job sectors go down. Overall it doesn't appear that we're in some sort of vast recession although the tech market seems to be fairly flat or in a slight downturn. Other sectors are not that way they still can't find enough qualified people to do the work. When I go to a restaurant and three quarters of their tables are closed down simply because they cannot hire enough wait staff. That's not the restaurant wanting to turn away customers that's not even them underpaying for a position it's simply that people have realized they don't have to do the work. They can choose more flexible work and they can get by.<p>Now it is kind of an economic house of cards that we've built. And I think we're definitely seeing the effects of the helicopter money that was rained down for far too long from covid. So the correction that needs to be done here is lowering the floor a bit because we're still helicoptering way too much money for people who could be productive members of society. Once that happens people will realize that they either need to work or they need to find a way to do without, and I mean do without completely because they are capable of working and shouldn't be having this assistance.