unemployment rate jump. In the unemployment rate, unemployment rate has jumped in just the last year. The jobs picture is not very Rosy in many countries around the world. Unemployment is at multi-year lows. In theory, this means it should be easy to find work. I want to work. I need to work. And yet, in practice, there has been a tsunami of anecdotal evidence to suggest the opposite is true. And it's only getting worse. That's why today we're going to examine why it is that you can't seem to find a job despite their apparent abundance. And what you can do to stand out from other candidates. Now let's begin with explaining what unemployment actually means. To put it simply, a person is counted as unemployed if they don't have a job but are currently available for work and have actively looked for a job in the last four weeks. There are three types of unemployment. These are structural, frictional, and cyclical. Structural unemployment can basically be viewed as a mismatch in skills. For example, you've seen a job as a car

mechanic, but your skill set revolves around coding in JavaScript. Obviously, you can't exactly just code yourself a new car oil change. Frictional unemployment is only temporary, usually only really occurring as you transition between jobs. Perhaps you've switched careers, or you've moved to a different city. However, cyclical unemployment is the most important form of unemployment and is the one that most people think about. It arises from the business cycle when businesses look to reduce their headcount to meet profit expectations. As a side note, there is also underemployment, which is when people are working basic jobs despite being overqualified. Think someone with a master's degree in engineering working at the drive-thru at McDonald's. Alternatively, underemployment can also include those who are actively seeking full-time work and are working part-time until they find it. Anyway, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics or BLS, the current unemployment rate in the US is 3.9%. Specifically, there are 6.5 million unemployed people in the US, and yet there are 8.5 million job openings.

however, the BLS also predicts that there's an additional 5.6 million people who want a job but aren't counted. We'll come back to how unemployment data is calculated a little bit later. Something to keep in mind here is just because 3.9% of the population is unemployed, that doesn't mean that 96.1% of the population is working. There are other factors to consider, such as students, retirees, those with disabilities, or people doing the most important job in the world: raising a family at home. These people are subsequently not counted towards the labor force. Now, obviously, this data only really applies to the US, which has the highest GDP of anywhere in the world, but as the saying goes, when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. As such, we'll mainly stick to US statistics throughout the video for simplicity's sake. By the way, have you liked this video yet? Come on, we know you want to. I bet you want to pet that subscribe button too, don't you? Please be our guest and you

see that little bell icon. Go ahead and treat yourself. You deserve it. Anywh, there is a ton of reasons why people aren't finding jobs. But one reason is because doing so would actually be a net negative. Basically, people are unwilling to accept salaries that don't meet the rising cost of living, and employers don't want to pay too much because they have their own costs to think about. This creates a bit of a 22 situation, leaving job positions vacant for longer. Another reason is because of how competitive the job market has become. This relates to the underemployment factor that we mentioned a moment ago, as people are unable to compete with others who are using their advanced qualifications to fill entry-level positions. This has led to more and more people developing additional skills just to maintain a competitive edge. For example, you could complete a sales training course, attend an AI seminar, or you might even develop your JavaScript skills in an online coding boot camp, much like our hopeful mechanic friend from earlier. Ironically, many of these people who develop new skills end up choosing to

work for themselves. Instead, many others, however, will try and use the skills that they've picked up to apply for anything and everything they come across. Only as you'll see later, this approach doesn't seem to work. We interrupt this program for an emergency crypto weather forecast. Get ready for the Whirlwind of savings. We're seeing a high press sign-up bonus system forming in the Northeast, with some exchanges offering up to $60,000. Lush in the South will be seeing some heavy discounts on Hardware wallets, so watch out for those if you're going to be out and about. And then over in central areas, there's a high chance of trading fee discounts, which should be setting in later on, up to 60% off. These are amazing. For a more comprehensive forecast, visit the coin bureau deals page using the link in the description. These deals are red hot, so make sure to take all necessary precautions. That's all for the forecast. Now back to our scheduled program. Now this ties into how the unemployment rate is calculated. For reference, the

unemployment rate is the percentage of the labor workforce that isn't currently employed. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the highly anticipated unemployment data on the first Friday of every month. The BLS actually has six categories for unemployment rates ranging from U1 to U6. The most commonly cited unemployment rate used by analysts and by media Outlets is the U3, the one the general public is the most familiar with. Anyway, according to the BLS, people working on a temporary or part-time basis are considered employed, along with those working full time. They also include those who've worked at least 15 hours a week unpaid for a family business or on a farm. People who are unable to work aren't counted as unemployed and instead categorized as outside of the labor force. The same applies to people who have been looking for work but have become discouraged by their lack of success in finding any. The BLS adjusts the unemployment rate on a seasonal basis, accounting for predictable variations. These could include a surge in retail employment ahead of a busier

Q4 or a slowdown in construction. In the same time period, the BLS also provides an unadjusted version of the employment rate. For good measure, now the employment rate is one of the most watched indicators for economic health, along with GDP and CPI data. That's because of the inverse effect the employment data has on the markets. In case you weren't aware, a low unemployment level might be good for people's livelihoods, but it's paradoxically bad for the market. That's because a low unemployment rate means the economy is strong and that there is no reason for the FED to lower interest rates. If the unemployment rate goes lower, it could even mean the FED needs to raise interest rates as the strong economy could cause inflation. FYI, raising rates restricts borrowing and spending. Conversely, a higher unemployment rate is paradoxically good for the markets because it usually means that the FED will have to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates, which makes it possible for people to borrow and spend more. And in the case of the

rich buy up more of the assets as regular folk are trying to buy like homes. That said, a higher unemployment rate can still be bad for the markets under some conditions. If unemployment starts to rise quickly, then this could mean a recession is coming, and that's bad for the market. Even if the Fed does cut interest rates, experts generally agree that an unemployment rate of between 3% and 5% is ideal, and the FED targets 4%, right in the middle. Go figure. Now, in case it wasn't clear enough, the employment rate helps inform the Fed's interest rate policy. That's why analysts and the media will pay close attention to it. However, this is just one piece of the puzzle. That's because the employment rate is one part of the employment situation summary, more commonly referred to as simply the jobs report. The jobs report is based on surveys of households and employers. It analyzes several key pieces of data such as the number of people on payrolls, the average number of hours worked per week, the hourly earnings, and several versions of the employment

data. The jobs report is also the first to provide data for the previous month, making it one of the most highly anticipated economic indicators. Because the Federal Reserve uses the jobs report when setting monetary policy, investment firms will issue estimates ahead of its release because of how it can move the markets. Anyway, the jobs report is made up of two surveys: The Establishment survey and the household survey. The Establishment survey, previously known as the Current Employee Statistic survey or CES, collects data from over 120,000 non-farm businesses and government agencies. It accounts for approximately 13% of all workers on payroll. And as a fun fact, the survey excludes farm workers due to the seasonal nature of the industry. Well, the more you know. Notably, The Establishment survey provides data per state and per industry and is seasonally adjusted in the same way as the unemployment rate is. Data for non-farm payrolls or NFP is adjusted in both the Establishment and the household survey to incorporate these seasonal adjustments, as well as additional survey responses. As for household surveys, these are based on

monthly interviews of around 60,000 households conducted by the US Census Bureau on behalf of the BLS. Household surveys are what gives us the U3 unemployment rate that we mentioned earlier. However, household surveys are also less precise due to having a smaller sample size. Another unemployment survey that the markets watch is the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, more commonly known as JOLTS. This is a monthly report published by the BLS that counts the number of job vacancies against the number of separations, including voluntary quits, as well as layoffs or firings, and other separations such as retirements or deaths. The job openings of the JOLTS report are closely monitored as an indicator for labor demand, whereas quits are monitored as an indicator for employment demand. Together, the JOLTS provide a gauge for turnover rates. The thing is, people only tend to pay attention to a portion of the JOLTS data, specifically the job openings. The problem is this doesn't provide a clear view of the bigger picture. Now, this begs

the question of how the current jobs data matches with the state of the economy well if you were to look at the unemployment rate and the number of job openings things might look hunky-dory on the surface recall that the current unemployment rate in the US is 3.9% which economic analysts would agree is reasonable as it falls within the 3 to 5% range and recall that there are currently 6.5 million unemployed people in the US with 8.5 million job openings plenty for everyone right well not exactly you see the real problems lie in the rate of hiring if you exclude March and April of 2020 hiring in the US economy is actually at its worst level in 6 and a half years this is something that Jeff Snyder over euro dollar University discusses at length and we'll leave a link to his video in the description for you to check out in that video Jeff explains that the rate of hiring in March this year came in at 5.5

million people, which is the lowest hiring rate since December 2017. He also explains that the number of people quitting their jobs is falling, and that's because people know how hard it is to get reemployed once they leave. This is more concerning than you might think because it proves just how weakly the economy is performing despite what Jerome Powell would have you believe. That's because logically, businesses will slow down their hiring when they don't see enough potential to generate more revenue. In fact, this is something that's even been noted by the S&P regarding Q2 of this year. They said, and I quote, A number of survey respondents indicated that they have held off on backfilling positions following the departure of staff. As a result, employment decreased for the first time since June 2020. This underscores something that the FED doesn't seem to take into account: a low unemployment rate does not equal a booming economy, something that we are literally seeing right now. The thing is, a primary factor calculating if the economy is officially

In a recession, is to see if there's been an increase in the unemployment rate. And some would argue we're already in one, although this really depends on your definition. For reference, the Federal Reserve notes a recession as being two consecutive quarters of decline in GDP, whereas the National Bureau of Economic Research or NBER provides their definition is, and I quote, the period between a peak of economic activity and its subsequent trough or low point. And if you've watched our video about when a recession could be here, you'll know that former Fed Insider Danielle de Martino Booth believes that the US has actually been in a recession since October 2023 because the unemployment rate in the US has gone up in every single one of the 50 states. We'll leave a link to that video below. There's also an indicator known as the SRU. The SRU has been able to accurately predict every recession for the last few decades much sooner than other unemployment data. The SRU needs to be above 5 for it to be confirmed a recession.

right now, at the time of me shooting this video, it's sitting at 37, but it is slowly rising. Besides the official government data, on-the-ground data suggests that an increasing number of people are relying on their credit cards to buy necessities. Not really what you want in a so-called strong economy, and it's really the tip of the Consumer Debt Iceberg. There are millions of people resorting to using buy now, pay at services on top of their existing debts just to get by. If you watched our recent video on BNPL, you'll know it's a slippery slope that could leave you, the economy, and the markets in a mess. There's a link to that one down below, by the way, guys. But again, there is an apparent abundance of jobs out there, so what gives? As it turns out, there are several reasons why finding a job is more difficult than it seems. The biggest reason is because of what's known as ghost jobs. No, these aren't jobs where you get paid to call yourself Casper, wear a bed sheet, and

chase after your neighbors. As fun as that might sound, ghost jobs are postings that a company will put up for a job that they have no intention of filling, at least for that moment in time. Ghost jobs are listed by companies to give them certain advantages. For example, they could keep a job listing open indefinitely, even if it's already been filled, because the employer knows it's a job with a high turnover rate. Keeping it open saves costs on relisting. Ghost jobs also allow businesses to attract top talent for the role, basically because so many people out there are desperately looking for work. Employers can be more selective in who they're hiring, all the while companies will build up a database of talent. They can store hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants' data that show all of their skills and experience. That way, when the time does come to fill a particular role, they can simply contact the most desirable candidate. This data also allows companies to scope out the competition because it often includes information about if they've worked at a

rival firm, and how much they were paid for their time. This allows employers to cut costs by finding people who will accept the lowest pay. Companies exploiting this system can hold off to find the perfect candidate. If they can't, they can just keep updating the current staff that they'll be a new team member as soon as the right one comes along. Honestly, it is a broken system rigged against workers, but it is great for businesses. But perhaps most important for the employer, advertising jobs looks good to shareholders because it gives the illusion that the business is growing, even if it isn't. Rather than seeing that businesses are struggling and selling stocks as a result, this apparent growth could actually help bring in even more investors. However, ghost jobs aren't the only thing making it difficult to find employment. Consider this: you can now upload a resume to a site like indeed or LinkedIn and spam applications across thousands of positions at once. Well, so can everyone else. This means that employers are hit with thousands of resumes at once, and nobody in the world will have time to go

through all of them. Thankfully for the employer, at least there are now AI tools that can filter through all of these applications to whittle that number down. However, this convenience comes at a huge cost to both the employee and the employer. A survey found that up to 75% of résumés are rejected before they're even read by human eyes. Rejections include people who are both underqualified and overqualified. But maybe a job isn't being filled because it just isn't desirable enough. As we touched on earlier, even the bare necessities are much more expensive than they used to be, so people might not want a job that pays a low salary or has an irregular schedule with little to no benefits or even job security. And speaking of job security, it's not just difficult to get a job, but in some cases, it's even harder to keep it. In 2022, Engadget got hold of a leaked report from Amazon which revealed their staff turnover was so bad that despite being a business of 1.6 million people, Amazon

was actively hiring 2.4 million people. This puts their staff turnover at 150%. Now, to be fair, this practice might be sketchy, but it isn't illegal. And because it seems to work well for employers, it isn't likely to stop happening anytime soon. The difficulty in finding a job can be seen everywhere, from large corporations cutting thousands of jobs to small businesses closing down, and even people on TikTok saying they've applied for over 1,000 jobs with little to no success. And from the 16 final interviews I've got one offer. A lot of this comes down to the demand for various sectors slowing down after the pandemic. For example, Expedia announced 1,500 layoffs in February, accounting for 9% of its overall workforce due to slowing travel demand after the post-pandemic boom. Other companies are cutting their staffing numbers after over-hiring during the pandemic, such as Indeed, which ironically announced 1,000 layoffs. When you lose your job at a company designed to help

you find work, you know things aren't exactly going well. It's not just the pandemic causing layoffs either. For instance, Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, announced over 6,000 layoffs due to reduced sales of its EVs. Logistics company UPS has cut 12,000 jobs in order to save around $1 billion in cost, with managers and contractors making up a majority of the positions being laid off. As for smaller businesses, these have had an even harder time keeping up with the economy. In fact, according to the BLS, 20% of small businesses close within a year, and just under 35% of them make it to their 10th anniversary. This is significant because despite corporations making the headlines, it's small companies that make up as much as 90% of all businesses around the world, accounting for 60 to 70% of all employees. Many small businesses claim to be struggling to fill positions, citing a lack of qualified applicants. Although given what we discussed earlier, whether this is true or not is up for debate.

small businesses typically list quality of Labor as the second largest challenge behind inflation. Of course, some sectors tend to struggle more than others. As you can see in this chart, the industry with the highest unemployment rate is Leisure and Hospitality with 5.7%. On the flip side, the sector with the lowest unemployment rate is governments with just 1.2%. What a surprise! So then, this begs one all-important question: with the job market becoming more and more competitive by the day, how can you position yourself to stay ahead of the pack? As it so happens, there are a few steps you can take to boost your chances of landing a job. The first thing you can do is to go out and network. Speak to people who work in an industry you're interested in and try and get yourself a seat at the table, so to speak. In a lot of cases, it's not what you know but who you know that will get you where you want to be. Another thing you can do is to find something you enjoy and something that you're good at.

and to master it. To quote Mr. Warren Buffett, In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those doing what they love. Start honing your skills in these areas, and sooner or later, there won't be a reason for a company to say no. But what if they still do? Well, maybe your skills can give you the option to work for yourself. Maybe you love decorating, or perhaps you love writing. Whatever your talent is, consider putting it to good use by building your very own business around it. If that doesn't sound like you and you'd rather try and get your foot in the door of another company, then consider working voluntarily for a bit if that's an option for you, of course. Not only will you be able to showcase your skills, but you'll be the first in mind for consideration if and when a job comes up. You could even make that consideration the condition for your voluntary support. Next stop is your resume. Your resume is basically your own sales pitch, so you want to make sure that it follows a few basic rules. Keep

it short but detailed. Add a few personal touches and use a template that makes it appealing to the hiring manager. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you be interested in reading it, or would your eyes just glaze over? There are plenty of templates online you can use if you're not sure how to structure your own. And if you really want your job application to be considered, then don't just spam applications to thousands of positions in a spray-and-pray approach. Take time to go through each application and find out further information. Apply through the website directly as well as on Indeed or whatever job site you're using. Maybe you can even find the contact details for the hiring manager. If you do, then why not send them a message highlighting your eagerness to work there? You know, if you're feeling busy enough, why not send a voice message? This provides a much-needed personal touch rather than just being another resume in a long list of resumes. Whatever steps you choose to take, we here at Coin Bu wish you all the very best of luck. Happy

Hunting. Okay guys, that is all for today's video. If you found it interesting, let us know by smashing that like button. If you want to get more interesting content like this, subscribe to the channel and ping that notification Bell. If you know someone who would find this video interesting, take a second to share it with them. As always, thank you so much for watching and we'll see you all next time. This is Jessica signing off. [Music]

This is Why You CAN'T Find a Job!!

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