The job market is a fraud

Work


Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.

I have said the job market is a scam.[1] It turns out I was right:

In a survey of more than 1,000 hiring managers last summer [2021], 27% reported having job postings up for more than four months. Among those who said they advertised job postings that they weren’t actively trying to fill, close to half said they kept the ads up to give the impression the company was growing, according to Clarify Capital, a small-business-loan provider behind the study. One-third of the managers who said they advertised jobs they weren’t trying to fill said they kept the listings up to placate overworked employees.

Other reasons for keeping jobs up, the hiring managers said: Stocking a pool of ready applicants if an employee quits, or just in case an “irresistible” candidate applied.[2]

Te-Ping Chen, “Job Listings Abound, but Many Are Fake,” Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/that-plum-job-listing-may-just-be-a-ghost-3aafc794


Imperialism

Russia

Ukraine


Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[3] fair use.

Xi Jinping may have traveled to see Vladimir Putin, but it is Putin who is becoming ever more dependent on Xi.[4] And speaking of assholes, look who blocked a joint European Union statement acknowledging the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin.[5]

Alberto Nardelli, Jorge Valero, and Samy Adghirni, “Hungary Blocked Joint EU Statement on Putin’s ICC Arrest Warrant,” Bloomberg, March 20, 2023, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-20/hungary-blocked-joint-eu-statement-on-putin-s-icc-arrest-warrant

Ishaan Tharoor, “Xi meets Putin in show of anti-West unity, but there’s unease, too,” Washington Post, March 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/21/xi-meets-putin-show-anti-west-unity-theres-unease-too/


  1. [1]David Benfell, “Futility,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/futility/
  2. [2]Te-Ping Chen, “Job Listings Abound, but Many Are Fake,” Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/that-plum-job-listing-may-just-be-a-ghost-3aafc794
  3. [3]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q
  4. [4]Ishaan Tharoor, “Xi meets Putin in show of anti-West unity, but there’s unease, too,” Washington Post, March 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/21/xi-meets-putin-show-anti-west-unity-theres-unease-too/
  5. [5]Alberto Nardelli, Jorge Valero, and Samy Adghirni, “Hungary Blocked Joint EU Statement on Putin’s ICC Arrest Warrant,” Bloomberg, March 20, 2023, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-20/hungary-blocked-joint-eu-statement-on-putin-s-icc-arrest-warrant

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