California's unemployment rate close to 5%, second highest in US (Country Club: real estate, leasing)

[sav858]

California's unemployment rate close to 5%, second highest in US

California’s unemployment rate crept up to 4.9% last month, one of the highest in the nation. It’s the second month in a row the state saw an increase in people on unemployment rolls, according to the California Employment Development Department.

Unemployment rates increased in every Bay Area county last month. Meanwhile, they also rose in 11 states, plus California, between October and November. Unemployment rates remained stable in 38 states and Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Former EDD head Michael Bernick, now an attorney at Duane Morris LLP, pointed out that the Golden State’s unemployment rate of 4.9% is the second highest of any state, while the 9,300 nonfarm payroll jobs the state did add in November was among the lowest month-to-month gains of the past five years.

[blameyourself]

That's Awesome! Thanks for posting such great news.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f...5%20or%20above.

What Rate Is Considered Full Employment?

Many economists consider an unemployment rate of 5% or lower to be maximum employment, or as close to full employment as is possible in the real world. This means that the rate of full employment is 95% or above.

What's even more amazing is if CA at near 5% is the second highest in the U.S., that means the country is kicking A!

Let's go Joe!

[sav858]

You're very welcome. I'm here to educate and inform!

[MechAndy]

Joe and Gavin sure do amazing work.

On a serious note,
I am not sure why there is an unemployment issue.
Are the decent jobs really that hard to get?
I have seen a lack of service in the service industry which seems odd to me as well.
What sectors are being hit the hardest with the unemployment situation?

My wife is not in HR but is in a senior position and currently spends 3-4 hours per week giving her input via zoom meetings trying to hire well paid people.
She says there is a shortage of good qualified people in her field.

I just don’t get what the issue is.
I think there are plenty of service/retail industry jobs but I can see not wanting one of those.
I had a high paying union job and they have asked me several times to come back to work and double dip to my pension income without penalty.

So where are the lack of jobs at?

[sav858]

Guessing we'll be seeing more of this next year...

California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase

Pizza Hut is laying off more than 1,200 delivery drivers in California.

The layoffs, which will take place through the end of February, come as California's minimum wage is about to go up by $4. Fast-food workers in the state are set to get a pay bump of close to 30% in April as the minimum wages rises from $16 to $20 an hour.

[MechAndy]

Interesting.
We just had a conversation about fast food last night at our Christmas dinner.
My son and I had an unscheduled road trip and were forced to get fast food at Jack in the box.
We weren’t really forced by any means it was either that or go hungry.
I am not a fan of fast food.
So I ended up paying over $40 for two rather simple meals.

I predict half of all fast food places will shut down because people either can’t afford to eat there or are just not willing to spend that kind of money for poor (and unhealthy) quality food.
The remaining fast food businesses will mostly be located along major highways or congested areas.
Gone for the most part will be the fast food places that once catered to the town locals and its youths.
No longer will owning a franchise or two be a ticket to a Country Club lifestyle.

All that said, I still don’t see where these high unemployment numbers are coming from.
It’s not like if you lose your burger flipping job you can’t find another POS job.
Right?

[njbiodude]

Big tech did layoffs earlier this year and last year due to interest rate increases.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by sav858

Guessing we'll be seeing more of this next year...

California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase

Pizza Hut is laying off more than 1,200 delivery drivers in California.

The layoffs, which will take place through the end of February, come as California's minimum wage is about to go up by $4. Fast-food workers in the state are set to get a pay bump of close to 30% in April as the minimum wages rises from $16 to $20 an hour.

Maybe it's because their pizza sucks

[hitman619]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

Joe and Gavin sure do amazing work.

On a serious note,
I am not sure why there is an unemployment issue.
Are the decent jobs really that hard to get?
I have seen a lack of service in the service industry which seems odd to me as well.
What sectors are being hit the hardest with the unemployment situation?

My wife is not in HR but is in a senior position and currently spends 3-4 hours per week giving her input via zoom meetings trying to hire well paid people.
She says there is a shortage of good qualified people in her field.

I just don’t get what the issue is.
I think there are plenty of service/retail industry jobs but I can see not wanting one of those.
I had a high paying union job and they have asked me several times to come back to work and double dip to my pension income without penalty.

So where are the lack of jobs at?

In my sector I'm good people quit, good jobs.
Most of the people quitting in sector or quitting for either better pay, or better working conditions, ie work from home.
The one thing Ive notice about all the people quitting for better is Student loan Debt. All 10 people in my department, purchasing, all went back to school to get their masters and doctorates before and during the Pandemic. Most attended diploma mills for their degrees, so i know those student loans are eating them alive right now.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by sav858

Guessing we'll be seeing more of this next year...

California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase

Pizza Hut is laying off more than 1,200 delivery drivers in California.

The layoffs, which will take place through the end of February, come as California's minimum wage is about to go up by $4. Fast-food workers in the state are set to get a pay bump of close to 30% in April as the minimum wages rises from $16 to $20 an hour.

They always blame the minimum wage. It reminds me of a popular pizza restaurant I worked at many years ago in the middle of Silicon Valley. The location opened in 1969 and closed in 2019, just before the pandemic hit. Lucky owner. He must have had a premonition of what was going to happen.

Anyway I only recently got around to reading the online articles about the closing. The owner at the time didn't give a statement as to a reason for the restaurant closing. But one reporter talked to the general managers of two other nearby locations of the same chain. They both agreed that the likely reasons for the closing was 1. Too high a rent. They couldn't make enough profit to stay in business and pay the high rent. 2. Difficulty finding workers, because restaurant workers couldn't afford Silicon Valley rents either. In short, high rents caused it to close.

But of course there had to be over a hundred bot comments on the article all parroting each other saying "see that's what happens when you raise the minimum wage". Indicating that not one of them actually read the article.

Incidentally the location is still vacant after four years. According to the real estate listing the management company has been spending a lot of money remodeling the building to bring it up to bare shell condition. They are probably going to have to spend a lot more money to get it to warm shell before anybody will take a chance on leasing that place. And the rent will probably have to be lower too.