Economy Thread

[GG1]

Next nine to twelve months are going to be very challenging, no matter who's in the White House.   Many furloughs and layoffs will be permanent as industries retrench.  Most companies figured out a way to be as productive with less manpower and that trend will continue for most.   In the end, the hiring will resume as this transformation ill open up new opportunities, but there will be pain in the interim.   

 

Case in point are the rising new jobless claims today, and this trend will be repeated for a while.

[LB3]

I keep hearing the term "rightsizing" being used a lot. My company is in the process of doing it.

[GG1]

2 minutes ago, LB3 said:

I keep hearing the term "rightsizing" being used a lot. My company is in the process of doing it.

 

I hear it from commercial real estate rationalization perspective and the follow on savings by adjusting salaries because fewer employees will be commuting.   

[LB3]

24 minutes ago, GG1 said:

 

I hear it from commercial real estate rationalization perspective and the follow on savings by adjusting salaries because fewer employees will be commuting.   

A large portion of our staff has been getting full pay and benefits since March to just stay home. Not work from home mind you, stay home (the owner of my company is very wealthy and compassionate to a fault). We streamlined and automated most of what they did. We've discovered that we lose nothing from a production standpoint. In actuality we've increased productivity because we don't have to spend time creating and overseeing jobs for those staff members.

 

From a personal standpoint, it is sad to see so many laid off. From a business standpoint, I'm happy because it gave us an opportunity to get rid of dead weight. Their absence was the best demonstration of how little value they provided. Several actually made things harder when they were working because they needed extra oversight.

 

*LAMP ALERT

Selfishly, this has been great for me from a career standpoint. I've been given more face time (Zoom) with upper management and that has paid off. Ideas and solutions that would have normally gone through middle management are now coming directly from me (I'm a data analyst). I'm getting a 22% raise because of it. I hate when people say we'll never get back to normal life because of the Wuhan Flu, but there is no going back in the business world IMO.

 

 

[Deranged Rhino]

 

[Ann]

 

[Deranged Rhino]

 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

 

What's he gonna do; wave a magic wand to make those jobs come back?

[Ann]

 

[Ann]

 

[Deranged Rhino]

 

[Hedge]

2 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

 

I have never delved into this data, but I do wonder how reliable claims are about continuing claims falling. I believe benefits max out after 26 weeks (at a maximum). We are now 32 weeks in since mid-March, so some would seemingly be due to this.

[Cinga]

2 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

 

Considering how much is still shut down around some areas, this is an amazing feat. Seems the economy is picking up steam again in spite of all that!

 

12 minutes ago, Hedge said:

 

I have never delved into this data, but I do wonder how reliable claims are about continuing claims falling. I believe benefits max out after 26 weeks (at a maximum). We are now 32 weeks in since mid-March, so some would seemingly be due to this.

 

The pandemic relief bill included an extension from 13 to 20 weeks depending on how long your state normal was. Any state that is normally less than 39 weeks can get the assistance

[Deranged Rhino]

 

[3rdnlng]

8 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

Of course oil field workers can instantly switch from pipefitting to building a national grid. If AOC could serve 12 different kinds of beer and make a "sex on the beach" and a "slippery nipple" on the same night they ought to be able to diversify too. 

[Deranged Rhino]

Anyone with a better understanding of the economy than me (which is everyone) want to chime in on this? 

 

That seems like a huge number to get right before an election...

[Ann]

1 hour ago, Deranged Rhino said:

Anyone with a better understanding of the economy than me (which is everyone) want to chime in on this? 

 

That seems like a huge number to get right before an election...

Ok, I asked Hubby.  He said because they annualized the number, that looks enormous. Basically, it is getting back to the Q3 2019 number (about). Which is phenomenal with so much of the country still shutdown and completely "unexpected."


 

[Ann]

And this is with California still shutdown, and NY not operating fully.

 

 

[Ann]

 

[Ann]