> sometimes people get hired in bulk to show growth

Um no, this doesn't happen. Nobody is paying useless people just to "show growth".

Oh you know this for an irrefutable fact, now?

Yes. It's the kind of thing stated by people who have never run a business.

Of the 8.1 billion humans alive, 3 billion of them have jobs (approximately). You are speaking for every single last one of them, that they weren't hired for some office political reason and every single last one of them is useful at their job? I haven't spoken to all of them, but I find that hard to believe.

The fact that you have to invoke "every single last one" of 8 billion people to demonstrate the possibility of this happening is pretty telling.