> you're gonna have to try hard to get a Home Depot job

Things are definitely weird because the current unemployment rate isn't far off 50 year lows: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE

The unemployment rate is misleading; it is harder than any time before 2008 to get a new job: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UEMPMEAN

Yeah unemployment famously doesn’t include those who’ve given up… I fear there are many more than we’re willing to admit

I'm not sure if one can trust any numbers posted by the federal government.

That job exist does not equate that good jobs exist. Some jobs are far away requiring you to commute for two hours (you can’t because you have a family) or move (you can‘t because you can‘t afford the move), most are low paying to the extent that they are simply not even worth your time. Many are stressful (to the extent you physically can‘t do them), etc. etc.

Anyway, this has been explained a lot in the literature, unemployment rates are a poor measure of the difficulty of finding a job.

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