Transcription
According to the Federal Reserve, young workers entering the job market are now facing the worst unemployment rate in nearly 40 years, with applications outpacing job openings by 400%. And with 300 million people projected to lose their jobs to AI just within the next 5 years, it raises the question: how close are we to a complete job market collapse?
While the job market has evolved drastically throughout history, with each generation facing severe economic and cultural upheaval, the compounding effect of rapid technological expansion and the constant selling out of the future has left today's working class in a crisis unlike anything we've seen before. One of the first major issues we are facing is the consequences of reclassifying humans as consumers, as it has fundamentally changed the incentives behind our economic data. Where rather than looking at the unemployment rate as a direct representation of the working class being unable to provide for their family, or the youth being unable to build a foundation that will be the backbone of the nation's future.
We live in a reality where the stock market is actually banking on the fact for unemployment to get worse. So interest rates will come down, and we'll be able to just drown ourselves in debt even easier. The government views the unemployment rate as fuel for re-election campaigns, as you can either blame the previous administration for all of the conflict that we're facing, or you can take credit for the reversal. One of the best ways that we can see this is the job revisions that have occurred in the past year, which now totals over 1 million jobs that were never actually created. Where, despite continuously being told how great the job market is, every sign that shows things are not what they appear miraculously keep getting brushed under the rug.
And so then, when you look at the corporate perspective, this manipulation of job data is actually being implemented into their business model. I recently just spoke with a gentleman, and he's actually going to be on the channel in my next video. He spent his entire career in tech, and he's probably like 45, late 40s, early 50s, maybe mid-50s. He got laid off from his company, or the company went under because they were found guilty for manipulating employment data to show that they were growing for a venture capitalist to get funding for their business. Since then, he has applied to hundreds of jobs. He hasn't been able to get a job. He is now working at, or hasn't been able to get a tech-related job, a job that he has had experience in for his entire career. He is now working overnight shifts at Walmart stocking dog food on the shelves.
And it's important because, again, this isn't just, you know, Gen Z just being lazy, not able to get a job if you just go out there and work harder. This is, you know, an older gentleman that is very smart and really great to speak with, and still optimistic and hopeful, and this is what he's experiencing. And I'm not stating that somebody working at Walmart doing that job is anything less. I'm just stating it isn't in alignment with his experience and his work history.
What we are also finding is that businesses are actually using this as a tactic to combat each other and to get data from one another. And this is a Bloomberg report that I'm going to go ahead and share here. So the core allegation was that senior officials at Odin Partners encouraged junior staff to phone up traders at really big banks, give fake names for themselves, fake names for Odin Partners, and try and persuade these traders to share sensitive information about P&L, salary makeup of teams. Some of which information Odin Partners would then share with its clients. So far, they're saying absolutely nothing about this on the record. Now, privately, there's some suggestion that those banks aren't concerned about these allegations at all. Like, one or two of these banks, so at one of these banks, there was a suggestion that there isn't a review into these allegations, and they plan to keep working with Odin Partners. Another bank, there was a suggestion, well, you know, the information, the intelligence, and the contacts that Odin Partners have are just so good, just so useful.
And so what we begin to recognize is that this dehumanizing aspect of being twisted into every which way you look, that there are incentives to improve this. I want to just give you examples, and I've said this before in my videos, but it is crucial that we begin to understand truly how little they care about people actually being the data points. So, the first one is related to ghost jobs. More than 60% created ghost jobs to make employees believe their workload would be alleviated by new workers. 62% of respondents said that they posted ghost jobs expressly to make their employees feel replaceable. 43% stated they used it to give the perception that their company was thriving despite uncertain economic conditions. So, just manipulating data. 85% go as far to interview candidates despite not actively hiring for the role. Nearly 70% of them said posting fake job listings boosted revenue. 65% said the job ads had a positive impact on morale. 77% reported an uptick in productivity among workers because they were scared of losing their job. 70% believe that it is morally acceptable to do this. Like, how much more disgusting can this get? These are people. These are people just trying to get a job, and we are being manipulated and deceived.
And all of this, and what you begin to recognize is that when you have the powers that be have absolutely zero incentive, and actually be able to profit off of manipulated data, there isn't any reason for things to get better. And you can specifically see this when it's related to the job search platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed. I've already made a video, you know, sharing my perspective on LinkedIn. What we are finding now is 2024 was one of their best years on record. They're growing at an unbelievable rate. And so why would they be incentivized to make things better? Matter of fact, the reason they're growing so much is because their premium memberships are surging. And that's because what people are finding is that you can't network without having the premium membership. And so people are spending, you know, whatever it is, $25 to $40 a month just to be able to network. This isn't how things should be. And it's crucial that we state this.
The issue is that this is often intertwined with the discourse of being lazy or whining, or you're going to see comments that are saying that I'm just shilling for communism, that this is communist propaganda, all of these things. The reality is that people shouldn't be working harder because they're scared that somebody's going to replace them, and that isn't even real. That people are starting to kind of work and feel a little more comfortable because they think somebody's going to finally come and alleviate some of the extra work that they're having to do when they're not getting paid more. These are things that are fundamentally should be unacceptable. And this isn't a left versus right discussion, or a capitalism for socialism, you know, all these things. This just shouldn't be happening because people matter. But when you remove humanity from everything, well, everything is just data points. And the unfortunate reality is that humans, Americans, we no longer view each other as humans or neighbors or friends or partners. It is just another disposable person, or let me take everything from you to serve my interest the best. And when you have situations like that, you have the last form of resistance that could force some sort of incentive for the powers that be to begin to make changes.
I think that's why I stress so much about the importance of labor unions, because if you strip away the bias, the biases that you have of the corruption, you know, an interesting thing is I asked my mom. My parents are both very smart and, you know, blue-collar workers, very disciplined, patriotic Americans. I think that they're amazing, and they're also baby boomers. But I asked my mom, "What are your thoughts on unions? What did you experience growing up?" And she said, "Oh, well, they were run by the mob." And I think that's just so interesting because for a young person, I've never heard that. And there's so many different narratives that have been implemented into the young mind, you know, a 1980s, 1970s, 1960s young mind to degrade the system that did provide resistance.
The way that I view labor unions is it's just some sort of unity amongst the working class. It is a way for people to be able to have like a structure, a home to go into to allow discussion to have. You kind of leave some of your thoughts outside, and you come in, and we're going to agree on this one thing. And when you don't have that, it's very obvious that none of us can agree on a single freaking thing. I mean, it is embarrassing how we can't agree on anything and we can't have discussions. And I've said it before, it's like everybody, the American culture is you're expected to know everything, but we're going to teach you nothing, and we're going to blame you for not understanding what it is that you don't understand. Or, I said it more eloquently the first time, but it's like this cycle of, I'm just going to blame the next person that's smaller than me. And when you have that, when you don't have an incentive to make situations better, and the people that are actually experiencing the conflict are just ripping each other apart, it's a recipe for disaster. So that alone, I believe, to be why the job market is collapsing. I would even state has collapsed. I think that what we will see here soon in the next couple years is going to be pretty horrendous in terms of the job market, the ability to get a job.
So when you look at structural concerns, well, one of them is clearly that wages are not keeping up. You know, when we got off the gold standard, inflation is deteriorating the working class's ability to progress throughout life. And one of the things that you see again with the incentive for Wall Street to want unemployment data to get worse to allow the stock market to improve because interest rates will lower. All of the wealthy people are putting their money into assets because that's the only thing that's going to be able to overcome the degradation of the dollar. And so what we're seeing is that the stock market is rallying because people don't have faith in the dollar. Now, if you don't have money, you're not able to do that, right?
And so the unfortunate situation is that you don't even have an incentive to make the dollar stronger. Wages, we are unable to understand the impact of inflation. We don't comprehend that $15 now and $3 in, you know, whatever, 1980 is the same thing. Maybe that $3 is actually higher. And that also is damaging on the discourse that we have amongst one another. If you speak with someone older and you tell them I'm making $20 an hour, they're like, "God, you're rich." And the reality is it's like $20. I'm not saying that that's nothing, but trying to buy a home when 79% of Americans can't afford the median home, $20 isn't enough. And I think that there's certain elements like that.
The fact that we are so quiet and we are so just prone to just go to work, not question the system, continuously have everything suck. You complain all the time. Everybody complains about their job, and yet whenever somebody mentions it, you're instantly met with resistance. It's kind of the craziest thing that I've experienced. But okay, so wages haven't kept up. Healthcare is not, you know, you're not getting good. When was the last time your insurance with your company actually paid for anything? So you're not getting that incentive. You also have the structural issue of not being able to have the, like, what are you working for? Are you working because you believe in the company? Most likely not. Not anymore. Are you working because you're going to be able to afford a home? There's not a shot. Are you working to be able to pursue your dream? You're probably living paycheck to paycheck. The majority of people are. And so when you have that reality and everybody is just working to work, you know, now there truly is not an incentive to have things get better. And the worse it gets, the more desperate people are going to be. And the unfortunate reality is because we are so divided, we're not going to come together. We're going to rip each other apart even more. And it's going to be violent, and it's going to be disastrous, and it's going to be a real shame.
And, you know, one of the things that I try to do is I try to reframe some of these topics. Like minimum wage is a perfect example. There is so much political and ideological bias into minimum wage. I believe minimum wage should be a livable wage. That is what it was intended to do. FDR specifically stated it. I've proved it in my minimum wage video. People were still arguing that. He said it. And so I believe everybody deserves a livable wage, especially in the United States. You should deserve a livable wage.
You know, I recently just was somewhere where I was walking down a street, and there was a homeless individual that said, "A dollar would help. I'm tired of feeling invisible." And he was so hunched over with a hood over him. The amount of people, and I, you know, the amount of people that never saw him, it's disgusting. And so, because we don't have, we're not making this, we've stripped the humanity, we just think our political or ideological biases come in, but you don't see the person that feels invisible, right? And so what I try to do is I try to reframe it and show, hey, nobody is making what they're supposed to be making. Wages have stagnated. If you adjust minimum wage for inflation, it should be $15. And it's something like 25% of Americans aren't even making $15. If you adjusted it for productivity, I think it's like $21. Again, I don't have the data in front of me, but it's around there. And it's something like 43% of Americans aren't making $21. And so what I'm trying to show you is that nobody is making enough money, but we can't even get past that resistance.
And so when you have some of the proposed talking points of, we just need universal basic income, I can't even get to thinking about that because who's going to say we're going to have universal basic income when we can't even raise minimum wage from $7.25? Like, it's not going to happen. And if it does, it's not going to be enough. And I'm not saying that I think universal basic income is good or bad. I think that deserves a conversation. I'm more just trying to present a talking point. And when you have these fundamental components, what I hope that you can begin to recognize is that one, nobody's going to come save us. That isn't going to happen. The other one is that we have, I think if things get better, we have to be the ones that do something. And what I am finding is that to be unbelievably difficult, mostly to come together. I thought that if I provided as many facts as I possibly could, it would force you to recognize that we have to come together. It does no good pointing fingers at the other person. That we need to point the fingers at the people that are actually causing the issues, but educate ourselves, be strategic, be disciplined, be eloquent in how we speak, find ways that we can navigate the decades of propaganda.
And so I think that this is then when we come to the point of, you know, some of us will just be thinking this is a depressing conversation, right? I think it's important that we begin to reframe these discussions not as depressing or doomer content, but as spreading awareness. I think that we have gotten to the point to where because we don't have any structural foundations that are providing support, we are demanding more from people that can't necessarily give that. I feel like my content does a really good job, and I'm very proud of it, of spreading awareness, but then I get met with, you know, "This is just talk. This isn't providing value. You're not providing solutions." I, I, I, it's very difficult for a 25-year-old who is spending 60 hours a week just to make this content to also combat decades of deceit and manipulation. Especially when, you know, my last video I spent 60 hours on it, and I made, it was like $180. A video for me is profitable if it crosses about 330,000 views. It is unbelievably difficult to get a video to hit 330,000 views. And so I'm consistently trying to do the best I can, but it's very difficult to kind of do everything.
And so the reason I say that is because I need help. And the way that I need help is for you to listen to what it is that I'm saying. We have to come together. And it isn't going to be like us hugging each other. Like, we just have to be able to sit at a table and have a conversation. And we don't even have to agree. We just have to start talking. And so at the end of my videos, you know, the reason why I'm not championing for us to start some sort of labor union or organize in that way is because throughout history, it is factually proven. I have mentioned it in my videos. I have read it myself, is that the major reasons why labor movements and labor unions failed throughout the Gilded Age and the, you know, really up until World War II was because people couldn't agree on what they were fighting for. And I believe that we're divided even more today than during that period of time.
And so what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to alter the perception that we have on some of these things, that it shouldn't just be minimum wage is good, minimum wage is bad. People deserve to have a livable wage, or at least none of us are getting paid enough. It isn't the young person's fault. And I'm going to put a screenshot on here. I had a gentleman that said, "Young people are just lazy and they're trying to skip steps because I had to work for my paycheck." And I basically just tell him, you know, don't spread that propaganda. Don't listen to that. People just want to have a chance to be able to have a future. They want to be able to have a family and have a home. And, you know, he goes back to how hard he had to work. And I said, "You're you're not frustrated at me. You should actually be asking for more money." And then he said, "Yeah, it's these greedy employers." And so in one conversation, I was able to shift a perspective. That's what matters.
And so when I ask for help from you, if you like this content, if you believe in what it is that I am trying to do here, if you feel aligned with what it is that I'm stating, the way that you can support me, the way that you can actually make a difference is interact in the comment section. And don't do it with like, you know, braiding and negative content or negative comments. If somebody says something you don't agree with, react in a way that you would want to be reacted to. Have discussions, please. That makes a difference. I love when you guys say, "This is a great video. You do an amazing job." That means a lot. But it would mean even more if you could spend 5 minutes, 10 minutes in the comment section really weighing in on what it is that I'm trying to say.
A lot of you say, "When are you going to reach out to Gary Vee?" Or not Gary Vee, but Gary's economics. Or whenever I make a blue-collar video, it's Mike Rowe. I've reached out to both of them. Mike Rowe, I've actually gotten rejected more times than I want to admit. And it's not him. I think it's his team. I think if they could actually see me, they would want to talk and support. If you guys want that, reach out to them. The more that you guys do that, the higher likelihood that I can interact with them, right?
I think also, just I can't stress enough the importance of doing small things. The likelihood that you will be able to just drop what it is that you're doing and build a labor organization or create some new business or some of these things. I'm not discouraging you. Just the likelihood that you can do it like this is very, it isn't very likely. And so, but what you can do is do the small things. Like something that I do no matter what, I religiously do it, is I pick up trash on the ground, no matter what. I always do it. And I do that because, you know, there have been times where I've been feeling really down, and then I walk into like a bathroom, and it's just filled with paper towels and toilet paper, and I feel even more disgusted because I'm like, what is going on with society? I don't want people to feel like that. I also don't want the janitor, the person that's doing that job. There's no reason why I can't bend over and pick it up. I don't know what it is that they're experiencing. I am trying to make America a little bit better. And if that is just me picking up paper towels and toilet paper, then I'm doing what it is that I can do. I'm doing the best that I can. Do what it is that you can do.
And I'm trying to provide you actual things like comment. Comments will help me a lot. If you want to reach out to other people, that will make a massive difference. Provide, email me articles that you're finding. I have some people that do that. It has inspired videos that have gotten hundreds of thousands of views. Again, this channel gets millions of views a month. We are doing something. We have a microphone, and I am going to give it to people. I just need you to want the microphone and to help me get in front of bigger microphones so we can spread this message.
I think it's important. I don't have too much more time, but what I just want to say at the end here is that something that I will be pursuing here soon is I'm going to be pushing for a road trip, maybe at the end of 2026, 2027, for a long road trip going through the working-class cities of the United States, spending some time with them, learning what they're experiencing, providing them a microphone, trying to have the people that feel invisible be seen again. And I'm going to continuously do the best that I can. I want to provide financial support to them. I, I, I'm going to continuously try to build this into something more. I need some help from you. So, please do what it is that you can. I'm going to do this as well.
I don't have much more else to say. Please don't take this as a depressing video. Please have this be the fuel of awareness of making a change. And also, happy Labor Day. You know, there have been the reason Labor Day is so important, hopefully you're enjoying this federal holiday, is because people in the past have had it worse than we do now, but chose to stand up for something. And so, let's pay that forward. And that's all I have to say. So, until next time, thank you all so much. Bye-bye.