The New Corporate Recruitment Pool: Workers in Dead-End Jobs

Pedestrian · #1 Posted **Sep 11, 2017, 6:45 PM**

Quote:

By Jennifer Levitz
Sept. 10, 2017 6:00 p.m. ET

RICHMOND, Va.—Pressed for workers, a New Jersey-based software company went hunting for a U.S. city with a surplus of talented employees stuck in dead-end jobs. Brian Brown, chief operating officer at AvePoint, Inc., struck gold in Richmond.

Richmond, Va. a midsize city that is the state capital and home to several universities, had unemployment of 4% in July, but underemployment was about 12% in the second quarter.

Irvine, Calif.-based mortgage lender Network Capital Funding Corp. opened an office in Miami to scoop up an attractive subset of college graduates—those who settled for tolerable jobs in exchange for living in a city they loved . . . .

Americans have traditionally moved to find jobs. But with a growing reluctance by workers to relocate, some companies have decided to move closer to potential hires. Firms are expanding to cities with a bounty of underemployed, retrieving men and women from freelance gigs, manual labor and part-time jobs with duties that, one worker said, required only a heartbeat to perform . . . .

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new...080840?tesla=y

It isn't just Amazon.

Other target cities mentioned: Buffalo, NY and Tulsa, OK.

ChargerCarl · #2 Posted **Sep 11, 2017, 7:10 PM**

Please don't kill the recovery Yellen.

Pedestrian · #3 Posted **Sep 12, 2017, 2:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiXP

Sounds like jobs that would be automed in a few years, if they are that brain dead.

How do you feel about talking to a machine in a "call center" when you are having a problem? I know I consider it a big plus when I'm buying anything at all complex these days if I know their "customer assistance" is a live person. It' one reason I'm loyal to Apple.

There are lots of service jobs out there that may be replacable by robots but only with the sacrifice of quality.

The ATX · #4 Posted **Sep 12, 2017, 4:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiXP

So that's what these are, minimum wage call center jobs? And they want college educated people to bite?

I quite frequently wish more educated people would pick up on the other end of call center Tech support/customer service lines. At one time I worked at Dell's enterprise tech support, and the jobs were far from minimum wage throw away jobs.

TexasPlaya · #5 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 5:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

Please don't kill the recovery Yellen.

Rock bottom federal interest rates shouldn't be the norm. However the hurricanes may cause rates to stay the same for 2017.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/fede...s-to-hold.html

It will be an interesting year in this continuing bull market.

Pedestrian · #6 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 3:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiXP

So that's what these are, minimum wage call center jobs? And they want college educated people to bite?

I think you are missing the point. You tend to find call centers and other forms of "back office" operations in mid-sized second tier cities with cheap land and low commercial rents and the college educated population in these places is often forced to take these types of jobs because there aren't higher-paying, more challenging ones. Today, these communities and their underemployed--those educted people working below their potential--are coming to be seen as a great recruitment pool. And if the people in these kinds of jobs won't move to the centers of leading edge employment--because of high living costs, a preference for staying where they have family or whatever reason--the businesses with the better jobs are beginning to come to them (move operations with higher paying jobs to these same secnd ter cities) so they can tap the pool.

Pedestrian · #7 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 3:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Rock bottom federal interest rates shouldn't be the norm. However the hurricanes may cause rates to stay the same for 2017.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/fede...s-to-hold.html

It will be an interesting year in this continuing bull market.

The whole question of who is benefitted by ultra-low interest rates and who is hurt is a very complex one. Overall, I agree with you that they shouldn't be the norm and I think they have already lasted too long (which means more and more individuls and businesses have become so adapted to them tha changing them is increasingy more painful). It's complex accounting whether successful businesses with hoards of cash like Apple or Google, for example, are better off getting little if any return from their cash than they would be paying higher rates on borrowings (yes, even Apple borrows to pay dividends and for other purposes because it doesn't want to bring its overseas cash home and pay taxes on it)? Are people with savings better off paying low mortgage rates or earning more on their savings? There are so many trade-offs nd a lot of people think the economy now is actually the worse for the unnaturally long period of ultr-low rates.

ChargerCarl · #8 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 7:08 PM**

Whats unnatural about low interest rates? Thats the norm for most of human history.

TexasPlaya · #9 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 7:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

Whats unnatural about low interest rates? Thats the norm for most of human history.

Mortgages have been the norm for most of human history?

It's not unnatural but cheap money has consequences. It's not much of a recovery if it relies on low interests rates.

ChargerCarl · #10 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 7:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Mortgages have been the norm for most of human history?

It's not unnatural but cheap money has consequences.

When we say "interest rates" were talking about the wicksellian rate which coordinates desired savings and planned investments.

Furthermore, "cheap money" doesn't mean what you think it means. An interest rate is just the price of credit, which has both a supply and demand side. The Fed doesn't control either, but it does control the nominal money supply which has real effects because of price/wage stickiness. This effects all markets because all markets use money as the unit of account/exchange.

TexasPlaya · #11 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 7:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

When we say "interest rates" were talking about the wicksellian rate which coordinates desired savings and planned investments.

Furthermore, "cheap money" doesn't mean what you think it means. An interest rate is just the price of credit, which has both a supply and demand side. The Fed doesn't control either, but it does control the nominal money supply which has real effects because of price/wage stickiness. This effects all markets because all markets use money as the unit of account/exchange.

But you are worried that Yellon will raise rates which will "kill the recovery"?

ChargerCarl · #12 Posted **Sep 13, 2017, 8:07 PM**

The Fed "raises rates" by tightening the money supply through open market operations.

Honestly discussing monetary policy through interest rates confuses things more than it illuminates.

TexasPlaya · #13 Posted **Sep 14, 2017, 3:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

The Fed "raises rates" by tightening the money supply through open market operations.

Honestly discussing monetary policy through interest rates confuses things more than it illuminates.

It's not confusing at all, just thought it was an odd comment to make earlier.

TexasPlaya · #14 Posted **Sep 14, 2017, 3:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new...080840?tesla=y

It isn't just Amazon.

Other target cities mentioned: Buffalo, NY and Tulsa, OK.

It's interesting it took this long to cycle through employees, although still in the employer's favor. Personally, I think the reason it's taken this long is why travel agents don't have conventions anymore; technology can be a cruel mistress.