US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year • Hacker News Board

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#211

Post by Analemma_ » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:14 PM UTC

phyzix5761 wrote: post #150

adriand wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my clients is a midsized logistics brokerage based in LA. Right now is RFP season, where they bid on freight contracts with various existing and potential customers. These contracts are typically one year long. A bid you submit now might be for a contract that goes Sept-Sept. This is difficult even under normal circumstances because you have to predict what carrier (trucker) rates will be in the future. You al…

Typically companies use things like futures, options, and forward contracts to fix or cap their input costs for commodities like oil. This lets them bid on projects without needing to know the future price of oil.

Uncertainty has a cost which exists no matter where you move it around. Yes, investment banks might sell you some kind of exotic derivative which moves the risk onto them, but they'll charge a risk premium for this (probably a very high one since the risk factors here are pretty unusual and hard to model), and that makes it harder to stay afloat as a business. There is no handwaving away the damage that uncertainty does to commerce.

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#212

Post by Ray20 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:14 PM UTC

lvl155 wrote: post #122

Corporate America is such a weird place. They rather hire immigrants than retrain or educate existing workforce. Everything about the US economy is plug and play then discard. And if they can’t plug and play, they will just scrap the whole thing. That’s exactly what’s happening right now.

> They rather hire immigrants than retrain or educate existing workforce

The existing workforce is literally the most expensive in the world. And if you add to that its toxicity, what specifically surprises you?

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#213

Post by rchaud » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:15 PM UTC

IncreasePosts wrote: post #113

Herring wrote: post #81

[flagged]

Florida has a GDP in line with Australia, or South Korea, or Spain, and with a smaller population. Not exactly what I would call generationally poor. Texas has the same GDP as Italy, but with half the population.

GDP per capita is about the crudest possible metric for economic well-being. Nobody in Australia is going into bankruptcy over hospital bills or student loans.

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#214

Post by xbar » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:16 PM UTC

clickety_clack wrote: post #82

This is lowest in the past year or so, not the lowest since say ‘08.

Nor January, 1930.

This economy is in a bad and worsening state. But it definitely can get a whole lot worse.

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#215

Post by crims0n » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:19 PM UTC

Ray20 wrote: post #212

lvl155 wrote: post #122

Corporate America is such a weird place. They rather hire immigrants than retrain or educate existing workforce. Everything about the US economy is plug and play then discard. And if they can’t plug and play, they will just scrap the whole thing. That’s exactly what’s happening right now.

> They rather hire immigrants than retrain or educate existing workforce The existing workforce is literally the most expensive in the world. And if you add to that its toxicity, what specifically surprises you?

What toxicity is unique to the US labor force?

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#216

Post by gilbetron » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:21 PM UTC

garciasn wrote: post #24

hmmokidk wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Massive wealth redistribution is just another word for Taxes. When we taxed the rich we were happy. It’s literally all we gotta do.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFRGDA188S Federal Receipts as a Percent of GDP measures total government revenue relative to the size of the economy, serving as a standardized way to track the federal tax burden over time. Although the top marginal tax rate in the 1950s indeed exceeded 90%, federal receipts hovered around 17% of GDP; this was nearly identical to current levels, because loopholes and high income…

It would be interesting to see the same graph broken down by wealth (preferably) or income quintile. Maybe higher tax rates don't mean more tax income, but it does mean more wealth redistribution.

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#217

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:22 PM UTC

walthamstow wrote: post #164

Herring wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try comparing life expectancy instead, it's a better metric for how well the population is actually doing. Those two US states have comparatively high inequality and lower life expectancy, suggesting they're burning human capital to fuel GDP and generate billionaires.

I haven't read about it much since the height of the Purdue/Oxycontin scandal but the so-called 'deaths of despair' - suicide, overdose and alcoholic liver disease - are also relatively high in the USA.

[deleted]

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#218

Post by Freedom2 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:22 PM UTC

estearum wrote: post #139

toomuchtodo wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not imaginary, I have been sharing info with Congressional reps on this topic who are working on policy, as well as the data on H-1B fraud and use for wage suppression. I haven't even had to pay a bribe ("campaign contribution") to get their ear, which is nice. > How many American-made garments are in your closet right now? This is a tired argument. The electorate was told "not to worry, we're offshoring the low valu…

The question was how many American-made products you own. You are aware we do make many things in America today, right? > Then, they offshored and automated the high value work. Huh? American workers are more productive than ever, and vastly more productive than workers anywhere else in the world.

> You are aware we do make many things in America today, right?

As someone who owns quite a few American made garments (and has paid the price to do so), I'm amazed you got such a long response that basically dodged the question.

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#219

Post by SilverElfin » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:23 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #171

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US needs an offshoring tax. If you want to sell to Americans you also need to hire Americans.

You want to tax foreign businesses that sell stuff to you? Ok, given you can only tax stuff when it passes into your territory what you really have there is called a "tariff", it is paid by… the customer, when they buy the thing. The seller has an entire planet to sell to. The US has about 25% of the money to buy things with, but even then only because we all like your money. Moment we stop liking your money, that pr…

I’m not sure why this logic isn’t more mainstream. Half the country is clamoring for tariffs, bans on H1Bs, offshoring taxes, etc. They’re not connecting the dots on how this affects innovation, the economy, debt, taxation, etc. Is it a failure of education or a culture of rejecting it?

Re: US Job Openings Decline to Lowest Level in More Than a Year

#220

Post by fluorinerocket » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:26 PM UTC

meindnoch wrote: post #152

Makes sense. I know of multiple companies that reduced their headcount by a factor of 10 after Opus 4.5. Their new business model is basically: CEO + CTO + CFO + hundreds of Opus 4.5 agents.

How is that working out, genuinely curious