Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 385 posts

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#351

Post by conductr »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #343
jjav wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've come to believe flipping is a major problem, at least in my locale. A $300K house gets $50K of "improvements", then the investors needs $100K profit after commissions are covered and so we're in the $500K range for the next buyer and very little value was added. That's not quite how it works though. How much the investor spent in changes is not relevant. What matters is how much the next buyer values those cha…

> What matters is how much the next buyer values those changes. Flipping doesn't really exist when appreciation is low. Remember how no one was flipping houses in 2010? And then in 2012, suddenly everyone in their mom started flipping houses again? It only makes sense when asset appreciation is high. You'll find that most of the "value added" is simply them holding the house for 6 months and capturing appreciation (o…

Why then is holding cost such a major concern of every flipper? Each market is different, maybe you've seen that level of unadultered appreciation, but I never have and I live in pretty high growth place my entire life.

In my opinion, the "value added" is more correlated with what new construction on the similar land would cost. As lumber prices went up last year, existing homes went up too because the cost of building became higher. Essentially, a flipper wants you to feel like you have a new home at a discount and you'll pay the optimal amount for it.

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#352

Post by Tade0 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #266
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wage rises without solving the housing issue is only going to raise house prices further. There's a bunch of potential solutions, but no-one directly benefits from them in the short term. Any attempt to fix it will be met with sob stories about old ladies in multi-million dollar homes being "forced out of their homes". So we'll all just sit and watch as things slowly spin out of control.

Old ladies in multi-million dollar homes is largely a myth. Sure, there are some of them. But it's absurd to think this is anywhere near the majority. Short Term rentals make up These are just excuses. These aren't real problems. The real problem is artificially low interest rates, artificial scarcity caused by NIMBYism, low downpayments (backed by Fannie & Freddie), tax breaks for home owners but not for renters, hi…

> Old ladies in multi-million dollar homes is largely a myth.

Oh they are real - it's just that 90% of them reside in Zürich, Switzerland.

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#353

Post by [deleted] »

mmarq wrote: post #277
Levitz wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So I’m still waiting for a proof (not a pun or an anecdote) that immigration reduces salaries. And what would that be? A study linking both while accounting for every other factor? I don't think it's even possible to do such a thing. >Which means that EU nationals living in the UK earn more than the locals, so they can’t be driving salaries down. Unless you hypothesise a fantasy counterfactual where Jack deChav, who…

> And what would that be? A study linking both while accounting for every other factor? I don't think it's even possible to do such a thing. What’s the point of saying something if you think that it’s impossible to prove? > There is competition even in software development, it doesn't take anyone to be a bartender for competition to cause a wage drop, moreover the reality is way more stark when you look at jobs that…

[deleted]

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#354

Post by Sanguinaire »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #293
mateo411 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do Fannie and Freddie underwrite mortgages in the UK?

No - but the problem is the same. You have 5% downpayments (instead of 3.5% in the US), and mortgage-backed securities. From my understanding, it appears there is NOT a government agency backing them, though. I don't think the 3.5% downpayment market be very big in the US if not for Fannie and Freddie (it basically doesn't exist outside of conventional loans Fannie & Freddie will buy). I don't know how big the market…

There is/was a UK government "Help to Buy" scheme aimed at people who can only afford a 5% deposit, where the gov basically took part of the equity and then charged you rent on the portion you don't own. Never seemed like a good idea to me; just skews purchases to more expensive areas (ie London) and leaves the taxpayer with an even bigger share of the risk in the event of a house price crash. The only upside is political - the government gets to say they are helping first-time buyers.

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#355

Post by throwaway_2009 »

Working conditions themselves have for a significant number of people changed dramatically.

Office workers have for the most part been thrown into hybrid or full WFH. If they're in the office, the office probably has desk spacing, or maybe it's been downsized, maybe capacity is limited.

If you're a cabbie, or a McDonalds employee, or a supermarket worker, you're probably under some sort of mask mandate or working with screens up.

There's Brexit (reduction in EU workers).

IR35 (reduction in self employment).

Uncertainty in general (if I take this job, will some random government diktat kill it or change it significantly in the next N months).

Oh, yeah, furlough.

Everyone I know that has any ability to avoid work is doing it at the moment. GP's have been retiring, the well off are on extended leave, those who can squeak it out on reduced hours are doing so, etc.

Personally, I see myself as being someone with a fairly strong work ethic, but over the past six months I've just packed it in entirely.

I can't be arsed at all, there is no sense in me throwing myself into my work because we could have a lockdown/vaccine passport/masky maskness/social distancing 2.0/whatever that makes my employer change everything thus pushing me into quitting. There are already mumblings of it in the media _again_ for the winter.

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#356

Post by Sanguinaire »

jvvw wrote: post #141
bb123 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is housing available within commuting distance - I bought a 2 bedroom flat walking distance from a station with a 35 minute link to Kings Cross for under 200k. People seem to think they have some sort of God-given right to live in central London. If you want to buy a property you may need to make some sacrifices in that department. Yes the town I live in is pretty shite, and I have to train to work or to see fr…

Luton? I think some parts of London are more reachable from affordable places than others and that requirements do change when you have a family (more space and you may not need the best school but you don't want a terrible one). We live further up the Thameslink line and we get a lot of people moving here from London after having children, but it is a long commute.

I lived in Luton for a year and commuted in to London. Yes, it is certainly more affordable; but only because the NHS covers the cost of dealing with your stab wounds.

For non-UK people: yes of course I'm joking, however Luton is the home of both a large immigrant population and the "English Defence League", the closest thing we have to the KKK.

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#357

Post by nly »

notauser wrote: post #282
FartyMcFarter wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> House prices aren't that tightly linked to incomes. House prices are more strongly influenced by interest rates and availability of credit. I believe banks in the UK don't lend you more than 4.5x - 5.5x of your income, regardless of interest rates.

In the UK, lenders are resticted by the regulator - only 15% of their loans can be at greater than 4.5x income. As a result 5x and 6x income mortgages tend to be easier to get the more you earn.

5x and 6x loans also require lower LTVs

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#358

Post by tclancy »

FredPret wrote: post #339
pyrale wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you the fifth Yorkshireman ? Too bad you left the band before it became famous.

Well, be unhappy then if you insist. I tried.

Tried to do what? You claimed workplace safety was the absolute first priority when we have reams of evidence of Amazon not thinking so and they’re at least trying to do business in the US unlike Apple and others who simply move their human rights abuses offshore.

Try harder.

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#359

Post by magnetowasright »

ndr wrote: post #11

"We advertised locally for 70 fruit-pickers and we had nine applications. On follow-up, only one was still available... in terms of recruiting locally, we failed completely," says Ali Capper, the owner of Stocks Farm in Suckley and chair of British Apples and Pears. At her orchard, harvest has just started. It must be done quickly and requires many pairs of hands. Ali had to turn to specialist recruitment firms and h…

Here’s an article about a farmer in Australia who had a mostly local fruit picking workforce for the first time because there’s no backpackers to exploit because of COVID. Shockingly, he attracted workers by paying decent wages, providing good conditions, and reduced costs by not using third party labour recruitment/management services.

It’s amazing to me that ‘good wages and conditions attracts workers’ is newsworthy, but it does seem to be something many workplaces are struggling with.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-31/farmers-paying-higher...

Re: Job vacancies surge past one million in new record

#360

Post by thunkshift1 »

vxland wrote: post #87

Europe has evaded classical market economy by importing more people who'd work for lower wages at the slightest hint of any labor shortage. Pre-immigration such people would be called scabs. Now that you have Brexit, raise the wages. That's why people voted for it in an unusual recognition of their self-interests.

What a googly of an observation.. I cant tell if this is trolling or not!
Post reply on HN