More applicants per vacancy *after* CARES act

[jon-nyc]

Interesting and not hugely surprising.

[Jolly]

Can they break that down for fast food and the hospitality industry?

[LuFins Dad]

Doesn’t really say much. I’d like to see an analysis of the increased applicants vs. the number of un/underemployed. Also, how many those applicants were crossover? Target getting 20 applications, Walmart getting 20 applications, and CVS getting 20 applications doesn’t mean 60 people were pursuing work, it likely means 20 people were diligently pursuing work.

First, there was unprecedented unemployment, so even a small percentage of that pool actively searching would represent an increase in applicant per job.

Second, while on unemployment, you are supposed to demonstrate that you are actively searching for work (though I don’t think that was generally enforced this time around) so many were just doing their due diligence.

Third, a lot of self employed gig economy workers had to take second jobs. They were eligible for unemployment I know a few Lyft drivers that wound up at Amazon.

[Loki]

I would agree that people want to work. 600 as a disincentive to work is not right. The real argument which I don’t know the answer is deficit.