[giantg2]

Go check the stats. Sector unemployment is about 6%. Full employment rate is considered 4%. There are numerous layoffs over the past two years. It's taking people a year or more and hundreds of applications to find new jobs. The IT job market has actually shrunk this year.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/it_job_market_july/

[ghaff]

That's still not "so high."

[giantg2]

Again, check the stats. 6% is higher than full employment rate, higher than the overall rate, and is above the median unemployment rate for the past 100 years. It would be even higher except the participation rate is falling.

[dragonwriter]

> It would be even higher except the participation rate is falling.

Prime age (25-54) labor force participation rate is steady and high (steady around the highest peak since the one at the height of the late-90s dotcom boom—which itself was the global maximum since the stat was tracked—for the last couple years.) Overall LFPR (16+) is dropping, but that's just the elderly population share growing.

[ghaff]

A lot of people are looking for reasons why landing tech jobs isn't the turkey shoot that it was for the past 15 years or so. I'm unconvinced how much AI is the answer. I do think a lot of tech companies probably overhired during COVID for a variety of reasons. From what I see, professional hiring seems pretty normal even if certainly not overheated and you can argue about how it compares to the general economy by a percentage point or two.

[giantg2]

Prime age labor force participation rate has fallen the past couple months and is below it's expected cyclical level.