It's deeper than a job
Aight, it's bad, yo.
Lemme preface by noting a couple things:
#1 As labeled in the chart, these are UPDATED figures from the US Bureau of Labor & Statistics, as well as the Federal Bank of St. Louis, a trust tracker on employment data, among others. And as such, they are subject to change from month to month.
Now, on to the hot mess:
There's lots of causes at play here: Tariffs. Tech. The usual agnostic downsizing. The typical Told-you-so industry-specific failings... But some of these disparities—namely the clearest one—isn't just typical market forces or bad CEO'ing. It's almost par for the course; decades old, in fact. Generations old, even. Literally.
Generations. Old.
Call it "Go Woke, Go Broke." Call it "DEI must DIE". Call it "A campaign promise fulfilled." Call it what you will... But one thing you cannot call it is "May the best man win". And watching companies kneecap their own talent pools and lower the ceiling on intellectual and creative possibilities due to rank arrogance and bigotry. This will never not be... interesting.
But what do this mean for us? What do we do about it?
Entrepreneurship is an obvious play. Whenever possible build your own table so you don't have to beg for a seat at theirs. Also, all have to broaden our, well, sense of "our". We have to see each other as compatriots not just competitors. We gotta see ourselves as in the same fight, if not necessarily the same battle. Hold ourselves and each other to higher standards. Excellence goes a long way.
I don't claim to have all the answers, here. So feel free to weigh in wherever you see me. Let's get it, Togher!