We have a welfare system, which is actually quite good compared to the US I believe, so yes he has something while not working and his wife has gotten a minimum wage job.
It's really that hard to get work at the moment. It's an employer's market, so they can pick and choose, which is why I think he ends up in such remote areas where there are less people with his skill sets and education. He has a double degree, which seems popular here.
It's not so much the people of Australia, but more the situation they're put in which makes for that kind of behaviour. In fact many are immigrants trying to keep their jobs. The job situation has been deteriorating since the end of 2017 when the car manufacturers pulled out of the country. Now we've got China falling out with us after so many companies have been relying on their consumption for so long and neglected the home market.
We've all got some interesting times ahead of us for sure. This reminds me of the generations conversation you started a few weeks ago. Further resentment that the boomers were the last generation to be able to look forward to early or comfortable retirements, perhaps?
I feel like I was able to provide more for my sons than my parents did for us, for what that might be actually worth. In some ways, it's helpful not to be so worried about making ends meet that you don't have time or the mind to enjoy being with your family. However, it can lead to other problems. I feel fortunate that for the most part we were able to keep those other possibilities at bay.
Well, I'm sorry to hear about what's going on there. I'm sure to some degree things are happening like that in many places, including here, thanks to the restrictions imposed to save us from COVID-19. I'm amazed that there are as many businesses still around after nearly a year of various stages of lockdown, and no real end in sight just yet.
It sounds like Australia is seeing the other side of being a global economy, where some of that begins to unravel for one reason or another and there's not something comparable to fill the void.
It seems like it's always an employer's market. Only seldom have I heard of there being more jobs than their applicants, and only in certain fields, ones that people don't naturally gravitate to, even if they are higher paying, or because of the amount of education and training one needs.
I believe that most of the western world is heading in the same direction and we're really just along for the ride to see what happens.
We had a better start than my parents and then my girls had a better start again. At one point I believed that things would just continue to improve for each generation, then in these last..maybe 15 years...the reality started to sink in that such continued growth couldn't sustain itself. We soon realised that the retirement age would be much further ahead for us than our parents. I probably wasn't expecting just how hard it would be for my daughters as they move into an adult world which seems to be collapsing around us. In some ways it's a bigger shock for them because they've had such a comfortable start in life. They aren't used to going without or making do.
With regards jobs/applicants balance, I think you've got the nail on the head. My husband has always worked in engineering and manufacturing, which has dwindled away as companies have moved to eastern Europe or China. He was very lucky to get his current job and they are trying to find C++ programmers who can work in a manufacturing and engineering setting. The people they're interviewing have no clue on this side of programming, because we're not a manufacturing country any more. So the jobs are there, but not the people with the skills to do them. Their one programmer is Russian, but he needs help with all the new work coming. I made a joke that they might need to start hiring from Russia.