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marmar

(76,985 posts)
Mon May 25, 2020, 09:36 AM May 2020

Catastrophic Plunge in Jobs & Labor Force in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Silicon Valley Smacks into..


Catastrophic Plunge in Jobs & Labor Force in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Silicon Valley Smacks into Housing Bubbles
by Wolf Richter • May 22, 2020 •

Holy cow, Los Angeles. The economy is gradually opening up. But the exodus has started hard and heavy. And the influx has stopped.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.


A little anecdotal thingy before we get into the horrifying data: I was on a call with a guy from Google – they want my WOLF STREET media mogul empire to spend money advertising on Google. He was working from home, and since he no longer has to go to Google’s office in Redwood City, he moved home to his parents in St. Louis, Missouri. One more soul gone from the Bay Area housing market, and he still has a job.

Coastal California is an expensive place, and if you lose your job, and you’re not rich, and maybe your stock options didn’t pan out, why stick it out? And if you can work from home, why spend a fortune on housing when you can spend a lot less elsewhere? These are the questions bedeviling millions of workers and former workers.

A housing market as inflated as California’s needs a constant influx of people to keep it going. And when people leave – either because their jobs have evaporated or because they can do their work-from-home somewhere else – well, then the housing markets, both renting and buying, head into trouble.

In Los Angeles County – with a population of 10 million – jobs fell off a cliff. This is where California’s largest and most intense outbreak of Covid-19 was threatening to spiral out of control, New-York-City-like. A lockdown and social distancing brought it under control and prevented a New-York-City-like tragedy. But the job market imploded. ..........(more)

https://wolfstreet.com/2020/05/22/catastrophic-plunge-in-jobs-labor-force-in-los-angeles-san-francisco-silicon-valley-smacks-into-housing-bubbles/




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Catastrophic Plunge in Jobs & Labor Force in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Silicon Valley Smacks into.. (Original Post) marmar May 2020 OP
Interesting read. CrispyQ May 2020 #1

CrispyQ

(36,231 posts)
1. Interesting read.
Mon May 25, 2020, 11:00 AM
May 2020

I worked many jobs that could have been done from home, but it wasn't even a consideration. Not even for one or two days a week. Anytime I had a computer to work from home, it was to put in additional hours besides what I was required to work in the office. For all the time I've wasted at an office, waiting for meetings to start, chatting with someone in the hallway, taking breaks, if I'd worked at home I could have done my job AND completed a few home tasks, as well, like chop veggies for tonight's dinner and put a load of laundry in the washer.

I think one of the appeals of management positions to a lot of people in management, is the power one has over other people, and that power is diminished in work-from-home situations. I can't think of any other reason why a bigger segment of the workforce isn't already setup for work-at-home. The company wants to keep you under their thumb.

The company wouldn't need as much office space and I think people would be more efficient and less stressed. TJMOICBW - That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

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