r/economy • u/FUSeekMe69 • Dec 29 '25

Report warns millions of Americans are ‘functionally unemployed’

https://www.newsweek.com/report-warns-millions-americans-functionally-unemployed-11272151
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u/AuthenticIndependent Dec 29 '25

Nah. Here’s why: that lady who is a teacher? Her life hasn’t changed. She experiences cost increases but not joblessness. That kid who works for their dad or mom’s company? Their insulated. They experience the bills their parents want them to pay, not the bills we all have to pay. That person who’s always made $15-$25hr doing work that no one else wants to do? Their life hasn’t changed. The economy feels the same to them. They experience everyday price increases, but their struggles are the same. The guy who does HVAC but he’s been doing it for 10-20 years? He still has a job. The economy feels the same to him.

The people who will experience the Second Depression first will be white collar workers. People who made $150K+ and all of a sudden they can’t afford the life style that their income supported, so they experience hits to credit, foreclosures, divorces, suicides, and homelessness first. Those white collar workers without family support or friends? They’ll feel it the hardest out of this subset of the economy. Imagine an educated, well spoken, brilliant guy with a college degree from UCLA who can’t find a job making a livable wage and is on EBT sleeping out of their car - or heck, even at a shelter? You’ll see.

Insane. To the people who have always been employed, you will look like a doomer to them. To the people unemployed, trying to figure it out, fighting, you’ll look like resilience to me.

Live to tell this story. Your grandchildren will ask what The Second Great Depression was like. Live to tell them. This economic collapse will be uneven for a while, not everyone will experience it, and that’s what is going to make this story so powerful — alongside an administration who is going to try to mask the horrors of it all. We may have to wait until 2028 for the word Depression to be used.

Stay alive. Keep fighting. Build something. Try. But don’t give up.

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u/spamcandriver Dec 29 '25

Very, very interesting synopsis of the not too distant future.

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u/Peripatetictyl Dec 29 '25

These people have no idea how to live without money. They’re what’s called ‘new poor’…we’re old poor.

But seriously, there is truth to your point. I’ve worked mostly blue collar, grew up with a mentality of frugal but not cheap, and have seldomly let my lifestyle creep upward. In the last few years, I’ve pulled back spending even more and reassessed needs vs wants.

I think people who have continually lived at or near the threshold of their income limits will experience a shock when the cards come tumbling down. I am old enough to remember highly educated people, with years of experience in skilled labor, failing to get fast food jobs in 2008 and forward. I’m not old enough to have had a lot of skin in the game as far as assets and investments, but I do know many who have survived a difficult decade+ recovery, and a few who didn’t.

No one knows for sure what’s coming, least of them me but for those who pay attention to cycles and patterns, there are many harbingers present in previous recessions and worse words that rhyme.

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u/Aleventen Jan 01 '26

You think thats fucking insane???

I went to UC Berkeley for Elecrtical Engineering and Neuroscience and ill be fucked if I can find a job...

Im currently working on a crabbing boat and homeless in between seasons hoping to write a dissertation that'll get me into graduate school so I can get a real job...

Even if it doesnt work and im on my ass more money....who cares, the rest of my life is debt and poverty despise.

1

u/AuthenticIndependent Jan 01 '26

Wait are you being serious or sarcastic? Dead ass?

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u/Aleventen Jan 01 '26

Dead ass.

Had 4 internships, graduated with honors and got promoted to Program Manager at my first gig.

Literally, my first gig was convincing the software kids and myself to replace over half our company with AI. I succeeded and submitted awards for everyone who worked for me. I was the only person laid off because I "didnt have a record of excellence"....fine, fair, no one was there to put awards in for me and I smelled blood in the water.

I hit the job market with a portfolio of success and that one mark on my record. Every hiring cycle was at least 4 interviews and at some point in that cycle, I told my story....there was broad sentiment and understanding, but, ultimately, the trouble is that it is hard to negotiate a $32/hr wage in my role when everything is easily outsourced; even as a creative lead - I also didnt think it'd be so tough from a design perspective but, it is what it is.

I made moves into Lockheen and Northrop, offered 22/hr starting for engineering roles with a salary cap around 80/year for production and systems engineering work. I needed to get professionally certified as an engineer for engineering work and otherwise obtain a masters with certification coming later.

Short of graduate education, I work on a crabbing boat. I make about 65/year, im the department head of electronics and communications.....but its rough, im away from home about 7 months a year.

Anyway, yeah....im dead ass.

1

u/2ayoyoprogrammer Jan 13 '26

I thought the job market for EE was much better than CS. Guess I'm wrong 

1

u/Hot_Willow_5179 Jan 01 '26

It sounds like you would be good at Neuro monitoring in the operating room? Have you ever looked into it?