And as this trend continues to grow, could the economy remain chugging along as more and more consumption concentrates among the top 10% and the bottom 50% increasingly are spending exclusively on staples and essentials?
Economists generally agree that excessive taxation can disincentivize growth, employment, and labor participation.
What about progressive taxation? If we instead moved towards a flat tax system that wasn’t so punishing on high income and very high income workers, while also getting rid of some of the loopholes they use to shelter income, wouldn’t this be the more optimal tax policy as opposed to the status-quo?
Anyone else noticed this? As a student, I’ve interned at 3 different multi-nationals and just started working at another. And consistently I would say the average age of the staff is around late 40s. The interesting thing is this was not the case with the different departments like accounting, legal, marketing, IT, compliance, production, etc.
If you’ve observed this at your firm or past firms you’ve worked at, what could be causing this?
And do you feel this will be the accepted norm by then among millennials and Gen Z?
Just graduated mechanical engineering a few months back. This was the only position I could find was this one. All of the places I interned froze their hiring completely after the liberation day tariffs. They are now largely winding down their operations here and shifting investment and jobs south of the border.
I have student loans, need to pay for therapy, and drive a paid off but reliable and well maintained beater that requires insurance. Any tips for how to make it work?
And do things become more meaningfully comfortable at 80-90k? From what I’m hearing from older colleagues at the firm, that’s where I should expect to top out. 100k and above is considered “blue blood” and “the big boy bucks” by their standards. So not realistic for my field these days.
Or are even much higher matching the rare and scarce skills of a staff or principal engineer at these firms? While AI automates the medium and high skill jobs that ordinary people could reasonably up-skill to with enough education (accounting, finance, HR, education, administration, etc)?
There is a precedence for this. Just as we saw globalization hollow out the rust belt and the technology revolution create millions of jobs, tech companies didn’t move in to these hollowed out towns and train former industrial workers into coders. Much of the gains of the technology revolution concentrated in the coastal cities, particularly the Bay Area. And the barrier to entry for most of these jobs was at minimum a STEM degree. What if the AI revolution does indeed create millions of jobs, keeping inline with the historical trend of automation, but those jobs are largely concentrated in the tech sector and require not just post-graduate STEM education but also at top institutions?
Despite the realities of the Canadian economy and the structural deindustrialization it’s going through? I just graduated mechanical, had 3 internships (including 16 months) at 3 major engineering companies and had 2 standing job offers that were rescinded due to the liberation day tariffs. All of these companies are winding down Canadian operations and moving jobs south of the border. Now I can’t even find a position that will pay me what I was making during my co-op.
Of course, the standard cope is, “he’s a student trying to reduce the competition”. Go and check the actual engineering subreddits from specifically Canadian posters, r/canadajobs, r/torontojobs, and so on. If you still think the hundreds of posts of recent engineering grads being unemployed or underemployed is a conspiracy to keep you down, I don’t know what to tell you.
Two exceptions. If you’re an exceptional, one-in-a-million talent who’s been recognized as gifted as a child and have been winning engineering competitions throughout high school, you should go into engineering. Second exception is if you have a family connection in one of the few firms that are hiring that will move mountains and call in every favour to get you in. Then, you will be fine.
Otherwise? Feel free to disregard and think you’re special. Just don’t say you weren’t warned and make media appearances or sob on one of the other subs about how “I did everything right. It wasn’t suppose to be this way!”.
And make these countries close the gap on growth and productivity that currently exists between them and the US?
I think it might have been very accurate 20-30 years ago when engineers were scarce and the degree had strong signaling value. The job market was also not as saturated at every level with hundreds of qualified people with the exact same credential and relevant experience applying for the job. Hiring managers also often directly sifted resumes themselves and were intrigued enough by people from unconventional backgrounds who would earn themselves an interview. But in the modern world of ATS systems filtering for exact relevant experience, YoE, relevant degree, HR gatekeeping, etc. how true is it today? Why would an engineer’s resume be passed on to the hiring manager by HR when there are thousands of finance graduates from good schools with the relevant finance experience? And the same for software engineering?
And the distortions caused by economic growth on net vs the economic benefits of providing healthcare? Isn’t there a big trade-off on growth there? I believe the uncomfortable reality is that modern healthcare is just very expensive and both capital and labor intensive. The median person doesn’t produce the economic value, by themselves, to justify access to it. Am I wrong? What does the data say?
I believe there is a strong link established by economic theory between raising the minimum wage and inflation. If consumer welfare and economic efficiency leads to better overall outcomes in aggregate, isn’t there a policy justification for lowering the minimum wage and see what it does? Economic theory says it would substantially labor costs, some firms would expand margins, but others would maintain their margins while passing on a substantial portion of the labor savings in lower prices no?
Just want to know how liveable this is. Obviously I’ll need roommates, that won’t be an issue. But I will have student loans, debt payments, therapy, food, hygiene products, etc. based on the economy and economic realities for new grads in my field, I expect to be at or around this salary for the next several years.
Thanks for all the advice and help.
I know a lot of people who were hired in say the 2010s might think differently, but with modern ATS systems, HR teams insisting on relevant experience in an identical role, etc. how important is that first job? If you take a job in say manufacturing, or MEP, or even a technician role, how difficult is to move into a design role given that your resume is lacking that experience and the value proposition of transferable skills to most employers is approaching zero these days?
In Ontario Canada. I just graduated in recently in mechanical engineering and have about combined 24 months of experience (doing internships every summer plus 16 month internship). had my return offer rescinded because the company is winding down operations due to the tariffs and relocating most of its work to the US. I’ve been aggressively searching since graduation and finally only have one offer. Should I take it? Is there likely room for growth? Is this a common salary for mechanical engineers when the economy is rough? It is below my past internship salary if that counts for anything.
In Ontario Canada. I just graduated in recently and have about combined 24 months of experience (doing internships every summer plus 16 month internship). had my return offer rescinded because the company is winding down operations due to the tariffs and relocating most of its work to the US. I’ve been aggressively searching since graduation and finally only have one offer. Should I take it? Is there likely room for growth? Is this a common salary for mechanical engineers when the economy is rough? It is below my past internship salary if that counts for anything.