I'm honestly hella confused about the current economic situation...
Genuine plead: Can someone tell me what I'm missing here?
Do we want to decrease inactivity and get these vacancies filled, or do we want to tamp down on demand so much so that companies cut jobs, and vacancies naturally disappear?
To me, these numbers don't add up. So job vacancies are higher than ever, and also companies are cutting back? Where are the net numbers? Are the net numbers still in the direction of vacancies?
And then the central banks come in to do this rate hike... but for what end? Is demand not naturally going down already (market crash, cost cutting, etc)? Are they just coming in to take credit for something that was already happening by regression to mean?
Everything I read and hear just sounds contradictory to me.
There is decreasing unemployment, but there is also so many more jobs that need to be filled. Which is a weird thing.
We don't have an employment/inflation problem, we are now facing an inactivity/inflation problem where in order to get people back into the workforce, it'll take more than monetary reasons. We've reached a new era where genuinely there is a lack of need to work, and thus increasing inactivity, which cannot (but I don't even know if it should or needs to be) solved by tamping down on inflation.
I feel like more social policy needs to be used to solve problems now. Like I don't think monetary policy is going to have much impact. I really don't think there is a quick fix.
I think the only way to solve these problems may be to move into a more Scandinavian model where we are focusing on quality of life. Personally, I think The Netherlands is a great guide.
I hope someone is already onto this, but someone needs to figure out what our economic priorities/desired outcomes for society should be in this age.
Honestly don't know shit about economics, so please help. Resources would be greatly appreciated as well!
With love,
Angeline