John H wrote:

Good news is really bad news, isn't it?

Umm, no. My point was that the good noews is unfortunately accompanied
by lots more bad.

... Has there ever been a time when no
engineer was looking for work?

Oh yes. The class before mine was 85% recruited before graduation and
100% employed in the field. AFAIK that was the peak.

In the boom years of the middle 1990s we could not hire anybody for a
salary the company could afford.

I'm sure that somehwere, some engineer was looking for a job... but
unless he was a complete idiot he found one quick.


... If the employment rate were 1%, would no
engineers be out of work. The employment rate is better than it was throughout
the 90's, yet there is this persistent whine.

Maybe that's because the unemployment rate is not a true reflection of
how many people are out of work... by which I mean the work they are
trained & qualified for, not pumping burgers...

It is an economic verity: when the demand for capital rises, interest
rates rise. When the demand for goods & services rise, the demand for
capital to create the jobs will rise. So, as long as interest rates are
dead on the floor, so is the economy. Of course, the current picture is
better IMHO than double digit inflation, but then, I currently have a
job. If I was flipping burgers, I'd see it differently.

DSK