So much of modern hiring seems like C. S. Lewis's comments about searching for your keys under the street lamp. There's a talent shortage, since everyone in the light has been hired. There's massive under underemployment, since everyone in the shadows can't get hired.
There's a few dozen billions to be made by the person that fixes the problem. I wish I could comprehend the scale of the problem - it'd be nice to be that person.
Unemployment is basically caused by fiscal policy. (Which is to say, it's political, since economics is political.) Unemployment is actually rather absurd when you think about it: people can't get jobs, even though by definition they want to; and there's lots to do. Not only do we have an economic system which has such a weird wasteful phenomenon, but we also pursue policies to ensure this phenomenon occurs.
This is true but I take it in a different direction than you probably do.
Most of the help we give to the unemployed is contingent on two things:
1. They don't have income and
2. They are looking for a job.
That seems like a great way to test for unemployment benefits but what it fundamentally does is ensure that if you are unemployed and need the help you can't try to supplement through self-employment. Thus our current unemployment assistance largely works to discourage new businesses from starting.
A better system would be a mandatory severance system where if you find yourself unemployed, you get a lump sum. You can look for a job, become self-employed, try to start a business with it, or any combination of these. But when it is gone, it is gone.
In fact basic income would provide both better incentives for those without a job and increase liquidity in the employment market since people would no longer have to suffer a crappy boss or work place out of fear.
Unemployment is primarily caused by monetary policy and secondarily by fiscal. And due to structural issues of an economy, there is a natural rate of unemployment.
Lending is the lifeblood of any economy. If you play around with the rates, significant outcomes can happen. And the Federal Reserve, through the FOMC, has been influencing the interest actively since 1979.
There's a few dozen billions to be made by the person that fixes the problem. I wish I could comprehend the scale of the problem - it'd be nice to be that person.