Basically, all the “free money” went away when the gubbment mandated interest rates go from years of declining-or-near-zero percent to now over 5% (curiously, a 5% increase in the fed rate also caused all credit cards rates to go from 9% to 30% over the same timeframe. what world).

Why would interest rates cause jobs to go away? Remember an interest rate is essentially “the price of money” — a higher interest rate means money is more expensive itself. Also with higher interest rates, organizations with millions and billions of cash sitting idle can park their money in safe government-backed interest accounts2 to grow their balances risk-free instead of taking on risk assets seeking outsized returns.