Job hunters are having a tricky time reentering the workforce.
Based on a Sunday report from the Wall Road Journal, it now takes job seekers a median of six months to seek out employment, a month greater than in years previous.
The variety of individuals unemployed, that means with no job however looking for work, can be greater now than it was on the similar time final yr. Based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ newest Employment State of affairs report, the unemployment fee rose from 3.7% in November 2023 to 4.2% in November 2024.
The report, which was launched on December 6, 2024, said that 7.1 million individuals have been out of labor in comparison with 6.3 million individuals on the similar time final yr.
The variety of long-term unemployed individuals can be up. In November, 1.7 million individuals mentioned that they had been searching for work for not less than 27 weeks, or near seven months, in comparison with 1.2 million individuals final yr.
Persevering with functions for unemployment are additionally reaching record-high ranges, indicating that it is taking job seekers longer to seek out work. Bloomberg reported in late December that persevering with functions for unemployment advantages reached a three-year excessive, rising to 1.91 million for the week ending December 14.
“Labor market situations are undeniably cooling,” EY senior economist Lydia Boussour advised Entrepreneur final month.
Based on the WSJ, it is particularly troublesome to discover a job in tech, legislation, and media. Firms employed extra in these sectors when getting back from the pandemic however have now lower down on their want for brand spanking new hires.
As these high-paying white-collar jobs disappear from job boards, job postings have diminished in amount general. Based on the Journal, there’s only one job posting per unemployed employee now as an alternative of the 2 job postings accessible in early 2022.
“Hiring is simply too low; it is actually exhausting to discover a job,” Man Berger, chief economist at labor market group the Burning Glass Institute, advised CNBC final month.
A new Gallup ballot launched in December provides one other issue to the combination. The ballot reveals that U.S. staff who’re at the moment employed are searching for work on the highest degree since 2015. The bulk, or 51%, are actively in search of a brand new job, including to the competitors that unemployed staff face.
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