Do you remember the phrase “finders keepers”? I’m pretty sure it could’ve been coined thanks to the 2024 job market. Between the desperation from the finders and the rejoicing from the keepers, would you recognize a good job market if you saw one?
Unemployment was at a 54-year low in January 2023 at just 3.4 percent with only a slight increase by December at 3.7 percent. But while economists reportedly marvel at the resiliency of the labor market and the sheer amount of jobs available, meanwhile those searching for jobs seem to say it’s never been more difficult to get hired.
A 2023 survey from staffing agency Insight Global revealed that unemployed full-time workers, a somewhat confusing term for people who are looking for full-time work, sent out an average of 30 job applications only to receive an average of four responses, and more than half of those unemployed adults claim to suffer from burnout from the application process.
Economists speculate that these complaints could be due to the whiplash from the 2022 recession, when corporations were scrambling to hire nearly anyone who applied. After years of pandemic-induced uncertainty within the workforce, and the opportunity — rather, the necessity — to switch professions, stability feels foreign. Add to this baby boomers working longer than expected, the natural anxiety of the job hunt, and more stable work environments are leading employees to keep their jobs longer. This has meant employers are seeing less turnover, which makes entry into the job market exponentially more competitive.
The reality of a good or bad job market is not as black and white as the newspapers presume. The reality is that a good job market is far more favorable to the job keepers than it is to the job finders.
Editor’s note: the above originally appeared in Common Good in summer 2024. Naturally, more recent data and reports may have changed the outlook of the U.S. job market.