Official figures show that the job market is in robust health, but the reality is very different for millions of American workers. The number of people who have been looking for work for more than six months is up more than 50% since the end of 2022, and people laid off from white-collar jobs are having an especially hard time finding new roles, the Wall Street Journal reports. In fields including technology, finance, law, and the media, businesses that grew quickly after the pandemic have largely frozen hiring.

• More than 1.6 million of the 7 million unemployed in November had been out of work for more than six months, and more than 4 million others were working part-time because they couldn’t find a full-time job, according to the Labor Department.