Workers say it's a 'tough' time to find jobs with hiring rates below prepandemic levels

Workers say it’s a ‘tough’ time to find jobs with hiring rates below prepandemic levels

Posted by author February 1, 2025 Jobs

Spread the love

After getting laid off from her IT sales job in 2023, Jodi Robinett was confident she’d bounce back quickly.

Since then, she’s sent more than 500 applications, spent countless hours on LinkedIn and dodged one scam job offer, she told USA TODAY. Companies have ghosted her, turned her down for jobs she says she’s overqualified for and sent boilerplate rejections for roles that pay a fraction of her previous salary.

After more than a year of rejection, she said her confidence has taken a hit.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Robinett, 55 and based outside of Kansas City. “I just want to work.”

Certain metrics paint a picture of a solid job market. Layoffs and unemployment rates are low despite elevated interest rates and inflation, and U.S. employers surpassed analyst expectations by adding 256,000 jobs in December.

But as companies pull back on hiring, job seekers across the country are struggling to find work.

“It’s gotten much harder to find a job in the last two-and-a-half years. Not impossible, but it’s relatively hard by historical standards,” said Guy Berger, director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, a labor research and consultancy group.

How is the US job market right now?

Continued claims – the total number of Americans filing for ongoing unemployment benefits – hit 1.9 million the week of Jan. 11, a level not seen since 2018, when pandemic-driven job losses aren’t taken into account. More than 22% of unemployed Americans in December had been without a job at least six months, up from 20% the year prior.

Hiring rates are also down, hovering around 3.3% since June compared with 4.6% in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Discounting the dramatic hiring dropoff amid early 2020 lockdowns, the last time hiring rates were this low was 2013, when the labor market was bouncing back from the Great Recession.

It’s a time full of “winners and losers,” Berger said. While those who have jobs can largely consider their roles safe, with layoffs low by historical standards, job seekers face a much more challenging environment.

“There are less jobs available, and they may or may not be in line with employees and what they’re looking for,” said Jason Leverant, president and chief operating officer of commercial staffing firm AtWork Group.

Part of that is due to timing. After a hot post-pandemic market triggered a spike in resignations, the workforce seems to have settled into their new roles, according to Brad Hershbein, a senior economist and deputy director of research at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

“A lot of the people who were going to find a new job, found one,” Hershbein said. And “a lot of businesses found the people that they needed, and don’t need any more right now. It’s the natural state of the cycle.”

Companies have also become more cautious in the post-pandemic work environment and amid policy changes from the new presidential administration, experts told USA TODAY. Layoffs are down, but so are hiring and quit rates – a trend some labor economists call the “great stay.”

“People are put in the position where they have to stay, even if they want to go somewhere else,” Berger said. “But the people really, really hard hit are the people looking for a job.”

Maurissa Joseph, 31 of Virginia, says she’s all too familiar with the challenges of today’s job market. After getting laid off from a human resources job in September, she’s still searching for work.

Joseph’s last job search in 2020 lasted about three months; this time, she’s coming up on five.

“It’s definitely tough out here. I’ve never seen it like this,” said Joseph, who has a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, a master’s degree in business administration and is working on her doctorate in business administration.

Recent graduates struggle to enter job market

The job market has been especially tough for recent college graduates.

Unemployment rates for recent college graduates have been outpacing unemployment rates for all workers at 5.3% compared to 4%, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Berger said it’s “tough going” for new entrants, whether they have a high school diploma or college degree.

Emma Love, a recent graduate from the University of Tennessee, thought working in a top position at her college newspaper would help her get a job in copy editing. After about a month of searching for a job and landing one interview, she’s not so sure. It feels like she’s throwing her resume into a void, she said.

“I worked for three-and-a-half years to get a degree, and I want to use it,” said Love, 21, of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Kylan Simmons, 24 of Salt Lake City, is looking for his first job in the U.S. after graduating from Estonia’s Tallinn University with a liberal arts and humanities degree in 2022.

Since moving back to the U.S. in April, he said he’s applying to “everything.” With a goal of sending 10 applications every day, he’s lost count of how many jobs he’s tried to land.

Living with his parents has helped bring down his cost of living, but he said medical expenses to address temporary vision loss have chipped away at his savings.

“The job market is basically just guess and pray,” he said. “I’m in a lucky position right now. Even though I’m unemployed, I still have a roof over my head and food. I want to move on, move out, eventually. I need a job to do that.”

Which industries are hiring?

Communications, media and technology jobs are among the most competitive industries, with an average 36 applications per offer, according to a 2024 report from human resources software company Workday. Meanwhile, industries like health care and leisure and hospitality have seen healthy gains, adding 46,000 and 43,000 jobs, respectively, in December.

“It’s a bit of a mixed bag,” Hershbein said. “If you’re a nurse looking for a job, you can probably find a job in most parts of the country. If you’re a software developer not doing AI, it’s going to be a lot harder.”

Berger’s tip for job seekers? Lean on your network as much as you can.

Sending in application after application on job board websites may feel productive, but Berger said job searches should be more than just a numbers game – especially when the internet is riddled with scams and “ghost jobs” companies have no intention of filling.

“They’re taking a lot more at-bats, but that involves more misses,” he said. It’s “one of the biggest sources of frustration.”