Jobs Taking Longer to Land

No, it’s not your imagination. WSJ reported this week that white collar jobs, including legal jobs, are taking longer to land.  

What’s going on now with the economy?

• It’s complicated. Over 2 million jobs have been added to the US economy over the last year, but “more people who are out of work are having a hard time getting back in.”
• 7+ million people have been looking for jobs in the US, 1.6 million have been looking for 6+ months (as of November per Labor Department).
• People looking for 6+ months is up >50% since the end of 2022.
• On average it takes 6 months to find a job, a month longer than early 2023.

Who is down?

• WSJ says “largely in high-paying white-collar jobs, including in tech, law and media, where businesses grew fast when the economy reopened from the pandemic but now have less need for new hires.”
• Specifically, “[j]ob postings on Indeed for software development, data science and marketing roles were each at least 20%below prepandemic levels late last year. Government figures show that the hiring rate in the information industry is 30% lower than just before the pandemic, while finance hiring is down by 28%.”
• Who is hit hardest? Office jobs, “where bosses are aiming to be leaner and in some cases replacing workers with AI.”

Who is up?

• Hiring has been “resilient” in mining, manufacturing and transportation. Interestingly, “two industries alone, healthcare and government work, have been responsible for more than half of overall job creation over the past 12 months.” WSJ also says hospitality is still looking for “hands-on services work.”

Grim stat: “Year-over-year wage growth has fallen to 4%, down from about 6% at the height of the early 2020s hiring spree. That’s a sign that many employers don’t have to jostle so hard to attract workers.”