For millions of Americans, it's taking months to find a new job as labor market slows
CBSN
The unemployment rate might be near a historic low, but it's taking longer for hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Americans to find new jobs, signaling cracks within a once-hot labor market as employers continue to cope with the impact of higher borrowing costs.
About 40% of the 7 million people who were out of work in October, or roughly 2.84 million people, have been looking for work for more than 15 weeks, an increase of 20% since a year earlier, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than half of those job seekers have been on the hunt for new employment for more than 27 weeks, or about half a year.
A drawn-out job search is increasingly common in the labor market today as companies hold off on hiring, especially in some industries such as tech and professional services, ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak told CBS MoneyWatch. It's a far cry from the heady years of 2021 and 2022, when Americans switched jobs at high rates in search of better pay and more fulfilling work, a trend termed "The Great Resignation."
