Harder than it looks: Job seekers face hidden stresses in today's economy

How difficult can it be to find a new job in the current U.S. economy – where the official unemployment rate, as of April, is a mere 3.4%?

It’s harder than it looks, says Kristin Vierra , a career counselor who has been advising dozens of job seekers in fields such as technology, health-care and mission-driven organizations. Her clients are a strong mix of achievers, with considerable experience that previous employers have valued.

Even such strong candidates face growing challenges, Vierra says. Hiring pathways are becoming longer and more unpredictable for many white-collar roles. The once-booming tech sector is especially hesitant, as the hiring spree of 2020-22 has given way to layoffs or headcount freezes, she observes.?

In addition, new artificial-intelligence tools may be generating job anxiety. And candidates wanting to work remotely face increased pushback from employers.

The impact of such stresses shows up in the latest edition of LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index, which asked 32,620 U.S. professionals how confident they felt about their prospects of keeping or finding a job.??

As the chart above shows, confidence for active job seekers has tumbled since the start of 2023. On a scale that ranges from +100 (most confident) to -100 (gloomiest), job hunters’ outlook in May slipped to +27, down from January’s +36.

“It’s harder than ever to land a white-collar job,” The Wall Street Journal concluded , in a recent account of job hunters’ difficulties. Rza Mollayev , a 2020 college graduate, told the Journal that a few years ago, he was able to land a good job after submitting just six applications. This time around, he needed to pursue 120 opportunities before getting hired.

Even getting callbacks for a second- or third-round interview is no longer a signal that a job offer might be imminent. Megan Burr , an Oregon marketing specialist, told the Journal that in recent months, she had one opportunity fall through after eight interviews. Another company ghosted her after nine interviews.

Taking the long view, the latest erosion in job-related confidence can also be seen as a return to the overall mood about two years ago, LinkedIn principal economist Guy Berger observes. “That wasn’t a bad labor market by any means,” he says, likening this year’s downturn to “warm air being gradually let out of the balloon.”

Among all U.S. professionals – most of whom aren’t actively looking for new employment – the Workforce Confidence survey finds a milder decline in professionals’ expectations to get or hold a job. Specifically, their job-related confidence ebbed to +51 in May, from +55 in January. That four-point drop so far in 2023 contrasts with the nine-point drop for active job seekers.

For career starters, particularly in tech, the competition for jobs “is definitely higher” than it was a year or two ago, says California career coach Sally Clapper . Many of tech’s largest and most famous companies have cut back hiring substantially, she points out. Still, a lot of startups need talent, and their hiring needs have been a boon for her clients.

Carol Ann Knight , a leadership coach and consultant, observes that in the current economy, “there’s a lot of change happening all at once.” Factors on her radar include what she describes as the potentially disruptive nature of AI as it affects a wide swath of industries. “I don’t think people are ready for it,” she cautions.

“People need to be adaptive,” Knight says. She encourages her clients to develop a clear sense of the growth goals and new opportunities that they want to pursue, so that they can present positive stories to potential employers, rather than just the anxiety of needing a job.

Lining up the right opportunity takes time, Knight adds. She’s now advising clients that if they’re looking to switch jobs, they should “plan for the process to take at least six months, or perhaps longer.”?

Methodology

LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index is based on a quantitative online survey distributed to members via email every two weeks. Roughly 3,000 to 5,000 U.S.-based members respond to each wave. Members are randomly sampled and must be opted into research to participate. Students, stay-at-home partners and retirees are excluded from analysis so we can get an accurate representation of those currently active in the workforce. We analyze data in aggregate and will always respect member privacy. Data is weighted by engagement level to ensure fair representation of various activity levels on the platform. The results represent the world as seen through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership and the overall market population are not accounted for.

Allison Lewis and Sharon Resheff from LinkedIn Market Research contributed to this article.