Job search heats up as workers fight off summer blues

By Kory Kantenga , Head of Economics, Americas, at LinkedIn

A bump in the unemployment rate sent shock waves through equity markets in the US and beyond at the start of the month, raising recession fears. While recession fears have since calmed, the question remains open about whether we can expect unemployment to continue to rise or whether it will level out. The answer to this depends on the degree to which workers will continue to enter the labor force to look for work and the degree to which job seekers can find work. Finding work has become increasingly challenging as hiring has not just slowed in the US but across the globe .

In this edition of the State of the Labor Market, we’ll dive deep into how job search intensity compares across several dimensions as well as how it has evolved throughout this year. As finding work has become more challenging, we see job seeking intensity increasing almost across the board. Facing more competition and an increasingly daunting job search, we have also seen workforce confidence wade into pessimistic waters, but workers look to be shaking off the worst of this pessimism with confidence rebounding somewhat as the summer progresses.

Job seekers around the globe searching more intensely compared to January

With slower hiring and unemployment ticking up this year in the US , UK , and Eurozone , labor market conditions for job seekers have become more challenging with more competition between workers for jobs. As a result, we may see some job seekers search more intensely and need to compete harder for open roles.

We track how intensely workers around the globe search for work using our Job Seeker Intensity Index. The Job Seeker Intensity Index measures the average number of applications made per applicant on LinkedIn. An increase in the average number of applications per applicant indicates more intense job seeking. Looking across the globe, we can see how job seeking intensity compares and has evolved for members this year across countries, industries, and generations.

We compare job seeker intensity across countries by ranking countries, industries, and generations. For industries and generations, we take the median level of job seeking intensity across countries to calculate a global measure of job seeking intensity for each industry and generation. Singapore, the US, and the UK top the list of countries for the highest levels of job seeking intensity. Technology, Information, and Media, Professional Services, and Financial Services top the list of industries for the highest levels of job seeking intensity, which comes as no surprise given that labor markets for these industries slowed significantly as interest rates rose across the globe. Gen Y or Millennials exhibit the highest level of job seeker intensity followed by Gen Z.

Across countries, we see that job seeking intensity has increased more this year in the Eurozone than the Americas with the exception of Italy. The Netherlands, France, and Germany have seen job seeking intensity increase over 8% so far this year. The United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada have seen job seeking intensity increase by less than 4% so far this year. Intensity in Canada slightly declined despite ongoing increases in the Canadian unemployment rate .

In addition to seeing one of the highest levels of job seeking intensity, Financial Services has seen the largest increase so far in 2024. Hospitals and Health Care ranks at the bottom in terms of job seeking intensity but has seen the second highest increase globally this year. Construction has seen the smallest increase while also being the second lowest industry in terms of job seeking intensity with a stronger labor market for Construction. It remains one of the strongest sectors of the economy amidst the interest rate-driven slowdown.

While the Baby Boomer Generation exhibits the lowest level of job seeking intensity globally, we see that members of this generation have increased their job seeking intensity the most this year. We also see that Gen Z lags Millennials both in terms of their average level of job seeking intensity and the increase in job seeking intensity we have seen this year.?

Confidence rebounds slightly but workers remain downbeat

Earlier this summer, we saw worker confidence dip across several countries, according to LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index. In the US, worker confidence levels reached lows not seen since the pandemic, driven especially by a loss of confidence in the ability to make career progress . This loss of confidence may be in no small part due to the cumulative impact of hiring slowdown and increased intensity of job seeking activity at a time when unemployment is inching upward and job openings continue to inch downward. However, worker confidence rebounded somewhat in several countries as the summer progressed, including the US, Australia, the UK, Brazil, Italy, and Spain. Despite a rebound in growth, labor market momentum continued to slow in the largest Eurozone economies this past spring. As a result, a third of members in both Germany and France said they feel “stuck in their job” on top of the increase in job seeking intensity already shown.

For more insights, check out our latest US Workforce report and learn more about the LinkedIn Hiring Rate here . LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index tracks workforce confidence along three dimensions: career progress, improving finances, and job opportunities/security. Many thanks to Yao Huang and Allie Lewis for making this edition of State of Labor Market possible!