🧾 The Job Market Looks Fine—But Is It Lying to Us?
Five Fast Facts That Reveal What’s Really Happening Behind Those “Good” Labor Numbers
5 Fast Facts for Paychecks
Under the Hood of the Labor Market
In a perfect world, the job fairy would pay every unemployed person a visit, give them their dream gig, and fly away into the clouds. 🧚 Unfortunately, all we have is the tooth fairy…and we hear even she’s been stingy lately. 🦷🆘
Whether you’re trying to hawk your teeth for cash or looking for a job the honest way, it’s been real lately. Real difficult! 🥴 Sure, reports say new jobs are being created, but there’s more to the story.
Here’s Five Fast Facts on the current state of the U.S. labor market:
📈 Job Jump - Taking a look at recent U.S. government job data, back in April, we saw an unexpected increase. Why were people surprised? Post-pandemic high job demand is in cool down mode. In May, our nation’s economy added 139,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate stayed at 4.2%.
💼 Privacy, Please - Digging in a little deeper, there’s more to the story. According to payroll giant ADP, the private sector only added 37,000 new roles. That’s the fewest we’ve seen since March 2023. In other words, if you’ve been hunting down a non-government gig, you’re probably having a bad time.
☔ Claim It on the Rain - For the week ending June 14th, first-time unemployment claims came in at 245,000. This is down 5,000 from the week before and the first decrease we’ve had in weeks. Although the current trend is downward, the four-week moving average hit a new high (245,500). We hit the last high back in August 2023.
⏬ How Low Can Ya Go? - Why are so many filing for unemployment? Economists say a low hiring rate is to blame. Length of time spent unemployed is on the rise, too. People might want jobs, but they’re having a tough time finding them.
👷🏽♂️ Facts & Figures - About a year ago, we had roughly 2.3 unemployed folks in America. This May, the number of Americans unemployed for at least 15 weeks stood at 2.5 million. Although some job data makes the market look strong, it’s important to look at all the numbers to get a proper dose of reality.
🔥Bottom line: While the labor market has been a lady pit bull for everyone lately, recent college grads are getting the short end of the stick. Wondering why it’s been so hard for these ambitious kiddos to land jobs? Take a trip over to this article for our report on what’s really going on.
Are you currently looking for a new job?
Good info