Slowest Labor Market in Years Leaves Job Seekers Stuck

America’s unemployment rate is low. But so is its job growth. That means Americans without stable, full-time work are locked out of a job market that has settled into a low-hire, low-fire stasis.

Job data released this week shows that the U.S. entered the new year with an unemployment rate of 4.4%, after the lowest monthly pace of job gains outside a recession since 2003. People without jobs are enduring longer searches, and millions of people are stringing together multiple gigs to get by.

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Last month, more than 5.3 million Americans were working part time because they couldn’t get more work. Though the number was down from November, the year ended with about 3.1% of the U.S. labor force stuck in these part-time jobs, up from 2.6% 12 months earlier.

For those out of work, the median unemployment time reached 11.4 weeks in December, the highest level since December 2021. And job seekers who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more now make up 26% of all unemployed workers, up from 22% a year ago.

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Pessimism among white-collar professionals has risen as high-profile employers have announced big job cuts, with some executives saying they anticipate artificial intelligence can do more workers’ jobs. Among workers age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more, 2.8% are now unemployed, up from 2.5% a year earlier.

More..

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/job-market-cooling-labor-department-6d4204ed?st=17hDLN&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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