The hiring logjam has revealed some signs of letting up in July.
But firms in the trenches are attempting to meet labor demand still report a market that is still unbalanced — and tilted towards those seeking work.
“No matter what your source right now, fundamentally there are 40% more jobs available today than there were before covid started,” Ian Siegel, the ZipRecruiter CEO, said. “And that was already a hot job market.”
As of June, a record 10.1 million opening were now in the United States. But as ZipRecruiter reported in its Q2 letter to shareholders, the market is now in “disequilibrium.”
“What you are seeing is an unprecedented world for job seekers,” Siegel said. “If you are looking for work, there is an abundance of them. If you are looking to make more per hour, there is a huge opportunity right now to get a job that gives you more. This is a job seekers’ market more than we have never seen before.”
As of the jobs report from July, there were 5.7 million less people employed than pre-pandemic peaks of Feb. 2020. And even with some Fed officials beginning to talk about the role retirements might have in stopping the labor market from getting back to pre-COVID levels, there are still millions of possible workers on the sidelines right now.
The national expiration of extra unemployment benefits in Sept. might be a catalyst to attract people back to the workforce. A return to school might also solve any child care-related reasons for being out of work. And, as we have seen time and again, large employers with more resources are continuing to ramp up incentives and pay to match their employment demands.
And to fill these spots, employers are removing requirements.
Earlier this year, we stressed data from Indeed.com that revealed a rise in the use of phrases such as “hiring urgently” and more jobs reporting sign-on bonuses or other incentives. These are things that ZipRecruiter is seeing take over its platform too.
“Just to give perspective, the number of jobs that ask for a college degree or over five years experience has been cut in half,” Siegel reported.
“The job descriptions that read ‘no experience required’ has doubled. Employers are increasing wages. They are offering bonuses and better schedules,” he said.
Author: Blake Ambrose
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