Gap Between US Job Market, Recovery Getting Wider

While wider optimism has spread believing the job market is getting better, a lot of US citizens believe the actual economy s getting worse and worse.

Claims for unemployment benefits retreated to lowest point since 1969 the week before Thanksgiving in an amazing rebound from the levels earlier during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The reduction is good news for the US economy and labor market. The headline figure covers up a detail that likely makes the data appear overly optimistic.

Workers filed 199,000 initial claims during the week ended 20 November, the US Department of Labor reported Wednesday. The unadjusted number would tell a different story. Unadjusted initial claims increased by 18,000, to almost 259,000, the week before Thanksgiving.

While employers have complained for months about the difficulty they face hiring during a labour shortage with more than 10 million job openings for 7.4 million unemployed workers, interviews with job hunting workers revealed a concurrent reality, namely there is difficulty finding suitable work, as they navigate the pandemic labour market.

There are challenges ahead in getting so many people back to work quickly and the growing divide between what employers want versus what job seekers want.

The United States has a record number of job openings, but many firms continue to favor candidates with experience, availability to work evening or weekend hours, and a readiness to work in person.