Job seekers are becoming more desperate to find work: ‘It’s not just about vibes anymore’

Just 15% of people looking for jobs say their search is going well, compared with 38% who say their search is going poorly.

A growing share of people also say they expect job opportunities to decrease in the coming six months.

Meanwhile, their searches are growing more urgent: 43% of job seekers say they’re looking for jobs every day, up from 37% of people at the end of 2023.

Job seekers say they feel financial pressure to start a new job quickly, with 40% saying they’re falling behind on bills or “facing serious financial difficulties,” according to the report. A majority, 63%, say they feel compelled to take the first job offer they get in order to feel financially secure. As a result, job seekers say they want to start a new role within 3½ weeks, down from a 7½-week desired start date during the first quarter of 2024.

“For over a year, economists have been talking about the ‘vibecession,’ or the disconnect between really strong economic data and really weak sentiment,” ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak tells CNBC Make It. “The issue now is that it’s not just about vibes anymore. The vibes are matching a clear deterioration in the labor market.”

Official Labor Department data shows it’s getting harder to find a new job. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1% in June, and length of joblessness increased while hiring has slowed, following a historic period of low joblessness and hiring booms during the post-pandemic economic recovery.

Even with the incremental changes, data indicates the job market is relatively stable, if cooling, but many Americans are feeling whiplash from the rapid-fire hiring and wage growth during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic recovery. Today’s job seekers may have greater financial needs as they look for work now that pandemic stimulus programs, student loan pauses and rent moratoriums have ended.

“You have lots of people whose financial situations are poor now relative to what they were at some point between the pandemic and now,” Pollak says.

Jobs in government, health care and social assistance remain strong, Pollak says. Employers are also hiring for lower-wage workers in restaurants and seasonal summer jobs, which so far has disproportionately benefit some of the youngest workers between 16 and 19, she adds.

But certain fields, particularly those sensitive to interest rate changes like manufacturing, automotive companies and tech, have seen more volatility with layoffs and reduced hiring. Getting hired has become more difficult for older workers above 65, Black and Hispanic workers, and recent grads under 24 years old, Pollak says.

Middle-income earners bringing in $48,000 to $74,999 saw the steepest drop in confidence, while high-earners with a salary of $115,000 or more are the only income group to feel better about the job market today compared with earlier in the year.

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