US initial jobless claims just slipped back below 200,000. On paper, that sounds like great news: fewer people are getting laid off. But if you’re job hunting right now — or struggling to fill a role — it probably doesn’t feel all that great. This data is one more sign we’re in a “low layoffs, low hiring” labor market. Translation: fewer people are losing jobs, but fewer people are landing new ones. The churn that normally keeps the job market moving is slowing down. What a “

On paper, the U.S. labor market looks strong: millions of open roles, unemployment still relatively low, constant chatter about a “talent shortage.” Yet if you talk to job seekers or hiring managers, the story sounds very different. Candidates are applying and hearing nothing. Employers are posting roles and seeing either crickets or applicants who don’t seem like a fit. Positions sit open for months. Everyone’s frustrated. If you’re feeling that disconnect, you’re not imagin

The August jobs report is one of those mixed messages the labor market keeps sending. On paper, it looks decent: the U.S. added 162,000 jobs, signaling steady hiring and a labor market that’s still creating opportunities. But when you dig into pay, the story changes. Wage growth is still trailing inflation. In real life, that means plenty of people are working, even switching jobs, yet feeling like their paycheck never quite catches up to the cost of living. What 162,000 New

If you’ve looked for a job in the last few years, you’ve probably asked yourself some version of the question USA Today just put in a headline: “Where’s the humanity?” Endless online applications. Ghosting after multiple interviews. Vague rejections that tell you nothing. Automated emails that start with “Dear Candidate” after you’ve poured hours into take-home assignments. USA Today’s recent piece on why job seekers say hiring is “broken” touched a nerve because it captured

If it’s felt like your LinkedIn feed is suddenly full of “We’re hiring!” posts again, you’re not imagining things. According to Fortune, a majority of U.S. employers say they plan to increase hiring this year — and there are clear front-runners when it comes to which roles they want to fill. That’s good news, but it doesn’t mean hiring will be easy or that getting hired will be automatic. A hot market just changes where the pressure shows up and what both sides need to do to

The latest U.S. jobs report did something we haven’t seen in a while: the overall labor market lost jobs, but tech kept hiring. In July, the U.S. posted a net loss of about 23,000 jobs. At the same time, technology employers quietly moved in the opposite direction, adding headcount and opening new roles. If you work in or around tech, that split story matters a lot more than the headline number. Why tech is adding jobs when others are pulling back Tech has become less of a si

If you’re job hunting right now, you’ve probably seen the headlines: “Millions of open jobs.” Then you send out dozens of applications… and hear crickets. On paper, this market should be incredible for candidates. Unemployment is relatively low, job openings are high, and companies keep talking about a “talent shortage.” Yet a lot of qualified people still can’t get hired, and many employers still can’t fill roles. That disconnect is exactly what this moment in the American j

Seeing headlines about AI-driven layoffs on Monday… and then hearing that companies are “planning to hire more” on Tuesday? You’re not imagining things. The job market really is sending mixed signals right now. On one side, you’ve got roles getting cut or reshaped because of automation and AI tools. On the other, many U.S. companies are openly signaling plans to expand headcount. If that feels contradictory, you’re exactly where a lot of job seekers and hiring managers are to

If you’ve spent any time online lately, you’d think artificial intelligence is about to wipe out half of all jobs by next Tuesday. But step away from the headlines and talk to anyone actually trying to hire, and you’ll hear a very different story: it’s still hard to find people. Not because robots took their jobs, but because a huge chunk of the workforce is quietly aging out of it. Indeed’s chief economist has been blunt about this: the biggest strain on the U.S. labor marke

Every time a new AI headline drops, the same question pops up: "Is this going to wipe out jobs?" The latest analysis from Indeed Hiring Lab gives a more nuanced answer: AI isn’t just subtracting jobs, it’s quietly reshaping what employers are actually asking for. If you’re a job seeker, hiring manager, or recruiter, this isn’t some abstract future trend. It’s already visible in job postings today — both in the kinds of roles being advertised and in the skills hiding inside th

The June jobs report sent a pretty clear message: the red‑hot US labor market is finally cooling off. Payroll growth slowed sharply, and the labor force participation rate slipped to its lowest point in more than five years. In plain English? Fewer people are working or actively looking for work, and hiring isn’t moving at the pace we’ve gotten used to. If you’re a job seeker, that can feel unsettling. If you’re an employer, it can be confusing. We just came out of a period w

Every time there’s a big global event, people start asking the same question: “Is this going to move the job market?” Pantheon Macro’s latest take on the U.S. labor market says no — at least not this time. Despite the buzz around the World Cup, their analysis shows hiring is slowing and there’s no clear, event-driven bump in job creation. Instead, we’re looking at a broad, steady cooling. The World Cup Hype vs. the Reality of Hiring On paper, it’s easy to imagine a World Cup

On paper, the labor market looks strong. Payrolls are up, unemployment is still relatively low, and headlines keep talking about “solid job growth.” But if you’re actually in the market — hiring or job searching — it may not feel that way at all. That disconnect is exactly what the latest Indeed Hiring Lab analysis digs into: strong payroll numbers, but softer hiring activity and slower movement from job postings to accepted offers. In other words, jobs are getting added, but

Healthcare job openings are staying stubbornly high, and they’re not drifting back to pre-pandemic levels. If you’re in healthcare, you’re not imagining it: the hiring crunch is real, it’s persistent, and it’s reshaping how providers build their teams. From bedside nurses to respiratory therapists to allied health roles, demand isn’t cooling off. Providers are juggling full-time staff, travelers, per diems, and agency help just to keep units open. Recruiters are being pushed

Job openings in the US just climbed to their highest level in nearly two years, according to the latest JOLTS data. On paper, that sounds simple: more openings, more opportunity. But if you’ve been hiring or job searching lately, you already know it’s not that straightforward. This jump in openings is a signal. It tells us something about where the labor market is heading, and it has real consequences for how quickly roles get filled, how competitive compensation needs to be,

The headlines say the U.S. economy just logged its third straight month of strong job growth, adding around 172,000 jobs in May. Sounds great. But if you’re a job seeker who’s been sending out resumes with little response, or an employer struggling to fill the same role for months, it might not feel great. That gap between the numbers and the lived reality is exactly where job seekers and hiring managers get tripped up. The labor market looks strong on paper Let’s start with

The May 2026 jobs report looks strong on the surface. Payrolls are up again, headlines are positive, and on paper it feels like the labor market is still humming along. But if you work in hiring or you’re out there job searching, it probably doesn’t feel nearly as simple as that. Indeed Hiring Lab’s breakdown of the May report points to something most recruiters and candidates are already sensing: we’re living through two different labor markets at the same time. One headline

Everyone’s blaming AI for the collapse in early-career hiring. But if you look a little closer, there’s another quiet culprit: the way we’re doing remote and hybrid work. Entry-level pipelines haven’t dried up because we suddenly don’t need junior talent. They’re shrinking because we’ve made it incredibly hard to grow junior talent in the environments we’ve created. AI Is the Distraction. The Real Issue Is Proximity. There’s a lot of noise right now about how automation and A

Every May and June, my inbox fills up with some version of the same sentence: “I’m targeting roles in the $80,000 range.” This year, that number is everywhere. As USA Today reports, many new college graduates are walking into the job market expecting around an $80K starting salary. The reality? Entry-level compensation is all over the map, and in a lot of cases, it’s lower than that — sometimes significantly, depending on the role, industry, and region. When expectations and

On paper, the U.S. job market looks solid. Unemployment is low, headlines say the labor market is “resilient,” and big-picture data still points to growth. But if you’re actually job hunting right now, it might feel like a completely different reality: longer searches, fewer callbacks, more hoops to jump through, and companies that seem wildly picky about experience and skills. Both of these things can be true at the same time. The weird gap between data and reality Most labo