Many companies continue to actively look for U.S. workers, despite the unemployment rate hitting historic lows.
Key Details
- The unemployment rate for July, September, and December 2022 was at a low of 3.5%. Before 2019, a number that low wasn’t seen in nearly 50 years.
- Despite many big-tech companies announcing layoffs, many other companies continue looking for U.S. workers.
- Many U.S. employers are actively hiring employees, with around 223,000 jobs added in December 2022.
WHy it’s news
The pandemic shifted the job market considerably, leading many people to quit their jobs to find better pay or work-life balance.
In 2021, more than 47 million workers quit their jobs, but many of the workers who quit quickly got rehired at new jobs. Since November 2020, hiring rates have outpaced quit rates, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Many large tech companies have been laying off workers, but many other U.S. businesses are still actively looking to recruit new employees. Data from November 2022 shows around 1.7 open positions for each available worker in the U.S.
The unemployment rate, at 3.5%, is low and low levels of unemployment typically are linked with higher inflation due to the fact there is more money in the economy, leading to demand outweighing the supply of goods and services.
Economists have said the unemployment rate would have to go up again for the high inflation plaguing the U.S. to cool down, but that doesn’t seem to be the case as it usually is. So far, inflation has begun cooling down despite unemployment rates being near a historically low level.
