What is the state of the U.S. job market today? It's full of variables and challenges, attracting many job seekers and pulling at the pulse of companies. In order to better understand the U.S. job market, we may wish to look at some of the specifics of the current situation.
The U.S. job market situation is worrying
A number of data show that the U.S. job market situation is getting more and more serious. 44% of the job seekers have been unemployed for more than 12 months, about 64% of the job seekers reflect the search for a new job more difficult than 6 months ago, 71% of the job seekers said that the financial situation is worse than a year ago. the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in July, reaching a high level of nearly three years.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate jumped to 4.2% in November, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from October's figure, and the number of unemployed people also increased by 800,000 year-on-year. Some economists believe that the Federal Reserve may be lagging behind in easing monetary policy. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to the highest in nearly three years, and signs of economic weakness caused concern. nonfarm payrolls in November were lower than expected, the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.1%, a high in nearly three, and average hourly earnings growth slowed.

Signs of weakness in the job market
Survey reports show that the U.S. job market is cooling. Temporary unemployment increased, permanent unemployment also has a rising trend, which is the U.S. labor force job market to a weak signal. At present, nearly half of the job seekers need more than a year to find a new job, 44% of the job seekers have been unemployed for more than 12 months, about 64% of the job seekers reflected to find a new job than 6 months ago more difficult, 71% of the job seekers said that the financial situation than a year ago worse. The lengthening of the job search cycle for the unemployed signals a very clear weakness in the U.S. labor market.
According to the latest JOLTS data, the number of job openings in the U.S. fell to 8.7 million in November 2023, well below the 9.3 million widely expected and the 9.3 million recorded in previous months. GlobalData's U.S. Active Employment Index forecasts a decline in the JOLTS data for October and a weak November, pointing to an increase of 172,000 in the nonfarm payrolls (NFP) data, which will be released on December 8th. The GlobalData U.S. Active Employment Index forecasts a decline in the October JOLTS figure and a weak November figure, pointing to the December 8 release of the Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) data, which is expected to add 172,000 jobs, down from the 180,000 widely estimated.
The latest ADP employment data supported the weak job market, with employment increasing by only 103,000 in November, below the widely expected 128,000 and slightly below October's 106,000.