TOP HIRING CHALLENGES FOR 2022: WHY IT’S SO HARD TO FILL JOBS RIGHT NOW

Posted May 18, 2022

Demand for labor is historically high. The U.S. had 11.3 million job openings in January 2022, slightly down from a record 11.5 million in December 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported. A whopping 678,000 jobs were created in February.

So far, the economy has recovered 18.8 million of the 22.4 million jobs lost during the early days of the pandemic, when temporary closures and stay-at-home orders forced companies to lay off or furlough millions of workers. Service industries, such as retail, hotels, restaurants, healthcare and professional services, which were the hardest hit at the beginning of the pandemic, have posted the most gains.

The result is a very tight job market in which job openings outnumber job seekers. For every 100 job openings in January, there were only 60 unemployed workers available, significantly tighter than 84 per 100 job openings in 2019. At the start of the pandemic, in April 2020, there were 490 unemployed people for every 100 jobs.

Although expanded federal unemployment programs expired Sep. 6, there has been no rush of workers into the labor force. Covid-19 concerns, childcare issues (even after schools re-opened), and larger-than-usual financial cushions have dampened job seeker interest. In addition, wages are rising but not enough to offset inflation and temp passive job seekers. Read full article