From NPR · · 2m
Job hunting takes longer as hiring stalls
Nearly four in ten people exhaust unemployment benefits before finding work in today's sluggish job market.
In brief
Nearly four in ten people exhaust unemployment benefits before finding work in today's sluggish job market. U.S. employers added just twenty-nine thousand jobs last month while the average worker takes longer to find new employment, leaving many to exhaust benefits before landing a paycheck. Originally reported by NPR.
Job market stalls across America
U.S. employers added just twenty-nine thousand jobs last month. That's one job for every two hundred forty-four unemployed workers seeking work.
Nearly four in ten exhaust benefits
The average worker is taking longer to find a new job, meaning more people exhaust unemployment benefits before any new paychecks begin.
Evan Smith's Colorado job search
Evan Smith lost his job at a Colorado RV dealership this past spring after the company was sold. He's applied for numerous jobs since then.
Competing with hundreds of applicants
Smith says when he finds a job he's excited about, over one hundred people have already clicked applied for it in the last two weeks.
“You just feel like you're a number.”
Cheryl Huff's four-month search
Cheryl Huff was laid off from a state government job in Colorado four months ago. She's applied for dozens of positions and gotten only a handful of interviews.
Colorado benefits expire in December
Colorado offers six months of unemployment benefits. Huff's are set to run out in early December. She pays one thousand three hundred dollars a month for health insurance.
North Carolina's tighter time limit
North Carolina offers less than three months of unemployment benefits, capped at three hundred fifty dollars a week. Keke Moore lost her job as a meeting planner last December.
Moore's son helps with household bills
Moore has been out of work for almost a year. Her unemployment benefits have expired. Her twenty-one-year-old son now helps with household bills.
“I feel like a failure as a parent, because it's like I don't want him worrying about bills.”
Two million stuck long-term
Of the more than seven million unemployed people in the country, nearly two million have been out of work for six months or more.
The emotional toll of joblessness
Evan Smith says job hunting itself is an exhausting full-time gig. He sometimes goes for a hike just to give himself a break from the search.
“Keeping a good attitude, I think, is huge. Getting discouraged is really freaking easy.”
The essence
U.S. employers added just twenty-nine thousand jobs last month while the average worker takes longer to find new employment, leaving many to exhaust benefits before landing a paycheck.
