# Job hunting takes longer as hiring stalls

> Nearly four in ten people exhaust unemployment benefits before finding work in today's sluggish job market.
- Title: Job hunting takes longer as hiring stalls · NPR | Shortify
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: unemployment, job market, hiring, unemployment benefits, colorado, north carolina, economy, news, Job, hunting, takes, longer
- Source: NPR — https://npr.org/2026/10/11/nx-s1-5995238/jobs-employment-economy-unemployment-benefits
- Published: 2026-10-11T00:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: unemployment, job market, hiring, unemployment benefits, colorado, north carolina, economy, news
## 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.
## Key takeaway

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.