Can’t find a job? You’re not alone

As a senior in college still figuring out my post-graduation plans, I am far too familiar with the dreaded question, “What are you doing next year?” In an effort to defend my “I don’t know” reply in the face of judgmental adults, I have done extensive research to defend the claim that the job hunt is significantly harder today than it was 30 years ago, right around the time our parents were searching.

The percentage of kids who earn more than their parents has dropped drastically within the past few decades; 90% of adults born in the 1940s earned more than their parents, compared to 50% of adults in the 1980s. This 40% drop indicates a downward trend in mobility in which the sharpest decline is felt by middle class families and in Midwestern states like Michigan. If we measure the American Dream like it’s defined by an improved financial state, then 90% of people in the 1940s achieved the American Dream, compared to 50% of people in the 1980s.

In a similar vein, a Pew Research study revealed that 62% of Americans think their kids will be worse off economically than they were at the same age. Following the aforementioned trend, this prediction seems plausible and shows that not only is there statistical evidence to prove a declining comparative financial state for Americans, but many Americans feel that fiscal success is on the decline.

One possible explanation for the generational financial decline is the decreasing percentage of full-time workers in the U.S. While only 39% of 21-year-olds were working full time in 2021, 64% of 21-year-olds worked full time in 1980. Some may chalk this up to decreased motivation to join the workforce or the fact that more young people are heading to college instead, but surveys say that Generation Z is still interested in finding that post-grad job. Decent jobs are just harder to come across.

There is no shortage of open jobs, with the number of job openings reaching 8.8 million in November 2023. However, there is a shortage of jobs with good benefits and high pay. When searching for a full-time job, college students like myself are looking for financial security, benefits and a promised trajectory for success and stability. Finding a job with these qualities is more difficult today than it was 30 years ago, mostly due to oversaturation and the rise of technology.

Gabriel Cohen, a recent Engineering alum with a degree in computer science, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily that there’s an oversaturation of people looking for a job in the tech industry.

“Technology grows every year, and I think a lot of people recognize that,” Cohen said. “So now we have all these people just looking for jobs in this field, and the jobs aren’t necessarily caught up.”

The number of open tech jobs has rapidly declined in the past year, from about 470,000 in April 2022 to 180,000 in January 2024. While the projected 23% increase in computer science and information research jobs between 2022 and 2032 may look significant, the demand cannot catch up with the supply. There exists a far more competitive playing field today than 30 years ago, as the number of adults with undergraduate degrees nearly doubled from 17% in 1980 to 33% in 2015. Millennials are better educated on average than those in prior generations, leading to higher competition among other applicants. As a result of the supply and demand imbalance, only the best of the best are able to break into the tech industry.

In an interview with The Daily, LSA senior Jeffrey Hitchcock remarked on the increasing difficulty of finding a high quality job.

“As decades go on, you’re going to need more than a bachelor’s if you want to come out and get a really good job,” Hitchcock said. “Experience is the biggest thing. If you don’t have experience, it’s very hard to get because everyone wants it.”

Technology has also changed the job application process in another substantial way — now, anyone is able to apply anywhere. It doesn’t matter if the job is in California or New Hampshire: If there’s a remote option, there’s a way. College graduates aren’t just competing with the people within a 30-mile radius; we’re competing with applicants from all over the world, which can be incredibly discouraging. This added competition makes the chances of landing a job in your preferred field even lower. According to Business Insider, remote roles garner three times the number of applicants compared to on-site positions. The mere 9% of remote job positions posted on LinkedIn in August 2023 accounted for almost 50% of that month’s total job applications on LinkedIn. The benefits of remote work are widely recognized by applicants around the globe, but the demand for remote workers is steadily decreasing. In the fourth quarter of 2023, high paying remote job posts decreased close to 70%, while high-paying, in-person job posts increased by 93%, thus leaving aspiring remote workers out of luck.

In conjunction with the oversaturated applicant pool is the problem of machine-read applications. According to Yahoo Finance, three-out-of-four resumes are never even seen by human eyes. Instead, machines look at your resume. Some applicants use this to their advantage, saturating their resumes with buzzwords and invisible writing to get past the first round. Others are relying on luck that the words on their resume match up to what the machine is searching for, a gamble one is likely to lose. Either way, knowing there’s a high probability your resume will never even be seen is a huge hit to morale.

Further, research into resume-vetting algorithms shows significant problems with machines vetting applications. Some artificial intelligence tools are proven to be biased against female applicants, while others use outlandish criteria unrelated to the role in their decision-making processes. Even recruiters are admitting the failures of AI in reading resumes. In an international survey of business executives, 88% admit that the AI they use rejects qualified applicants.

Hoyt Bleakley, U-M professor of economics, noted the search optimization strategies necessary for getting your resume past the machines.

“There’s sort of resume optimization, which is to say you have to figure out ways to make sure, through the appearance of your resume or through keywords, that yours passes through their algorithm,” Bleakly said.

To make matters worse, some job openings aren’t really job openings at all; they’re ghost jobs, or open positions that employers post but are not aiming to fill. There are many reasons why employers post ghost jobs, including the claim that their company is “always open” to new talent or to “give off the impression that the company was growing.” Regardless of the reason, the result is the same. While there appear to be millions of jobs open for hiring, 60% of postings have been open for more than 30 days, which makes it likely that either the job doesn’t exist or the employer is not looking to fill it. In other words, it’s a ghost job. This may be the reason why in February 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 10 million fewer jobs on payrolls than in February 2020.

Additionally, it takes a lengthy amount of time to get hired to the jobs that do exist. Applicants all over the internet are sharing stories about undergoing excruciating interview processes, with many undergoing up to eight rounds of interviews only to be rejected after the final round.

While the increasing presence of ghost jobs, machine reading tools and other qualified competitors can be discouraging, it’s worth noting that you’re not alone. Take comfort in knowing your consistent rejections can be blamed on outside forces and that it really is more difficult to find a dependable job today compared to 30 years ago. So, the next time you have to field a question about your post-graduation plans, try to say “I don’t know” with a little more confidence, and most importantly, don’t give up. Good jobs may be rare, but you’re exceptional.

Talia Belowich is a student at the University of Michigan. This article was originally published by The Michigan Daily and is posted here with permission from Talia Belowich.

Like most of the pictures on TeensParentsTeachers, the picture posted with this article is courtesy of a free download from Pixabay.com.