Newsweek - A growing number of Americans are running out of unemployment benefits as hiring slows, leaving job seekers without income support after months of searching. The trend highlights a gap in the labor market, where layoffs remain low but finding new work is taking longer.
Workers in industries like tech, media and retail are among those most affected, as long-term unemployment rises.
Despite a relatively low unemployment rate, economists say the labor market is stuck in a “low hire, low fire” cycle—companies aren’t cutting jobs in large numbers, but they also aren’t adding them. That means workers who lose jobs are increasingly struggling to find new ones before their benefits expire.
.The unemployment rate has remained near historic lows, but analysts say it does not fully capture the growing strain beneath the surface.
More Americans are working part-time when they want full-time jobsMulti-job households are risingLong-term unemployment is increasing
Reuters described the stability as a potential “mirage,” while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economy is in an “unusual and uncomfortable” balance.
“This is millions or even billions of dollars that’s not going towards workers and investing into their workplace,” said Margaret Poydock, a co-author of the report and a senior policy analyst at the EPI.
Employers spent company money hiring consultants and law firms specializing in union avoidance and on legal counsel, representation and litigation services during union elections and organizing campaigns.
Poydock said the role of these union-avoidance law firms and consultants has, in part, contributed to the decline of unionization membership and density over several decades. Union density in the US is at 10%, compared with 20.3% in 1983. Despite this decline, Gallup polls report nearly 70% of Americans approve of labor unions.
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