Why Good People Still Can’t Find Jobs

A decade ago, the Great Recession triggered massive layoffs as companies large and small scaled back operations or shuttered. The job market was flooded with applicants, and it wasn’t uncommon for employers to receive hundreds of resumes for a single posting. Desperate, many Americans were underemployed or accepted similar positions that paid significantly less than what they were making prior to the crash. Back then, a common refrain was, “Why can’t good people get jobs?” But with a strong U.S. economy and unemployment at 3.7% (as of July 2019), employers are now grumbling that they can’t find enough qualified workers. The question seems to have inverted: “Why can’t jobs get good people?”