Understand the challenges of today's job market and discover strategies job seekers are using to secure positions despite prolonged hiring processes.

A Quarter Of Job Searches Are Taking More Than A Year

Diccon Hyatt

Full Bio Diccon Hyatt is an experienced financial and economics reporter. He's written hundreds of articles breaking down complex financial topics in plain language, emphasizing the impact that economic currents would have on individuals' finances and the market. He has a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Delaware.

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Published May 18, 2026

04:50 PM EDT

Job seekers stand in line at the Wyndham Destinations booth during the Mega JobNewsUSA South Florida Job Fair held in the Amerant Bank Arena on April 30 in Sunrise, Florida. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

A quarter of job-searchers are taking a year or more to find new positions, according to a survey by Monster released last week.
The poll highlighted the difficulties of finding work in today’s low-hiring, low-firing labor market, where job turnover and creation have stagnated despite a lack of mass layoffs.
Tariffs, the Iran war, and artificial intelligence are all reducing job seekers' options.

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In today’s low-hiring, low-firing job market, finding a new position can take ages.

That’s according to a survey by job board Monster, which showed 25% of job hunters had been at it for more than a year.1 That’s a significant figure considering unemployment benefits in most states last six months.2

The figure, based on an online survey of 1,003 job seekers in March, differed from official Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys, which showed that 25.3% of unemployed people had been out of work for six months or more in April. Bureau of Labor Statistics via Federal Reserve Economic Data.3 However, they showed the same trend: job searches are taking longer than they used to.

What This Means For the Economy

Longer job hunts are a symptom of weakness in the labor market, which could spell trouble for the economy as a whole if the trend worsens.

U.S. employers have been reluctant to lay off their workforces in large numbers in recent months, and the unemployment rate has stayed near historic lows.

However, that doesn’t mean getting hired is easy: the 25.3% six-month job search rate was down only slightly from the 26% rate in December, which had been a post-pandemic high. The figure had hovered around 20% in the years leading up to the pandemic.

Several factors have dragged down hiring lately: uncertainty about tariffs has made employers table hiring and expansion plans, while President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration has shrunk the available workforce. As a more minor factor, the adoption of artificial intelligence software has reduced the need for human workers in some roles.

The latest headwind comes from the surge in gasoline prices, which has further stoked uncertainty and reduced job creation by an estimated 10,000 positions a month, according to a recent Goldman Sachs estimate.4

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Amid the hiring slowdown, job hunters are taking drastic steps to land new positions, according to Monster. Among those surveyed, 64% have applied to jobs outside their industry or typical role; 32% said they would take a pay cut; and 73% would give up at least one major benefit.

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