Why Looking for a Job This Year Could Be Less Miserable
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Access to affordable credit helps me pay my employees, but I don't really need it. Inflation is killing me. But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits. That's why we support the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. See? Banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll. This bill would cut the vital resources they need. While increasing megastore profits. They deserve it, don't they? Tell Congress, stop the Durbin Marshall money grab for corporate megastores. Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, January 15th. I'm Arianna Aspuru for The Wall Street Journal. After enduring 2024's uncertainties around the economy, artificial intelligence, and politics, there's reason to believe your job search is about to get better.
I hear from these people all the time. They've been looking for six months. And if you're listening to me right now with some skepticism, look, I totally get it. You have to look at those indicators from the CEO saying we expect to make these hires in the coming years and take that as a sign of encouragement.
Wall Street Journal On The Clock columnist Callum Borshers joins me after the break.
Access to affordable credit helps me pay my employees, but I don't really need it. The inflation is killing me. But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits. That's why we support the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. See? Banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll. This bill would cut the vital resources they need. While increasing megastore profits. They deserve it, don't they? Tell Congress, stop the Durbin Marshall money grab for corporate megastores. Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
There's a glimmer of hope for job seekers. Business leaders expect to ramp up hiring in 2025.
Why might the job market feel less miserable this year?
Wall Street Journal On The Clock columnist Callum Borshers joins me. Callum, for pretty much all of last year, we heard a steady drumbeat of news about the labor market cooling off and hiring trending lower. What's changed?
What's changed is maybe we finally hit the trough, Ariana. At least we can hope for that, because if you talk to three quarters of CEOs who run large companies, they say they think the global economy is going to improve in the first half of this year. And that's a big jump, because when you asked them at the beginning of last year, only 45 percent said the same thing. And optimistic bosses are more likely to make hires.
When did this change? Was it like January, sunshine, new beginnings? We have optimism now?
Yeah, that's part of it. And the election was a factor as well. You know, I talked to Brandy Britton, who is in Robert Half's finance and accounting practice, and she said she was hearing a lot from clients that they were holding off on filling roles until after the election. More than anything, they wanted clarity, right? Businesses don't like uncertainty. Now they have that clarity, new administration coming in, and they say that they're ready to move forward with posting some of those jobs.
I'm scared to ask this, but how firm does this hiring plan seem to be? What could completely derail it?
Yeah, it's not set in stone. And I will say part of the optimism that we heard from those CEOs in those surveys was tied to an expectation that with a Republican administration coming in, we may have lower taxes, maybe fewer regulations. Politically, whatever you think of those things, businesses often like those and they might think then they have a little bit more capital to spend on hiring. The other side of that is if those expectations are not met, if we don't see fewer regulations or if we don't see lower taxes, then perhaps we won't see the hiring boost either.
Now, last week, we spoke with our colleague Matt Grossman about his story on how it's taking white collar workers a longer time to land a job. How do these hiring trends impact the job search for those office workers?
I hear from these people all the time, Arianna. They've been looking for six months. And if you're listening to me right now with some skepticism, look, I totally get it.
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