Why No One’s Hiring, Quitting, or Moving Up
Why companies won’t hire, workers won’t quit, and job seekers feel stuck in career limbo.
Unemployment is low at 4.1% but job seekers are ghosted like bad Tinder dates, white-collar workers are stuck in career purgatory, and businesses are acting like commitment-phobes.
What gives?
For years, we were told that a low unemployment rate means a healthy job market. Yet, here we are—resume in hand, applications flying into the void, and interview invites as rare as a functioning printer at the DMV.
Welcome to the Big Freeze, where companies won’t hire, employees won’t quit, and ambitious young professionals are left wondering if they should just start an Etsy shop selling motivational posters.
Why No One’s Moving
Remember the Great Resignation? That time in 2021 when workers were bouncing from job to job, getting raises, and demanding better work conditions?
Yeah, corporate America remembers too—like a war veteran remembers trench warfare.
Burned by the chaos of mass quitting, companies are now treating new hires like an unnecessary luxury. Hiring managers still post jobs, but instead of filling them, they sit on a pile of applications like a dragon hoarding gold.
Then there’s the economic doom loop.
The Fed started raising interest rates in 2022, and businesses got scared. “A recession is coming!” they cried, slashing hiring plans. Only, the recession never showed up—like that friend who promises to help you move but suddenly goes MIA.
And just when things started to stabilize, uncertainty around Tariffs took over. Now, businesses are playing the waiting game, adopting the unofficial slogan: Survive Until ‘28
Who’s Getting Hit the Hardest?
It’s not all bad—healthcare jobs are booming. But if you’re looking for a job in tech, finance, or any white-collar profession, good luck.
The “professional and business services” sector, which includes accountants, consultants, and lawyers, is actually losing jobs. You know things are bad when even lawyers—the cockroaches of the workforce—are struggling to find work.
For young professionals, the freeze is especially brutal. If you’re a recent college grad, you now have a higher unemployment rate than the overall workforce for the first time since at least 1990.
That means even with a degree, you’re competing with your cousin who dropped out of high school but somehow makes six figures flipping sneakers on StockX.
Why This Is a Bigger Problem Than Just Job Frustration
The economy doesn’t function well when everyone is afraid to move. When workers don’t switch jobs, they don’t get raises. When businesses don’t hire, innovation stagnates. Productivity drops, wages freeze, and people start wondering if this is the year they finally get into real estate.
It’s no wonder Americans feel pessimistic about the economy despite strong GDP growth—when you feel stuck, economic numbers don’t matter. And with housing markets frozen too (because who wants to sell a home with a 3% mortgage just to buy one at 7%?), people aren’t moving cities either. Social mobility is at an all-time low—both figuratively and literally.
When Will the Freeze End?
Experts hoped hiring would bounce back in 2025. Instead, we got trade war threats, inflation surprises, and whatever Trump’s latest economic policy chaos is. So, the freeze continues.
Until businesses feel confident enough to start hiring, the job market will remain a frustrating game of musical chairs—only the music’s stopped, and nobody wants to get up.
If you’re job hunting, don’t lose hope. But maybe dust off that Etsy shop idea just in case.
That’s the point.
Zahead, Chaos Analyst