The Goldilocks Jobs Report: Here’s Why It’s Important To Your Career

The United States added 315,000 jobs last month, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Friday’s jobs report is a Goldilocks scenario for Federal Reserve Bank chair Jerome Powell.

The Fed has said it will hike interest rates and use other levers to cool down the economy to fight runaway inflation, warning that it could cause “some pain” to Americans. The tepid jobs report will appease Powell, the stock market and workers. The data indicates that employers hired workers at a rapid pace, despite the Fed raising interest rates. Workers’ wages rose, but also came in under expectations.

The Numbers You Need To Know From The Household Survey And Establishment Surveys

• The unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, tied for the highest level of the year. The number of unemployed persons increased by 344,000 to 6 million. Gains were made in professional and business services, healthcare and retail trade.
• The number of long-term unemployed people, defined as being out of work for more than 27 weeks, stayed consistent with 1.1 million Americans still looking without success for a new job. This unfortunate cohort accounts for 18.8% of all unemployed persons.
• The number of permanent job losers increased by 188,000 to 1.4 million in August, and 782,000 folks were temporarily laid off.
• The labor force participation rate, which is defined by the amount of people who are of working age, slightly increased to 62.4%. There continues to be a large percentage of eligible workers who, for various reasons, are not pursuing job opportunities.
• There are around 4.1 million people who are working part-time, although they’d prefer to hold full-time permanent roles.
• The report reflects that 5.5 million Americans are not in the labor force but want a new job. They were not included as unemployed since they did not seek out a job during the past four weeks or were not able to work.
• The data shows that 1.4 million people were not in the labor force, but wanted a job. They’re considered “marginally attached to the labor force,” as they searched for a job during the last 12 months but had not during the prior four weeks before the survey was conducted.

Labor participation slightly edged up, unemployment ticked a little higher and there was continued job growth, but a slower wage growth.

What This Means For Your Career

Based on August’s jobs report, Powell will not likely immediately raise rates. The U.S. is still in a state of limbo and balancing keeping people working, but also trying to cool down the economy so that inflation won’t continue to rise.

You don’t have control over macroeconomic and political events; however, you can focus on managing your job.

Author Malcolm Gladwell received online hate recently for his message to young people to go into the office five days a week. He may have come across as insensitive; however, he has a valid point. If you go into the office on a regular basis, it will help you get noticed by your boss and senior-level managers. The visibility can help keep you safe if your firm starts enacting layoffs.

Avoid the quiet-quitting trend. This is not a time to coast. Instead, do the opposite. Put in the time and energy. Whether you are in the office or working remotely, it’s important to become irreplaceable. Make sure that you take on roles, assignments and tasks that are mission-critical to the success of the organization. If things take a turn for the worse, they’ll need you around and you’ll survive any downsizing.

The Great Resignation trend has been running strong. In an uncertain environment, you need to be more cautious and careful about switching jobs. You might want to hold onto your role for now. If you move, you could suffer the fate of being the last one hired and the first one fired.

While this jobs report may not elicit a Draconian response from the Fed, things may change. To play it safe, start shopping around to find recruiters, career coaches, résumé writers and people within your network to keep an eye out for you for new jobs and help prepare for interviews. This doesn’t mean you should jump ship, but it's a smart strategy to be prepared, just in case layoffs are announced.

It’s Not Easy To Find A New Job

For many, it was relatively easy to find a job within the past year. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along with attendant concerns over the U.S. getting dragged into the fray, along with rampant inflation, rising interest rates, monkeypox, political and social unrest, a possible recession on the horizon and other matters have made both companies and workers question hiring and job hunting respectively.

A survey from Qualtrics and SAP reports that only 15% of workers self-reported that it was easy to find a job. This means a significantly larger number of people are experiencing a more challenging experience.

It’s widely reported that there are around 11 million jobs and two open roles for each unemployed person. Just because there are millions of jobs open, it doesn’t mean that they are the right fit. Many of the roles are part-time, low paying and in sectors, such as restaurants, bars, warehouses, fulfillment centers, hotels and other service industries. A mid to senior-level, white-collar professional wouldn’t benefit from these types of opportunities.

The hiring process has become more involved over the years. It used to be that you would meet with the human resources representative, hiring manager and maybe one or two others within the company. Now, you are required to go on three to 10 interviews. During this time, you may not receive feedback and get ghosted. On top of this hiring process, companies are initiating hiring freezes, allowing attrition without replacement, conducting layoffs, and also rescinding job offers. With all of these challenges, you need to be highly focused on your job and be a prudent steward of intelligently managing your career to navigate this unusual economy and changing job market.