If you talk to American workers today, they’ll probably tell you they’re happy to be employed — but not about much else.
The U.S. economy, which defied economists’ expectations for a recession in 2023, is expected to hold up well again this year, and so does the job market. Americans will probably be spared from mass layoffs that have defined past downturns. But they’ll face dwindling options to change positions, many will hold multiple jobs to make a decent living, and a rising number of college graduates looking for lucrative careers will struggle to find what they want.
A gradual cooling of demand for workers is the best-case scenario for Federal Reserve officials who are hoping to slow down the economy without crashing it: “It’s still a good labor market for wages and for finding a job, but it’s getting back into balance, and that’s what we want to see,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters after the central bank’s policy meeting Wednesday.
For many, “getting back into balance” means fewer opportunities to get a better job, or at least a raise.
“People hear that wages are going up, people hear that it’s really easy to get a job, and yet that’s not what they’re finding — themselves, their children, their neighbors,” said Jane Oates, a former Labor Department official who’s now a senior policy adviser at the workforce development nonprofit WorkingNation.