Imagine posting a job and receiving 300 applications within 24 hours. The recruiter is thrilled — until she opens them. Half don’t meet basic qualifications. A quarter clearly used AI to blast-apply without reading the job description. Maybe three are worth interviewing.

Meanwhile, across town, a data analyst with 10 years of experience hits “submit” on his 127th application this month. He’s tailored his resume and cover letter and sailed through every screening question. He never hears back, not even an automated rejection.

They’re both frustrated. They’re both exhausted. And they’re both wondering what’s broken in the job market.

The answer? Pretty much everything.

The Numbers Tell a Confusing Story

Something is seriously off in the labor market, and the data isn’t telling the whole story.

The most recent official unemployment rate was 4.3% in August 2025, up slightly from July, but historically low by most standards. There are 7.2 million job openings and 7.4 million unemployed people. That’s almost a job for everyone who wants one, a near-perfect balance of supply of demand.

But dig deeper and the cracks appear. Long-term unemployment climbed to 1.9 million people — that’s workers who’ve been searching for more than six months.​ Only 30% of this year’s college grads found entry-level jobs in their fields. Since early 2024, job openings have outnumbered actual hires by more than 2.2 million a month (7.2 million job openings versus 5.1 million hires). That leaves a huge number of “ghost jobs” that never seem to get filled, and they’re sucking up resumes from job seekers who are losing confidence, fast.

Per major benchmarks from 2025, the average job seeker now submits anywhere from 32 to over 200 applications to land a job, depending on the source and the type of role. Almost all candidates believe the job market is extremely competitive. Almost 8 in 10 job seekers experience some level of anxiety as a result — 1 in 5 say it’s extreme.

Normally, data like this would mean employers are in the driver’s seat. Yet, both sides feel stuck. In Indeed’s Survey with YouGov 2024, 58% of talent professionals said hiring has become much more difficult than three years ago. Nearly half of respondents to SHRM’s State of the Workplace 2025 report cited the ‘lack of qualified applicants’ as their top recruitment challenge.

It’s clear that candidates want jobs and employers want candidates. So why can’t these two sides find each other?

What Candidates Are Battling in Today’s Job Market

One big problem is that some employers are still hiring like it’s 2019. Visit any of the countless subreddits dedicated to job hunting and you’ll hear the same story – landing a job has evolved into a second job in itself, and the process is a problem.

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