Dive Insight:

The U.S. may not officially be in a recession, but that may not matter to workers. Forty-one percent of respondents to a Conference Board survey conducted in July and August said they felt the country was already in a recession — before the well-publicized layoffs at large tech companies, like Amazon and Meta.

Companies may have learned their lesson after the 2008 recession was followed up by a talent crunch that lasted almost the full decade following. An Employ Inc. report published in September highlighted the strange nature of the 2022 market, wherein positions were filling fast but hiring managers felt it was difficult to fill open jobs. In response, labor hoarding has emerged as a potential way to avoid having to make up lost ground once the economy is more stable.

Regardless of the depth of the recession, should it hit as expected, employees have power – and that isn’t going to change anytime soon, PwC U.S. chair and senior partner Tim Ryan said during a Washington Post Live event in August. Several macro aspects of the labor market have changed, he noted.

And one of those changes is the demographic patterns of the job market. An aging population will keep the market tight even in a recession, recent Glassdoor data indicated. That means employers may need to tap into often-overlooked talent pools, such as older adults who still want to work; workers with disabilities; and the formerly incarcerated, among others.

Read the full report here