50+ Job Search Statistics 2025

Table of Contents

The U.S. job market is changing fast in 2025, driven by politics and new technology.

The post-pandemic labor shortage has increased job seekers’ bargaining power, as the number of open positions continues to outpace available workers.

This report outlines the most important statistics and trends shaping the job search landscape in the U.S. in 2025.

Key Takeaways

28% of Americans are currently searching for jobs, the highest percentage since 2014.
As of March 2025, there are 7.7 million jobs in the market, with only 7 million unemployed to fill the roles.
As of January 2025, the share of U.S. job postings that mentioned generative AI or related terminology increased by 170% compared to January 2024.
1 in 5 Gen Zers get interviews thanks to TikTok.
70% of Gen Zers ask their parents for help when looking for a job.
72% of job seekers report that job hunting has impacted their mental health negatively.
81% of hiring managers now consider AI-related skills a hiring priority, making them among the most sought-after capabilities in 2025.

The job hunt in numbers

The United States is facing both a labor and skills shortage, with key industries struggling to fill roles, and workforce participation still below pre-pandemic levels. The following stats reveal how the U.S. job market is evolving in 2025 — from hiring gaps to wage growth and industry turnover:

There’s a labor shortage in America. As of March 2025, there are 7.7 million jobs in the market, with only 7 million unemployed to fill the roles (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2025).
As of April 2025, the national unemployment rate is 4.2% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025).

The long-term unemployed (those looking for a job for 27 weeks or more) make up 21.3% of the unemployed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025).
- The number of long-term unemployed has increased by 50% since 2022.
- A report by Employ also shows that fewer respondents now say it’s easy to find a new job, and confidence in landing a role within 3 months has dipped from 61% to 56%. (Employ, 2025)
The average employment tenure for workers is 3.9 years, an all-time low since 2002 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024).
The average wage increase in February 2025 was 3.54%, the lowest increase since February 2021 (Trading Economics, 2025).
As of January 2025, the share of U.S. job postings that mention generative AI or related terminology increased by 170% compared to January 2024 (Indeed, 2025).
The turnover in the food service and hospitality businesses is high, with 781,000 workers lost, and 1.05 million people hired within the same month in 2024.
81% of job seekers are worried about a “white-collar recession.” (Employ, 2025)
The projected starting salaries for new graduates in 2025 in each respective field look like:
- Engineering — $78,731 (2.6% increase from 2024)
- Computer Sciences — $76,251 (2.0%)
- Math and Sciences — $69,709 (-1.9%)
- Social Sciences — $67,316 (-3.6%)
- Business — $65,276 (2.1%)
- Agriculture and Natural Resources — $63,122 (2.8%)
- Communications — $60,353 (-3.0%) (NACE)
The top factors for actively looking for a new job include:
- Compensation (27%)
- Growth opportunities (20%)
- Flexibility to work from home (16%)
- Work/life balance (6%)
- Health benefits (15%) (Employ, 2024)

How Americans are searching for jobs today

Want to find out what new tools, platforms, and attitude shifts job seekers are using to navigate the job market? From TikTok interviews to family support, here’s how Americans are approaching their job search:

As of 2024, 28% of Americans are searching for jobs, the highest percentage since 2014 (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2024).
1 out of 3 job seekers say they’re using AI to support their job search (Employ, 2025).
58% of job seekers trust HR pros more than AI regarding their hiring journey (Employ, 2025).
According to our Job Seekers Insight Survey, the top 3 ways that job seekers find out about a job are from:
- Job search engines (40%)
- Company websites (35%)
- Word of mouth (34%)
We also found that 1 in 5 Gen Zers get interviews thanks to TikTok.
Boomers, on the other hand, prefer word of mouth — 44% rely on it the most, compared to 28% of Gen Z, 35% of Millennials, and 39% of Gen X.
6 in 10 hiring managers (63%) say they’re “likely” or “very likely” to consider candidates who apply via their company’s social platforms instead of using a traditional application form.
70% of Gen Zers ask their parents for help when looking for a job, and out of those who have found one, 83% have credited it to their parents’ help (Resume Templates, 2024).
Gen Zers may start looking for jobs shortly after they get one, with 1 in 3 saying that it’s appropriate to switch jobs at least every year.
The job seekers who are more likely to be actively looking for a new role or planning to do so within the next year are:
- Veterans: 57%
- Black or African American workers: 53%
- Workers with a disability: 52%
- Workers under age 40: 51%
- Workers with children under age 18: 51% (Employ, 2024)

What works and what doesn’t in the application process

Taking what we know about hiring managers’ preferences, here’s a list of what to do and what to avoid when applying for jobs in 2025:

Our Hiring Trends Survey shows that 54% of hiring managers prefer two-page resumes.
- A survey by Criteria shows that 53% of hiring professionals think a resume should be 2 pages long.
- 70% of hiring managers are more likely to consider two-page resumes over one-page resumes (ResumeGo).
87% of hiring managers indicate that they always read cover letters. Despite this finding, a considerable portion of job seekers (45%) still don’t bother to send a cover letter.
Over 40% of recruiters are turned off by resumes with overly flashy design elements (e.g., multiple colors or graphics, a distracting background, and hard-to-read fonts).

If you use AI in your job applications, most managers can tell right away, with 74% of hiring managers saying they’ve seen some sort of AI use in the application process.
- A survey by Software Finder shows that nearly 1 in 4 hiring managers would disqualify candidates for using AI-generated resumes.
Based on a study by MIT Sloan, job seekers with over 99% accurate spelling on their resumes were hired about 3 times more frequently.
In contrast, candidates with less than 90% spelling accuracy had only a 3% chance of getting hired.
Hiring managers don’t like liars (63%) and rude applicants (54%), saying those are their biggest “deal-breakers.”
Hiring managers also mention their biggest pet peeves being:
- Being late to the interview (38%)
- Arrogance of entitlement (36%)
- Misrepresentation or dishonesty (34%)

The biggest challenges job seekers face

According to Fast and Company, there are now 2.5 applicants per job posting on LinkedIn, an increase from 1.5 in 2022.

Competition is fierce, and it’s causing a lot of frustration for job seekers. Let’s take a look:

72% of job seekers report that job hunting negatively impacts their mental health.
30% of respondents have trouble locating jobs that match their skills and qualifications. (Jobscan, 2025)
One of the top frustrations applicants face is being “ghosted” by employers, with 44% reporting a lack of response as a major issue.
- Boomers feel the most abandoned, with 55% saying that not hearing back from recruiters is their biggest frustration in the job search process.
42% of job seekers say the salaries offered are usually too low.
70% of LGBTQ+ workers report having concerns about an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation (Ernst & Young, 2024).
1 in 3 job seekers is scared that AI will replace them. Gen X is the most worried, with 41% saying that they’re scared AI will replace them.
Under the Trump administration, race, gender, and DEI-related factors can no longer be considered in federal hiring or employee evaluations. Hiring and promotions must be based solely on “individual initiative, skills, and performance” (Whitehouse.gov).
Workers are now much more likely than in 2022 to say it would be difficult for them to get the kind of job they’d want if they were to look for a new one (Pew Research Center, 2024).

What employers are looking for in a top candidate

Do you think you have what it takes to get hired? Since the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, the job market has shifted rapidly, and so have employer expectations.

From AI literacy to punctuality and hard skills, the following stats from our research studies highlight what it takes to stand out in today’s competitive hiring landscape:

81% of hiring managers now consider AI-related skills a hiring priority, making them among the most sought-after capabilities in 2025.
30% of Gen Z hiring managers say that pronouns on a resume would positively affect their hiring decision.
9 in 10 hiring managers (89%) say they would hire a foreign worker over a less-qualified U.S. national.
65% of hiring managers would hire on relevant skills alone.
- Hard skills are the focus of 88% of hiring managers.
- Our HR Statistics page found that the most important soft skills for recruiters are:
  - Communication (39%)
  - Problem-solving/critical thinking (25%)
  - Teamwork/collaboration (8%) (Monster, 2024)
The most in-demand skills in 2025 are:
- AI literacy
- Conflict mitigation
- Adaptability
- Process optimization
- Innovative thinking (LinkedIn, 2025)

These are the degrees employers are most actively seeking in new graduates in 2025:
- Finance
- Computer Science
- Accounting
- Business Administration/Management
- Information Sciences and Systems (NACE, 2025)

Methodology

All data in this report is sourced from publicly available labor market statistics and recruitment trend reports, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other labor-related organizations. Figures cited are drawn directly from these reports without additional analysis or modification.

Additional insights are based on previously published content and internal reports from our website.

Sources

Criteria, “2024–2025 Hiring Benchmark Report”
Employ, “Keeping Pace with the Perceptions of Modern Workers”
Ernst & Young, “2024 EY US LGBTQ+ Workplace Barometer”
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “SCE Labor Map Survey Shows Sharp Increase in Job Seekers, While Current Job Satisfaction Deteriorates”
GlobalNewswire, “Employ’s Latest Report on Job Seeker Insights Helps Recruiters Fine-Tune Processes, Personalize Outreach and Stay Ahead of Hiring Trends”
Hiring Lab, “AI at Work: Rise of the GenAI Consultant”
LinkedIn, “Skills on the Rise in 2025”
MIT Management Sloan School, “Job Seekers With AI-boosted Resumes More Likely to be Hired”
Monster, “2024 Work Watch Report”
NACE, “Class of 2025 Salary Projections Mixed”
Resume Genius, “AI Impact on Hiring Survey: How Recruitment is Evolving”
Resume Genius, “50+ Essential Resume Statistics in 2025 — Analysis of 500,000 Job Applicants”
Resume Genius, “Hiring Statistics for 2025”
Resume Genius, “140+ Workplace Diversity Statistics for 2025”
Resume Genius, “2024 Hiring Trends Survey: What Makes a Great Job Candidate?”
ResumeGo, “Settling the Debate: ‘One or Two Page Resumes'”
Resume Templates, “1 in 4 Gen Zers Brought a Parent to a Job Interview”
Software Finder, “AI and the Job Search: How Candidates Are Using Tech to Gain an Edge”
The White House, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”
Trading Economics, “United States Wage and Salary Growth”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “America Works Data Center”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “Understanding America’s Labor Shortage: The Most Impacted Industries”
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The Employment Situation — March 2025”
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employment Tenure in 2024”

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Eva Chan

Senior PR Expert & Certified Professional Resume Writer

Eva Chan is the Senior PR Expert and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) at Resume Genius. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Eva is passionate about researching and discussing the ever-changing career space and its latest trends, and channels this enthusiasm into supporting professionals of all experience levels so they stand out in a competitive job market. Eva graduated from the University of British Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in English. Eva's insights and career advice have earned recognition from leading platforms including CNBC, Harvard Business Review, The Globe and Mail, Forbes, Newsweek, and Entrepreneur. For any media-related queries or for a future quote, you can reach her at [eva] @ [resumegenius.com] or connect with her via LinkedIn. Please note that we don’t accept any guest posts.

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