The following article was written by Indira Treon-Mutuma, one of the People’s Tribune’s 2026 Summer Interns.
From summer positions to internships and entry-level roles, job seekers across social media describe sending out dozens or even hundreds of applications with little to no response. What used to feel like a routine step into adulthood now feels like a prolonged and uncertain search. The frustration extends beyond social media.
In an interview with CBS News, recent graduate Olivia Bennett described today’s hiring process by saying, “You can’t even get a rejection. You just submit into some kind of void.”
Stories like Bennett’s are increasingly common, raising questions about why finding work feels so much harder than the economic data suggests. Yet official labor statistics in the United States still show a relatively stable job market, with unemployment remaining low.
So why does the experience of finding work feel so different from what the numbers suggest, and why does it seem harder than it used to be to land something as basic as a summer job? While the frustration of job seekers is real, the answer is more complicated than it first appears.
Professor Kory Kroft, an economist at the University of Toronto, says a low unemployment rate does not necessarily mean employers are hiring quickly. Rather, unemployment is determined by both the rate at which workers leave or lose their jobs and the rate at which unemployed workers find new ones.
In other words, even if hiring slows, unemployment can remain relatively low if fewer people are entering unemployment in the first place. This helps explain why Americans can feel like the job market is at a standstill despite headline statistics suggesting otherwise. Recent labor market data reflects the disconnect Kroft describes.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate was 4.3% in May 2026, remaining relatively low by historical standards. At the same time, data from the Bureau’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) shows that the hires rate was 3.2%, while the quits rate stood at 1.9%.
In simple terms, employers are hiring more cautiously, and fewer workers are voluntarily leaving their jobs. Because many new hires are made to replace employees who quit, fewer departures can also mean fewer opportunities for job seekers, even when unemployment remains relatively low.
For many applicants, the challenge isn’t simply simply finding open positions, it’s getting noticed in the first place. Today, many companies rely on artificial intelligence and automated hiring systems to screen resumes, rank applicants, send rejection emails, and even conduct initial interviews before a recruiter reviews an application.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, automated tools are now used by a large majority of companies, including nearly all Fortune 500 employers, raising concerns about transparency and fairness in hiring decisions. While these technologies can make recruitment more efficient, critics argue that qualified candidates may be filtered out before ever speaking to a human, leaving many applicants uncertain about how hiring decisions are made and whether they were even fully considered.
Professor Eric Baumer, whose research examines artificial intelligence and its social impacts, notes that simply explaining how an algorithm reaches a decision is not enough. Instead, he argues these stems should also be “contestable,” giving applicants meaningful opportunities to question or appeal automated decisions rather than simply accepting them.
The unemployment rate remains an important measure of the economy, but it cannot fully capture the experience of today’s job seekers. While hiring has slowed for a variety of economic reasons, the hiring process itself is also changing through increased automation and artificial intelligence.
Together, these trends help explain why so many applicants feel that finding a job today requires more than simply submitting a strong resume, it requires navigating a labor market that is becoming increasingly competitive and increasingly complex.
