Labor Hoarding Looks Close to a Painful End
The low-hiring, low-firing approach companies have used no longer makes sense with a growing pool of younger, cheaper workers.
It’s harder than it looks.
Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/ AFP via Getty Images
The labor hoarding that’s kept unemployment in check as the economy cooled looks about done. Prime-age workers now risk dealing with the same unwelcoming job market that young graduates and the unemployed have struggled in for the past year.
Workers are emerging from a period during which employers, wary of the difficulty they had hiring in 2021 and 2022, were reluctant to let staff go even as business conditions weakened in many industries. With slack growing in key parts of the labor market, companies that want to trim headcount now know there’s a ready pool of candidates available when they want to rehire.