The Hiring Signal Hidden in Long-Term Unemployed

In this episode of The Job Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna dig into a less-talked-about metric: the number of people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. With the latest data showing job openings up to 7.6 million but the unemployment rate stuck at 4.3 percent, they explore what the long-term unemployed data tells us about labor market slack, skills mismatches, and the real recovery. Lucas points to the Employment Cost Index rising to 177.5 and average hourly earnings at $37.50 as evidence that employers are paying up for scarce talent, but that isn't helping the long-term jobless. They discuss why this group gets overlooked, how it affects Fed policy, and what it means for job seekers who have been out of work for months. #LongTermUnemployment #JobMarket #LaborMarket #JOLTS #EmploymentCostIndex #WageGrowth #HiringTrends #SkillsMismatch #FedPolicy #UnemploymentRate #Careers #EconomicRecovery #Podcast #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #LucasAndLuna #JobSeekers #StructuralUnemployment Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo