Jobless for a year? Less of a problem now
Jamie Baxter used to be skeptical of job applicants who had not worked for long stretches of time, assuming that other employers had passed them over.
“My mind would jump to the negative stigma of ‘Wow, why could this person not get a job for this long?’ ” said Baxter, who is CEO of Qwick, a temporary staffing company for the hospitality industry.
Yet recently, he has hired at least half a dozen people who had been out of work for several months or longer. The pandemic, he said, “made me open my eyes.”
Baxter’s change of heart reflects an apparent willingness among employers in the pandemic era to hire applicants who have been jobless for long periods. That is a break from the last recession, when long-term unemployment became selfperpetuating for millions of Americans.
The importance of what are often referred to as “résumé gaps” is fading, experts say, because of labor shortages and more bosses seeming to realize that long absences from the job market should not taint candidates. This is good news for the 2.2 million people who have been out of work for more than six months, according to the Labor Department, double the number before the pandemic.
But that change may not last if more people decide to return to the job market or if the economy cools.
Even in normal times, the long-term unemployed face steep odds. The longer applicants are out of work, the more they may become discouraged and the less time they may spend searching for jobs. Their skills may deteriorate or their professional networks may erode.
Some economists believe the pandemic’s unique effects on the economy may have changed things. The pandemic destroyed millions of jobs seemingly all at once, especially in the travel, leisure and hospitality industries. Many people chose not to work because of health concerns or family responsibilities.
“For people who were just laid off because of COVID, will there be a stigma? I don’t really think so,” said Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The tight labor market is a factor. In October, there were 11 million job openings for 7.4 million unemployed workers.
Zoë Harte, chief people officer at Upwork, which matches freelancers with jobs, said there had been a “societal shift” in how companies understand employment gaps.
“It’s become more and more evident that opportunity isn’t equally distributed,” she said. “So it’s important for us as people who are creating jobs and interviewing people to really look at ‘What can this person contribute?’ as opposed to ‘What does this piece of paper say they have done in the past?’ ”