Latest Release: 2024 Q2

The ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Survey

The ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Survey is a nationally representative quarterly survey of U.S. job seekers that measures how optimistic or pessimistic they are about their ability to land their preferred jobs. Increased confidence is typically an indicator of future increases in employee turnover, wage growth, and labor force participation.

Data Spotlight

⇩ 9.0

Expectations Index

Job seeker optimism about the medium-term labor market outlook fell to the lowest level since Q2 2023.

⇩ 2.5

Preparedness Index

Job seekers’ confidence in their ability to navigate the job search process fell slightly.

⇩ 6.7

Financial Wellbeing Index

Job seekers reported the lowest level of financial wellbeing recorded in the survey dating back to Q1 2024.

⇩ 6.5

Present Situation Index

Job seekers’ assessments of current labor market conditions deteriorated substantially.

U.S. Job Seeker Confidence

The ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Index fell 5.8 points to 93.1 in 2024 Q2 (Index: 2022 Q1 = 100), the lowest reading since the survey began in 2022 Q1. All four subindexes deteriorated, especially the Expectations Index, which measures job seeker optimism about the future labor market outlook.

"The U.S. labor market remained strong in the aggregate, but conditions cooled substantially in most industries over the past quarter. Job seekers sat up and noticed."

— Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter Chief Economist

Job Seekers Downbeat About Current Labor Market and Medium-Term Outlook

Job seeker confidence fell for all but the highest-earning job seekers in 2024 Q2. Recent improvements in job search satisfaction reversed, with 38% of job seekers saying their job search is going poorly and only 15% saying it is going well. 

More job seekers said that they expect the availability of jobs to decrease than increase in the coming 6 months. Job seekers’ confidence in their ability to find new jobs within a month, their confidence that there would be better opportunities available in the coming months, and their confidence that it is becoming easier to find jobs all declined.

Job Seekers Express Greater Urgency to Find Work

43% of job seekers said that they were actively searching for jobs daily, up from 37% in 2023 Q4, the last time the question was asked. Job seekers also expressed a greater desire to begin their new jobs quickly than in prior quarters. The median desired time until start date was just 3.5 weeks, down from 7.5 weeks the prior quarter, with the average falling to 9 weeks from 12 weeks. 


Financial strain appeared to be a key driver of job seeker urgency, with 63% of job seekers saying they feel financial pressure to take the first job offer they receive, up from 58% in Q1. The share of job seekers saying they are falling behind on some bills or facing serious financial difficulties rose to 40%, the highest share since 2023 Q3, when average real wage growth had just turned positive following 25 months of real wage declines, on average.

How Hard Is It To Find a Job Right Now?


It is getting progressively harder to find a job. That assessment is not only based on job seeker perceptions, but also supported by key indicators in official labor market data. Those indicators suggest that the labor market hasn’t merely returned to its pre-pandemic normal, but that it is harder to find a job now than it was on the eve of the pandemic. 

Most notably, the unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in June, 2024 from a low of 3.4% in April, 2023. That rate averaged just 3.7% in 2019. The hiring rate has also slowed, with the economy-wide number of gross monthly hires falling to 3.6% of the workforce in May, 2024, well below the average rate of 3.9% in 2019. 

The median unemployment duration ticked up to 9.8 weeks in June, 2024, above the 2019 average of 9.2 weeks. At the same time, the number of long-term unemployed Americans  (those unemployed for 27 weeks or more) rose to 1.516 million, above the 2019 average of 1.267 million. 

Furthermore, the job-finding rate for Americans who were unemployed the prior month averaged 26.5% in the first half of the year, dipping below the 2019 average of 27.7%, and the job-finding rate for Americans who were not in the labor force the prior month has averaged 4.5% in the first half of the year, falling below the 2019 average of 4.8%. 

The job market of 2019 was widely seen as strong, but sentiment is substantially more negative today, despite the similarity in the raw statistics. One difference is the context: inflation has been higher in recent months than in 2019, so job seekers may demand more from the labor market. 

Another is the direction of change. By the end of 2019, job seekers had experienced nearly a decade of gradual labor market improvement. By contrast, job seekers have now experienced two years of gradual labor market deceleration and don’t know when it will be over. 

Election Season: Job Seekers Debate Contentious Employment Issues and Policies 


Ahead of the first presidential debate, ZipRecruiter invited job seekers to share their views about controversial labor market issues. The table below summarizes the results of our poll. For more detailed results broken down by race, gender, age, and education level, read the full report. 

The Survey

The quarterly ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Survey is based on an online sample and conducted for ZipRecruiter by Qualtrics. It is administered to 2,000+ job seekers between the 10th and 16th of the second month of each quarter and weighted to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Respondents may be employed, unemployed, or not currently in the labor force, but they must reside in the United States and plan to find a new job “in the next six months” in order to be included in the sample.

The ZipRecruiter Index

The overall ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Index comprises four subindices:

  • The Preparedness Index measures how confident job seekers feel about their job skills, education, and training, as well as about their job search skills—that is, their ability to find relevant positions, develop application materials, and interview effectively.

  • The Financial Wellbeing Index measures job seekers’ financial security—that is, whether they have peace of mind about their ability to meet their financial needs, or whether they are searching for work and negotiating job offers under financial pressure.

  • The Expectations Index captures job seekers’ short-term outlook for labor market conditions. It is based on questions about whether job seekers expect the number of available jobs to increase or decrease.

  • The Present Situation Index is based on job seekers’ assessment of current labor market conditions. It is based on questions about whether they expect to get interviews, find a job easily, and get the job they want, and how satisfied they are with their job search.