Latest Release: 2023 Q3The ZipRecruiter Survey of New Hires
The ZipRecruiter Survey of New Hires is a quarterly survey of U.S. residents who started their current jobs within the past six months. New hires are the leading edge of the labor market—the first to experience changes in the urgency and intensity with which employers are recruiting workers, and the terms of employment on offer. Indicators tracked in this survey—such as how long it took workers to find their jobs, and what share received signing bonuses or healthcare benefits upon hire—can help gauge the quantity and quality of jobs available in the U.S. economy.
The Q3 2023 ZipRecruiter Survey of New Hires found that most U.S. residents who started their careers or switched jobs in the past six months found satisfactory jobs after a relatively brief search, but the share who struggled grew. Almost all key survey indicators—such as the share of new hires who increased their pay, received a signing bonus, or got recruited to their new jobs—fell substantially, suggesting a palpable loss of worker leverage over the past quarter.
Data Spotlight
⇩ 61%
Previous: 64%
found their job in under 1 month
⇩ 58%
Previous: 64%
increased their pay
⇩ 39%
Previous: 47%
got recruited
⇩ 32%
Previous: 44%
received a signing bonus
⇩ 18%
Previous: 28%
are “very satisfied” with their new job
Highlights of the Q3 2023 Survey:
Attractive Opportunities Persist Despite Softening Market
The labor market has cooled over the past six months, with labor demand gradually easing and labor supply rapidly expanding. Nonetheless, U.S. residents surveyed in Q3 2023 who started a new job in the prior six months were generally upbeat about their job search and candidate experience and about the quality of their new job.
No Regrets: New Hires Report High Job Satisfaction. 80% of new hires said they were either satisfied (42%) or very satisfied (39%) with their new jobs. An even larger share—92%—said they have no regrets and are happy that they accepted their current role.
Swift and Painless: More than Half of New Hires Report a Smooth Search. Not only were most recent hires satisfied with their new job, but also with the process by which they found it. 64% described their job search experience as good, rather than fair (30%) or poor (6%), and 59% described the experience as “easy.” Upon applying for their current role, 89% said they received a response from the employer within a week or less.
Better Jobs: Job Switchers Report Significant Gains. Among new hires who were previously employed, 72% reported gaining an improvement along at least one dimension in their new jobs, whether greater schedule flexibility (42%), access to health insurance (24%), the ability to work remotely (11%), or another perk.
A key limitation of ZipRecruiter’s New Hires Survey is that it only includes U.S. residents who have successfully found new jobs. It does not capture the struggles of those job seekers who have yet to find a job, or who have failed and given up. Nonetheless, the experiences of new hires are highly revealing about the general state of the market. The Q3 2023 results suggest that U.S. workers are not, by and large, entering jobs that they dislike, under pressure to accept them for lack of alternatives. Rather, the majority are searching for opportunities with ease and finding attractive options relatively quickly, even now that the labor market has retreated from its 2021-2022 peak.
“The economy has added 3.2 million jobs over the past 12 months. With that much hiring taking place around them, talent acquisition teams need to remain nimble and stay competitive in the race for talent.”
- Marissa Morrison, ZipRecruiter Vice President, People
Workers Have Lost Some Leverage Amid Shifting Dynamics
While most new hires expressed satisfaction with their new jobs and their job search experience, the survey finds clear evidence that labor market conditions have cooled in recent months.
Lower Recruitment Intensity, Longer Searches, Fewer Offers. 32% of new hires said that they got recruited to their jobs—that is, they were contacted by someone from the company and invited to apply for a role or offered a role outright without having to search for it first. That fraction is substantially smaller than the 44% who reported getting recruited in Q2. Not only did more workers have to actively search for work to find their new jobs, but their searches took slightly longer and required submitting more applications. 61% said that they found their job in under one month, down from 64% in Q2. Recent hires said they submitted 22 job applications over the course of their job search, on average, up from 20 in Q2. Despite searching for longer and submitting more applications, new hires reported receiving fewer offers. The average number of offers received fell to 2.3 from 2.6 in Q2.
Fewer Negotiations, Fewer Pay Increases. Only 29% of new hires said that they negotiated their job offer, down from 41% in Q2 and 40% in Q1. The decline in negotiating behavior among recent job switchers suggests a decline in candidate confidence, which may partly reflect the decline in the number of offers they secured, as well as a decline in the willingness of their previous employers to fight to retain them. Only 19% of recent job switchers said that their previous employer asked them to stay and countered their new offer, down from 26% in Q2. Previous ZipRecruiter research has found that the key factor in negotiating successfully is having multiple offers. 58% of recent job switchers said they raised their pay when they switched jobs, down from 65% in Q2.
Fading Perks, Less Favorable Prospects. Only 18% of new hires reported receiving a signing bonus, down sharply from 28% the prior quarter. That decline is even larger than the 17% decline so far this year in the share of online job postings across the ZipRecruiter marketplace advertising signing bonuses. ZipRecruiter job posting data suggests that signing bonuses have become more widely advertised in certain specialized healthcare fields (e.g., for 26% of physician postings in 2023 to date, up from 15% in 2022), in skilled nursing facilities (7% up from 6%), and for speech pathologists (5% up from 3%), but less commonly offered in job postings in most industries and occupations, such as trucking (30% down from 44%), retail stores (4% down from 5%), and restaurants (2% down from 3%).
The overall effect of the declining shares of new hires getting recruited, increasing their pay, or securing sought-after perks and bonuses, was a large decline in the share who described their new job as their “dream job.” 27% said so—a large share to agree with such a strong statement, but far smaller than 42% in Q2 or 47% in Q1.
“Very tight labor markets in 2021-2022 gave workers unprecedented opportunities to migrate into higher-wage industries and more senior positions or to secure attractive terms in low-wage jobs. That boon for workers has partly faded, even though the market is still strong.”
- Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter Chief Economist
New Hires and Their Outstanding Student Loan Debt
Three in ten recent hires say they have outstanding student loan debt—38% of women and 22% of men. Mothers (41%) are substantially more likely to do so than women without children (36%), or than fathers (23%) and men without children (22%). Women are more likely to have student loan debt than men, both because women are more likely to have attended college and because they are likely to earn less and therefore repay their debt more slowly. While outstanding student loan debt was most common among respondents aged 25-44 (34%), it was fairly widespread among respondents of all ages, including 16% of those aged 55 and older.
There is a clear relationship between student loan indebtedness and industry or occupation. New hires with a background working in the non-profit sector are most likely to hold outstanding student loan debt (55%), followed by those in healthcare (47%), whereas those in real estate (12%), construction (15%), and manufacturing (17%) are least likely to do so.
Of those recent hires carrying student loan debt, 14% say they continued making payments throughout the pandemic, and 8% started making payments before they were required to do so. The October student loan restart will likely have no effect on their spending.
Another 35% plan to enroll in an income-based repayment plan, with 17% expecting they won’t have to make any payments given their current income and 18% expecting to qualify for reduced payments. This group will also likely experience minimal to no change in their finances after the forbearance ends.
18% of recent hires say they plan to start repaying their loans in October and say they can comfortably afford to do so. Their payments will likely reduce their savings somewhat but have minimal effect on their spending or financial health.
The final two groups present more cause for concern. 21% of recent hires say they plan to start repaying their loans in October but don’t know how they’ll afford the payments. This is the group at greatest risk of experiencing meaningful declines in their consumer spending and economic well-being and of becoming delinquent on their credit card or auto loans.
The remaining 19% say they do not plan to make any payments in the coming months. While their spending patterns may not change, their nonpayment will likely affect their credit scores and limit their access to credit for years to come. This is a large enough group that their nonpayment could also pose a challenge for the financial institutions currently holding student loan debt.
How New Hires Feel About the Upcoming Holiday Season
29% of recent hires say they are interested in taking a part-time seasonal role over the winter holidays. Similar shares of men and women are interested in holiday season jobs, and interest is high across all age groups. It varies substantially across races, with 23% of white Americans, 42% of black Americans, and 41% of Hispanics wanting seasonal jobs. While it is highest among workers whose highest level of schooling was eighth grade or less (43%), interest is fairly high even among workers with professional or graduate degrees (22%). There is also considerable variation across industries, with just 14% of tech employees wanting holiday jobs but 50% of agricultural employees.
The majority of interested candidates want to take on holiday jobs to earn extra pocket money (74%). Other motivations are to pay down debt (35%), offset the effect of inflation on their budgets (23%), and save up for a specific purchase (24%). Employers should know which populations are most interested in seasonal jobs and be aware of their motivations when marketing their seasonal roles and structuring pay and perks.
Quiet Cutting
21% of recent hires say that they have been reassigned to a less attractive position at some point in their careers. Of those, 6% say they had such an experience prior to the pandemic, 38% between 2020 and 2022, and 55% in 2023. Of those reassigned in 2023, 9% were later fired, 7% were laid off, and 59% quit. Several labor market observers believe that the frequency of demotions and unattractive reassignments has increased in 2023 during what some companies have called “the year of efficiency.” Many companies that grew rapidly during the pandemic have since restructured and “right-sized” for the current environment. While new reports on the trend have mostly focused on tech, our survey suggests that the experience is not limited to one industry but rather widespread across industries.
What New Hires Were Looking For and What They Gained
Top 5 Motivations for Switching Jobs
These are the top things recent job switchers say they were looking for in a new job. There was little change from the prior quarter.
Better pay (42%)
Better management (32%)
Less stress (31%)
Better benefits (22%)
More opportunities to learn skills (13%)
Top 5 Benefits of Switching Jobs
These are the top things recent job switchers say they gained from getting a new job that they didn’t have before. There was little change from the prior quarter.
Greater schedule flexibility (42%)
Health insurance (24%)
Access to bonuses or performance pay (16%)
Retirement benefits (15%)
A signing bonus (11%)
Top 5 Reasons for Accepting Job Offers
These are the top reasons new hires gave for accepting their job offers. The share who selected better pay fell to 43% from 59% the prior quarter, and the share who selected full-time hours fell to 26% from 50%.
Better pay (43%)
The people (28%)
Less stress (27%)
Full-time hours (26%)
Better benefits (26%)
Methodology
The ZipRecruiter Survey of New Hires is a survey fielded to a nationally representative online panel administered by Qualtrics between the 10th and 16th of the second month of every quarter. The sample consists of more than 2,000 adults who reside in the U.S., who are currently employed, and who began their current jobs within the past six months. It excludes self-employed workers.
The survey asks these recently hired workers detailed questions about the circumstances leading up to their employment, the hiring process, the job offer, and the working conditions in their new roles. Additional findings regarding the prevalence and distribution of particular job search experiences and working conditions across the cohort of recent hires, by age, gender, education, and industry, are available upon request. Email press@ziprecruiter.com for more survey data or to schedule an interview with the authors of this study.