Why your LinkedIn feed says the job market is terrible even when it's good

• Scrolling through LinkedIn posts might yield a dreary view of the labor market.
• But overall labor market data is still strong, showing that the economy and jobs are booming.

If you've logged on to LinkedIn recently, you've probably seen dispirited posts about just how hard it is to find a job these days.

TikToks about a difficult job market garner tens of thousands of views and hundreds of comments, as do LinkedIn posts.

"I've never been unemployed like I've been unemployed this year," one TikTok user wrote in a comment on a video about just how rough the current search is.

But the data says otherwise.

The economy added more jobs than expected in November, and the unemployment rate came in below expectations at 3.7% — capping off a 22-month-long run of unemployment below 4%.

While the job market isn't as hot as it was in the thick of the Great Resignation, it's still been incredibly robust. Wages are slightly up, and, while job openings have cooled, they still came in at 8.7 million. It's getting harder to switch roles, but, as BI previously reported, there were still 1.3 job openings per unemployed person as of October.

But it feels especially bad for the white-collar workers who typically use LinkedIn, because hiring in those sectors has slowed and layoffs are still making headlines.

In October of 2022, there were 230,000 jobs open in the information sector, which encompasses, in part, tech. In October 2023, there were just 172,000 jobs open in the information sector — and that's after the addition of 39,000 roles in October. And the hiring rate in information fell from September.

And while job openings in the professional and business services sector have picked up, they're still well below mid-2022 levels. Meanwhile, openings in finance and insurance fell by 168,000.

Real-time jobs postings, tracked on Indeed's posting index, show that openings in sectors like media and communications and software development have plunged. Software development postings in particular have fallen from pre-pandemic figures, and are at about a third of where they were in February 2022.

Plus, between ghost jobs that sit empty for months, or AI screening filtering out resumes that don't contain the right keywords, it's a whole different white-collar landscape.

Meanwhile, hiring data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that hiring rates are still high in industries like leisure and hospitality, accommodation and food services, and arts and entertainment — but not so much in professional and business services.

Leisure and hospitality added 40,000 jobs in November, and, per BLS, has added an average 51,000 jobs a month for the last year.

If a sense of job despair seems all around you, especially on LinkedIn, it might be coming from an echo chamber: In 2021, Pew Research Center found that LinkedIn users tend to make more than $75,000 a year — half of US adults in that demographic use LinkedIn, compared to 12% of those making under $30,000 — and 51% of those with a college degree or later use LinkedIn, compared to 10% of those with a high school degree or less.

So for those contemplating a career change, blue-collar roles continue to boom — with some only set to grow.

Are you a white-collar worker struggling in this job market? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@insider.com.