To Waller, such vacancies strengthen the US central bank's case for tightening financial conditions. If long-term job listings are inflating the job openings figures, labour might not be as in demand as it seems. That could make it possible to reduce the number of vacancies advertised by companies without significantly altering the unemployment rate. The Fed is raising rates to tamp down on inflation but fears persist that steep increases could paralyse the jobs market or trigger a recession.
US employers added 390,000 jobs in May, the labour department reported on Friday.
The bulk of the 11.4mn job openings reported in April are not waiting for "purple squirrels". A Goldman Sachs analysis found that two-thirds of current listings were posted in the past 90 days, a higher share than before the coronavirus pandemic. Yet the number of vacancies that employers fill each month reached an all-time low in March.
"That's not because companies are getting pickier," said Julia Pollak, the chief economist for jobs site ZipRecruiter. "On the contrary, many are reducing experience and education requirements.
"It's because, despite reducing requirements, employers are still not finding enough interested, qualified people per vacancy," Pollak added. "Many employers are making offers to multiple candidates and seeing them all reject the offers for other opportunities because they're being outbid."
Some frustrated job seekers share Waller's suspicion. Julia Laico looked for months for a job to start after her graduation from Emory University in Atlanta in May. She said she expected the process to be fast because of a shortage of workers, but instead spent hours sorting through inactive job listings. Eventually, she landed a two-month fellowship with an education non-profit.
"I expected some more professionalism on the part of many employers," Laico said. "There was a lot of unresponsiveness, even after interviews. And I totally understand that companies can't respond to every applicant because of the high volume."
Patricia Lenkov, an executive recruiter in New York, said that employers are becoming increasingly selective about who they hire after a year of experimenting with less qualified candidates because of a worker shortage, which might account for slower and more frustrating hiring processes.
Other companies have yet to "clean up" their job ads after spending months struggling to backfill for employees who quit during the pandemic, said Cathi Canfield of industrial staffing group EmployBridge.
That is the case at OSP International, a Tuscon company that produces training courses for project managers.
"We understand that finding a candidate that has all the skills you need is impossible, but we keep those vacancies out there just in case we get lucky," Cornelius Fichtner, OSP's president, said. "We don't get lucky too often though."
Recruiters and economists agree that job seekers still have the upper hand in today's labour market. Joe Mullings, chief executive of talent acquisition at The Mullings Group, warns that it makes it more difficult than ever for employers to lure in "purple squirrels".
"Candidly, the best people are usually not out looking for jobs and they are not responding blindly to job ads or sending their resumes into HR," Mullings said.
Goucher said that his "purple squirrel" vacancies have helped him hire qualified engineers he might have otherwise missed.
"It's a different strategy," Goucher said. "Instead of hunting, you can fish."
- Additional reporting by Joe Rennison.
Written by: Taylor Nicole Rogers
© Financial Times
