White-collar workers are struggling to find jobs as the labor market slows

foxbusiness.com:

Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panel discuss how there were fewer jobs added than expected in April.

The U.S. labor market is cooling off after months of rapid job gains, but some workers are feeling the slowdown more than others.

Recent data published by Vanguard shows demand for higher-income employees is waning, painting a picture of a two-tier job market that has seen hiring flourish for blue-collar workers and languish for white-collar workers. 

Among the lowest-income earners — those making less than $55,000 annually — the hiring rate has remained above pre-pandemic levels, at 1.5%. But hiring for those who earn more than $96,000 has slowed to just 0.5%, less than half the peak it hit in mid-2022, according to the report, which is based on new enrollments in Vanguard's 401(k) plans.

It marks the slowest hiring rate for high-income workers since 2014, excluding a major drop during the pandemic. 

JOB OPENINGS UNEXPECTEDLY DROP TO LOWEST LEVEL IN 3 YEARS

More than 75 employers were taking resumes and talking to prospective new hires at a career fair in Lake Forest, Calif., Feb. 21, 2024.  (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images / Getty Images)

«This is partly a reflection of lower-paying service industries still trying to recover from the COVID shock, a challenge since many of those workers have transitioned to higher-paying opportunities,» said Adam Schickling, a senior Vanguard economist.

There are several reasons companies are hiring so few white-collar workers right now.

THE NUMBER OF HIGH-PAYING JOBS IS DWINDLING

Some businesses, like tech companies, went on a hiring binge during the pandemic, Julia Pollak, the chief economist at ZipRecruiter, told FOX Business. But