The Job Market Podcast with Fexingo: Hiring Trends, Unemployment, and Labor Market Updates

Episode 107 of The Job Market Podcast with Fexingo explores how job advertisements subtly penalize caregivers—disproportionately women and older workers—through scheduling language, travel requirements, and 'uninterrupted focus' preferences. Lucas and Luna break down specific phrases that signal inflexibility, using data from the latest JOLTS report showing 7.59 million job openings but stagnant l...

Episode 106 of The Job Market Podcast explores the growing trend of employers requesting social media handles during the application process. Lucas and Luna discuss why companies are looking beyond resumes and LinkedIn to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and what this means for job seekers. They reference recent data showing a tight labor market with 7.6 million job openings and an unemploymen...

Lucas and Luna dig into a growing trend in hiring: employers requiring personality and cognitive test results before the interview. With the unemployment rate at 4.2% and job openings ticking up to 7.6 million, companies are using pre-hire assessments to filter candidates faster. But do these tests actually predict job performance, or are they just another barrier? The hosts examine the data behin...

Lucas and Luna discuss the growing trend of employers demanding portfolio links in job applications across industries. They explore how this shift affects candidates from different backgrounds, the fairness of evaluating creative work for non-creative roles, and what it signals about employer expectations in a competitive job market. Anchored by recent JOLTS data showing increased job openings and...

Lucas and Luna examine what job postings reveal about a company's internal health and culture, using a real case study from a Fortune 500 tech firm. They discuss how vague job ads often correlate with high turnover and how specific requirements can predict a broken team. With the unemployment rate at 4.2 percent and job openings ticking up slightly to 7.59 million, they dig into what employers are...

Episode 102 of The Job Market Podcast dives into a surprising trend in job postings: employers increasingly listing salary ranges that vary by city or region. Hosts Lucas and Luna examine why this is happening, from wage transparency laws to workplace flexibility and cost-of-living adjustments. They discuss a concrete example of a company that posted a role with three different salary bands for th...

Episode 101 of The Job Market Podcast. Lucas and Luna dig into a growing frustration among job seekers: job ads that dangle career development, mentorship, and fast-track promotion — but turn out to be dead ends. With the unemployment rate at 4.2 percent and job openings ticking up to 7.59 million, employers are competing for talent, yet many are over-promising on growth. Lucas breaks down a new a...

It's Episode 100 of The Job Market Podcast, and hosts Lucas and Luna look at a big shift in job ads: more employers are posting salary ranges, but the data shows many of those ranges are so wide they're almost meaningless. They dig into new research from the job-search platform Revelio Labs, which analyzed over 2 million U.S. job postings from May 2026 and found that the average salary range liste...

Episode 99 of The Job Market Podcast examines how job ads for internships are changing in mid-2026. Lucas and Luna dive into new data showing a 15 percent increase in internship postings compared to last year, but also a rise in unpaid positions and vague project descriptions. They discuss what this means for early-career job seekers and how to spot quality opportunities. The episode also covers t...

Lucas and Luna dig into a surprising data point from the latest JOLTS report: job openings are up slightly to 7.59 million, but the share of ads mentioning remote or hybrid work has dropped below 40 percent for the first time since 2023. They explore what this shift means for job seekers, why some employers are pulling back on flexibility even as the unemployment rate ticks down to 4.2 percent, an...

In this episode of The Job Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore a surprising new trend in job listings: companies are breaking out salary ranges by specific metro areas, not just national bands. With unemployment at 4.2 percent and average hourly earnings at $37.60, employers are competing for talent in high-cost cities while offering lower pay elsewhere. Lucas explains how this shift emerged fr...

In Episode 96 of The Job Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down a signal hiding in plain sight: which job ads actually promise to train new hires. With the unemployment rate at 4.2 percent and weekly earnings up 3.9 percent year over year, employers are struggling to fill skilled roles—but many still refuse to invest in training. Lucas shares data from a new analysis of 50,000 job postings: onl...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into a surprising signal hidden in job descriptions: the specific phrases and omissions that reveal a company's actual culture versus its polished employer brand. Using recent data showing 7.59 million job openings in May 2026 and a 4.2 percent unemployment rate, they examine how employers are increasingly using job ads to screen for cultural fit—sometimes in w...

Lucas and Luna dig into a surprising signal hidden in job ads: the speed at which employers respond to applicants. Using recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics—including June's unemployment rate of 4.2 percent and JOLTS openings up to 7.594 million—they explain why a job posting that stays up for months may actually be a ghost listing. They share a concrete metric listeners can check in j...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a subtle but revealing shift in job advertisements: how employers are framing their demand for artificial intelligence skills. Using data from the latest JOLTS report and a careful reading of hundreds of ads, they argue that the way companies ask for AI expertise — whether it is a must-have, a nice-to-have, or hidden in vague language — tells us more about...

Lucas and Luna dive into a surprising new trend in hiring: a growing number of employers are requiring candidates to submit test results—skills assessments, personality inventories, or cognitive tests—before even scheduling a first interview. Drawing on recent JOLTS data showing 7.6 million job openings and a 4.2 percent unemployment rate in June 2026, they explore why companies are adding this sc...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a surprising signal hidden in job postings: how employers talk — or don't talk — about mental health. With the unemployment rate dipping to 4.2% and job openings edging up to 7.6 million, companies are competing for talent, but many still avoid mentioning mental health benefits. Lucas cites a new analysis of 500,000 job ads from June 2026, finding that only...

Lucas and Luna look at the surprising drop in labor force participation in mid-2026, despite a low unemployment rate and steady job growth. They unpack the CNBC headline about the lowest participation outside the Covid era, explore who is leaving the workforce and why, and discuss what this means for employers trying to fill roles. Drawing on JOLTS data showing rising job openings alongside fallin...

Episode 89 of The Job Market Podcast explores a new angle in job ads: how employers are increasingly using language targeting 'active' vs 'passive' candidates. Lucas and Luna analyze recent data showing the labor force participation rate at a 50-year low (excluding Covid) and discuss what it means for hiring strategies. They break down a real job posting from a major tech firm that explicitly asks...

In this episode of The Job Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna dig into a fascinating trend in job ads: the shift toward longer, more detailed salary ranges and responsibilities. They explore what the data says about employer honesty in a cooling market, referencing the latest JOLTS numbers showing job openings holding steady at 7.6 million. Using examples from recent postings, they discuss why compani...

Lucas and Luna examine a growing trend in job postings: employers exaggerating role requirements and salary ranges. With JOLTS data showing 7.6 million job openings in May 2026 and average hourly earnings up just 0.2% over the month, they discuss how inflated ads waste applicant time and signal desperation or disorganization. Lucas cites a LinkedIn study finding 40% of postings list 'preferred' sk...

Mid-2026 job openings ticked up to 7.59 million and unemployment held at 4.3%, yet a new CNBC headline reveals that some employers who laid off workers citing AI are already regretting it. Lucas and Luna dig into that specific dynamic: why companies misread the labor market, the gap between layoff announcements and actual hiring needs, and what the data on initial jobless claims dropping to 215,00...

In this episode of The Job Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna dig into a surprising signal hidden in today's job postings: employers' willingness to state a specific salary range. With the S&P 500 at 7,499 and unemployment holding at 4.3%, job openings have ticked up to 7.6 million. But a growing share of ads now omit salary bands altogether. Lucas explains how this shift reflects employer confidence...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how job ads across industries are increasingly featuring employer brand language—culture fit, mission-driven work, free snacks—especially when salaries or advancement opportunities are thin. They look at new data from LinkedIn and Indeed showing a 40% jump in ads that mention 'culture' or 'vibe' in the last year, while actual salary transparency has barely b...

In this episode of The Job Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into a fresh labor market signal: the growing number of job ads requiring previous experience in the same role. With the unemployment rate at 4.3 percent and job openings rising to 7.6 million, employers are getting pickier. Lucas explains why this 'experience inflation' may actually indicate a cooling market, not a hot one. Using data...