What to expect from the 2025 job market

Daniel Zhao, Lead Economist at Glassdoor, joins TheStreet to share what he feels will happen in the 2025 job market.

Transcript

00:00So, how would Glassdoor describe the job market in 2025?

00:08Yeah, well, so I think right now the job market is at a point where it's kind of treading water,

00:16right? So, the unemployment rate is still relatively low by historical standards,

00:21wage growth is still coming in at a reasonable rate, but there are some signs that the job

00:27market is not as healthy or not really working for employees and job seekers in the way that

00:32it was even just a few years ago, right? What are those signs? Yeah, so, for example,

00:37hiring has slowed down a lot and quitting has slowed down a lot, and those are generally signs

00:43that employers are hesitant to bring on new people, right? But also that employees are hesitant to

00:50take a risk and try to find that new job, and that's often when people can get the most growth,

00:56right? When you switch jobs, you can get a bigger raise, you can get, you know, a better title,

01:00you can get more career opportunities, but right now a lot of people are sitting tight, they feel,

01:06so even if they're in a job, they might not be happy in that job right now, and I think

01:10that kind of characterizes the job market we have right now. So, according to a recent Glassdoor

01:15survey, 50 percent of professionals are planning a career pivot in 2025. What do you make of that

01:24number, and what does that say about the sentiment out there? Well, I think it's really a sign that

01:31people do feel kind of stuck where they are right now, and they want to try something new. So, like

01:36I was saying, there's this desire to quit even if that opportunity isn't necessarily there,

01:42so I think a lot of people are going to have to get creative and thinking about ways to try new

01:47things or get exposure to new fields or new areas that they maybe want to explore, right? So,

01:54maybe people are going to, you know, start exploring more side hustles, start exploring

02:00entrepreneurship as a path to getting exposure to those fields, and

02:04if they can't necessarily just find a job in those sectors.

02:17you