To all our readers in the workforce: How would you rate the current job market in your respective industry?

Excellent (8%) – "Both of my industries are desperate for workers. Poor compensation and the rising cost of living are keeping classified education staff working two jobs. Meanwhile, we're so understaffed with certified teachers we're being given roles that are far beyond our pay grade with no training and no extra compensation. Service industries are seeing a new generation of workers who want a job but don't want to work. I've had an 18-year-old employee actively try to get fired so he could collect unemployment."

Pretty good (13%) – "There are a lot of upcoming new construction projects in my area and they are hiring."

Average (22%) – "It seems that most major corporations are reducing employees and becoming selective in their hiring. This is hard on people seeking employment."

• "Some financial services companies are generally more stable and less susceptible to market changes, which I've seen in my industry. However, 2025 wasn't a banner year and I'm curious what this year will bring. We are seeing a war for talent between companies and people are still demanding pretty high salaries because of the specialty of their skillset and the amount of time it takes to learn it."

Pretty bad (38%) – "The job availability has been reduced significantly in the past two years. On top of that, the amount of jobs you have to apply for before getting contacted to just move to the next step has quadrupled at least. It's nearly impossible to get a foot in the door unless you have some connection with the company. All the automated procedures for HR make job hunting ridiculous."

• "There are not enough teachers to fill the vacancies. No one wants to teach anymore, especially with the destruction of the Department of Education."

"I'm on the learning and development side of the business, and both within my company and outside of it, most jobs available are highly specialized engineering, analyst, and business systems roles."

• "After 15 years of working consistently through a couple of economic downturns, my first layoff ever happened in jan 2026. job applicant ratio to jobs is through the roof."

Terrible (19%) – "My partner has been looking for over a year for even a front line job in Orlando with AI automatically dismissing almost immediately when they submit an application. Places no longer want to take applications in person and require you to fill them out online. When you do, it almost always is an immediate decline. This is everything from career positions to front line at McDonalds."

• "The last 2.5 years saw wave after wave of mass lay-offs, companies closing and a lot less money being invested. Many people in my industry (tech/entertainment) have been forced to leave the field altogether in order to get a job, after being unemployed for a year or more."