u/Shiwani1

The July report has two numbers pointing opposite ways. Unemployment came down to 4.1%. Payrolls dropped 23,000, against a consensus of +83,000. BLS also took 103,000 jobs out of May and June in revisions.

The rate fell because 264,000 people left the labor force. Stop looking for work and you stop being counted as unemployed, so the number can improve while the market gets worse. Participation is 61.4%, lowest in five years. Employment-to-population is 58.9%, weakest since 2014. Wage growth slowed to 3.2%.

Also, the "more unemployed people than job openings" stat from the spring has flipped. June JOLTS shows 7.4M openings against roughly 7.1M unemployed. Postings aren't the problem now. Nobody is hiring off them, and nobody is firing much either, which is a bad spot if you're the one looking.

Next JOLTS September 1, next jobs report September 4.

Unfortunately, I had to go through the job search process in both 2025 and 2026. Since I tracked every application along the way, I thought I'd share my numbers in case they're helpful for anyone else currently looking for a job.

A little background: I'm a Full Stack Developer with 10+ years of experience. In 2025, I received an offer and relocated to Germany. Unfortunately, after about a year, the startup I joined failed and everyone was laid off.

Now I have six months to find another job if I want to stay in Germany legally, so wish me luck.

2025 Job Market

50 applications

Interviewed with 7 companies

17 interview rounds

2 offers

It took me about a month to send those 50 applications, and after another month or so of multi-stage interviews, I had two offers to choose from.

2026 Job Market (So far)

160 applications

Interviewed with 10 companies

25 interview rounds

0 offers

This took about 2.5 months.

Comparing my own numbers from 2025 to 2026, my interview rate has dropped by roughly 55%. But that's not even the worst part.

This year I've made it all the way to the 4th interview with two different companies, and neither resulted in an offer.

For the first time in my career, I'm genuinely worried about my future and whether I'll be able to find another job. A couple of years ago I could usually find a new role within one or two months. Now months go by, applications keep piling up, interviews are much harder to get, and even making it to the final rounds doesn't seem to be enough. Still, all I can do is keep applying.

Edit: Thanks for all the suggestions. Yes, I tailor my resume for every application.

I used ChatGPT for resume tailoring for a while, but it became incredibly time-consuming when you're applying to dozens of jobs. Recently I started using this tool where you simply paste the job posting URL, and it generates a complete application kit that's ready to send, including a tailored resume, a personalized cover letter, a follow-up email, and more. It also has a few useful free features, like a job tracker, which is what you see in the screenshot.