Unemployed Americans say they're stuck in a job-hunting nightmare

Jeremy Spiegel (left), Jon McCarty (center), and Kymberly McClain (right) have struggled to make sense of difficult job searches.

Jeremy Spiegel (left), Jon McCarty (center), and Kymberly McClain (right) More and more unemployed Americans have been out of work for over six months.

Without a recession to blame, some job seekers are struggling to explain why.

Some blame AI, age discrimination, or ghost job listings.

Others wonder if they're the problem.

When Jeremy Spiegel was looking for work in 2009, it was clear why finding a job might be difficult: it was the depths of the Great Recession .

But when he lost his director role at a publishing company in 2024, there was no recession to blame.

Spiegel, who's in his 40s and lives in Massachusetts, has spent two years looking for work — despite having more than twenty years of experience.

"I've been told so many times a version of 'It's not you, it's us' that I am beginning to wonder if it is, in fact, me," Spiegel said.

He said others have struggled to understand how someone with his background could be out of work for so long.

Had he offended someone at the companies where he was applying? one family member wondered.

Spiegel said he sometimes avoids social events because he fears he'll have to talk about his job search.

Jeremy Spiegel has been searching for work since losing his director role in 2024.

Jeremy Spiegel More than a million Americans have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks.