Just shy of two million people in this economy filed continuing claims for unemployment insurance the week before last, according to the Department of Labor.

That means those people have been out of a job for two or more weeks. That’s the highest number of continuing claims since November of 2021.

At the same time, initial claims for unemployment — the number of people who just lost their job in a given week? That number's been hovering just shy of 250,000 for a few years now.

Amanda Augustine has been busy. She’s a career coach with TopResume, and said her clients all have one question: “What do I do in this job market?”

A valid question, because right now, how is the labor market?

“Static. Just kind of maintaining,” says Eddie Hearn, an economist at UKG.

Hearn said employers are waiting-and-seeing, cautious amid uncertainty around tariffs and interest rates. That means there’s not much hiring — and workers with jobs aren’t going anywhere.

“So a lot of people are say, not retiring the next year or so, or people are not getting that promotion that they would've before,” said Hearn.

All that staying put creates a cascade down the career ladder — leaving workers under 25 with fewer openings.

“It’s very very difficult to kind of get a foot in the door anywhere,” Hearn said.

Which is part of why the unemployment claims keep piling up, according to Gary Schlossberg with Wells Fargo.

“It’s sort of like a stopped sink,” Schlossberg said. “You’re not really getting that flow-through of people finding new jobs that quickly.”

That’s a concern for the broader economy, because, as Schlossberg pointed out: “The labor market is a main driver of consumer spending.”

And consumer spending is roughly two-thirds of the economy. There are ways for job seekers to get a leg up, said Augustine. For one: write your own resume.

“Employers are being flooded with AI generated resumes, seeing the same phrasing, the same language,” Augustine said.

And here’s a tried-and-true tip:

“It really helps if you have that referral,” Augustine said.

In a market flooded with uncertainty and automation, it turns out the most valuable asset might still be something simple: a personal connection.