Indeed: $20 is the new $15 among job seekers

Wage gains and inflation are influencing searches by U.S. job seekers.

That’s according to a report by employment hiring platform Indeed, which found that the share of searches for $20 per hour wages has grown 35.5% year-over-year. In contrast, searches related to $15 have declined 57.3% over the same time period. 

Searches for “$25” per hour wages have risen as well. While still smaller than those for $20, the share of $25-related searches has increased 122% year-over-year as of August 14. Additionally, the share of searches for $25 has outstripped the share of $15-related searches as of mid-June 2022. 

Two factors, nominal wage gains and inflation, are likely influencing job seekers to search for higher dollar amounts, according to Indeed. In the last 12 months ending in July, wage growth for hourly workers clocked in at 5.9%, outpacing the strong wage growth of 5.1% seen by non-hourly workers.

“Once job seekers know it’s possible to attain a higher wage, their expectations may shift and act as a pull factor in searching for a higher dollar amount,” said AnnElizabeth Konkel, senior  economist, Indeed Hiring Lab. “In this case, the shift in jobseeker expectations from searching for $15 to instead $20 is clear. 

Other highlights from Indeed’s  The US Labor Market Update for August are below.

•The U.S. labor market remains hot as the unemployment rate sits at a 50-year low while demand for labor remains strong. 

There are signs of normalization, with job openings ticking down from historic highs.  The ratio of openings per unemployed worker has dropped for three straight months, but at a June reading of 1.8 remains well above the Federal Reserve’s goal of getting this number closer to one.

“It seems possible that employer demand would need to cool significantly more before recruiters start to notice an easing in recruiting conditions,” stated Konkel.

•Job postings on Indeed were, as of August 19, 2022,  50.5% above their pre-pandemic baseline. New job postings — defined as those on Indeed for seven days or less — are also well above their pre-pandemic baseline, up 61.6%. While job postings growth has slowed, the leveling out has been moderate.  (Looking at specific sectors, job postings on Indeed for hospitality & tourism, retail and  food preparation/service are all well above their pre-pandemic baseline.)

•Job postings in remote sectors are cooling more than in-person ones. During the last four  weeks, job postings in high remote sectors dropped 6.5 percentage points. But job postings in low remote sectors have been flat, declining just 1.2 percentage points.

•Tech, a remote friendly sector, is one area where cooling is particularly noticeable. But at the same time, employer demand for tech workers remains well above its pre-pandemic levels and layoffs in the information sectors remain low.