According to Indeed, only 10% of job seekers are looking urgently for work while firms rush to rehire.Most people who search for jobs that are not urgently needed cite virus fears and spouses as the main reasons.According to economist Nick Bunker, more Americans should return work once schools reopen and fears about COVID fade.Check out more stories from Insider's business page.As demand rises, businesses are scrambling to hire more workers than their competition. The majority of Americans who are jobless can't be bothered.An extraordinary labor shortage has held back economic recovery for several months. While job openings have risen to new heights, hiring has fallen short of economist expectations. Although more than 9 million Americans are still out of work, there are many reasons, including increased unemployment insurance and rising childcare costs. They're not in a hurry to find employment.This picture is bolstered by new data from Indeed, a hiring website. According to a survey of 5,000 Americans, only 10% of job-seekers were looking "urgently for work" in May and June. A third of respondents said that they aren't open to looking for work, while 40% stated they are only passively searching for jobs.In a blog post, Nick Bunker (economic research director at Indeed Hiring Lab), said that some of the disparities are due to many job seekers who are already employed. For jobless Americans, the proportion of Americans who are urgently looking for work was twice that for those employed. Many more Americans who were employed were actively looking for work.This survey also disproved some of the theories that are keeping Americans from returning to work. More than 20% of those who aren't urgently looking for work cited fear of virus as the reason they were unable to find work. The second and third most cited reasons were financial cushion and spouses who are employed.According to the survey, less than 10% of respondents stated that increased jobless benefits are a reason they have been lax in job hunting. This is in stark contrast to a Republican top talking point throughout the spring. GOP lawmakers blamed UI payments often for low job take-up. Republican governors from 25 states have taken steps to eliminate the supplement before September expiration.Indeed's survey was taken just before states started to reduce federal UI benefits. The data shows that other factors were more important in keeping Americans out of the workforce.Others wait for things to get better. Nearly 30% said that they are waiting for vaccines to improve before looking for jobs. Another 30% stated they are waiting for job opportunities and 13% said that they are waiting for schools to reopen.The fact is that the US government doesn't have to be the only one finding many reasons why Americans aren't able to get jobs. According to Julia Pollak, a ZipRecruiter labor economist, the pandemic caused disruption in the labor market. This made it more difficult for Americans to be rehired."Some workers believe their industry won't recover and decide to retire early. Some take a layoff and decide not to return if they are recalled," she explained. This means that returning to work will require a lot more hiring, which can be time-consuming.Bunker stated that the combination of these factors indicates that job searching will become more urgent in fall. The labor market will begin to balance after a long gap between worker demand and business demand.He said that while many employers are eager to increase their hiring speed, a large number of job seekers are reluctant to take on new jobs right away. The further decline in COVID-19, ending enhanced UI and the return to school in the fall could all increase the intensity of job search by the unemployed.
