Job hunts for unemployed workers lengthened to an average of 3.4 months in the fourth quarter from 2.2 months in the first half of last year, according to corporate recruiter Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
"Less than three and a half months to find a job is still relatively fast, considering we were falling deeper into a recession economy through the end of 2001," said John Challenger, the company's chief executive, in a statement. "But it can seem like an eternity for someone trying to pay on a mortgage and put food on the table."
Companies are unlikely to begin rehiring until they're sure the economy is recovering, according to a Challenger survey of its clients.
The job search numbers come as federal officials have said January statistics show the US economy is poised to recover from recession.
Unemployment, which was at a six-year high of 5.8 percent in December, fell to 5.6 percent last month, the Labor Department reported.
Federal Reserve officials have said they expect the economy to recover to 3 percent growth rate by the middle of the year.
"There's no question about whether we're going to get a recovery," said Jack Guynn, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, last week. "The toughest question now is the exact timing and its strength."
Companies are hiring cautiously, shifting work to contractors and getting many applicants for jobs, making job searches more difficult, the survey said.
The Challenger survey on job searches was based on interviews with 3,000 displaced managers and executives from a variety of industries who are using the company to hunt for jobs.
"Rising job search times are unlikely to reverse course any time soon," Challenger said in a statement. "Some major employers are saying that they do not see a turnaround in hiring until 2003."
The economy fell into recession in March, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, which charts US expansions and contractions. Gross domestic product grew at a 0.2 percent annual rate in the final three months of last year after shrinking at a 1.3 percent pace in the previous quarter.
"It's going to be another tough year," said Laura Ramey, a spokeswoman for Hall, Kinion & Associates Inc., a recruiting firm, last month. "We have to come out of the recession and get strong consumer confidence before they start hiring again."
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