The Scoop: Why marcomm workers are struggling to find jobs amid a booming economy

By most metrics, the U.S. economy seems to be thriving. The stock market is up, interest rates are slowly falling and the unemployment rate is a respectable 4.2%.

But under those sunny numbers are 7 million unemployed Americans – 1.6 million of whom have been on the job hunt for at least six months. And office workers, including communicators, are being hit especially hard, while many hands-on workers, like healthcare and hospitality, continue to thrive, the Wall Street Journal reported. There are an additional 4 million workers who are taking part-time work when they’d rather work full-time, perhaps cobbling together a few consulting gigs or a serving job while they continue to hunt for full-time work in their industry.

While exact numbers aren’t available for the communications industry, Indeed reports that marketing job postings are down 20% versus pre-pandemic levels. This comes after a mad hiring spree during much of the pandemic, especially among technology companies that bulked up on staff to serve a world sitting at home on computers. But even outside of tech, other organizations have cut their comms teams altogether, such as Paramount+.

The primary problem, according to the Journal, is not layoffs. It’s less hiring overall. That creates a big problem when there are layoffs and both new graduates and seasoned hands are vying for the same limited number of jobs. And one batch of layoffs can lead to a “snowball” effect, with more companies quickly joining in.

Why it matters: If you currently have a job, it’s likely best to stay there until you have something else lined up, even if your existing role isn’t ideal. Additionally, the importance of continually proving the value of communications through ongoing conversations with leadership and metrics-based practice cannot be overstated.

Too often, marcomms roles are seen as expendable and the first to go when times get tough or the stock price needs a bump. But your job is to ensure that you aren’t expendable. That leadership understands the value of what you do each day –- not just through products that the world sees, but in the fires you quietly put out before there was ever a headline about it.

Tying revenue or other business-based performance metrics — such as as employee retention — to communications is a white whale of the industry. It’s not an easy task or everyone would do it. But with a firm understanding of the business and the KPIs that really matter to leadership, you can draw lines – direct or indirect – to your actions and show that they aren’t a luxury when times are good. They’re a necessity.

Editor’s Top Reads:

• Briefs laying out both arguments of the battle for the future of TikTok in the United States have been filed with the Supreme Court. On the side of TikTok, a group of users notes that 170 million Americans would be impacted by the ban, making a ruling one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in national history. TikTok itself argues that simple disclosure of possible foreign influence – China, in this case – would be the least-restrictive means of addressing concerns. But the United States government said that “Such a generic, standing disclosure would be patently ineffective,” the New York Times reported. TikTok continues to deny “that TikTok has ever removed or restricted content in other countries at China’s request.” President-elect Donald Trump has also entered the fight, asking the Supreme Court to grant him more time to broker a deal, since the ban is set to take effect one day before he takes office. Whatever happens next will have to happen quickly with TikTok set to disappear come Jan. 19. But you’ve been spending the last year beefing up your presence on Reels and Shorts anyway. Right?
• A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist has resigned from the Washington Post after her cartoon was rejected. Cartoonist Ann Telnaes said her cartoon was denied publication, with no feedback for improvements, because of its subject matter, which shows a number of media moguls, including Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, bowing before Trump. She released a sketch of the cartoon on her Substack and claimed it was the first time a cartoon was “killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at.” However, Post Editorial Page Editor David Shipley, denied the rejection was due to politics. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication. The only bias was against repetition,” he said in a statement to CNBC. It’s clear the Post has lost trust with its newsroom after it declined to publish an endorsement that any action might be perceived as nefarious, even if it’s standard editorial work. This is a clear case of internal communications spilling out and becoming external in a way that will continue to damage the Post’s struggling brand that has shed hundreds of thousands of subscribers– regardless of what the truth of the cartoon is.
• Today is Jan. 6, four years to the day since a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the lawful results of the presidential election. The future of democracy on that day seemed so precipitous even usually politically silent companies pledged to withhold support from election deniers – pledges that have, in many cases, been quietly rescinded. Today, Trump will be certified as the next president of the United States in a process that will at once seem familiar to that infamous date in 2021 but with some significant changes. Congress passed a law that would clarify the often confusing rules around ratifying a new president, including requiring at least 1/5 of each chamber of Congress to sign onto disputes; narrowing the reasons for objection; and making it clear that the vice president’s role is purely administrative and that he or she holds no real determinative power. The expectation is that today a peaceful transition of power will ensue, avoiding the chaos and death of 2021.

Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on  LinkedIn.