America's job and housing markets are stuck. What if that's the new normal?

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI Waiting for a better job or housing market? You could be waiting a while.

Hiring is near Great Recession lows, while home affordability is near its worst in decades.

If this is the new normal, Americans may have to rethink their career and housing plans.

If you've been waiting for a better time to find a job or buy a home, brace yourself: Things might not get much better anytime soon.

Two years ago, I wrote about an economy divided between Americans who'd locked in jobs and homes when conditions were favorable versus those who didn't.

The hiring boom had become a hiring slump, while mortgage rates and home prices had both risen considerably.

Two years later, finding a job or buying a home hasn't gotten much easier, outside of a few pockets of opportunity.

US businesses are hiring at roughly the same rate as they were two years ago — near the lowest level since the Great Recession.

Home affordability remains about as bad as it's been in decades.

For job seekers and prospective homebuyers, this raises an uncomfortable question: What if this isn't just a rough patch? What if it's the new normal? The low-hire, low-fire job market is looking less temporary Gautam Dev has been looking for a full-time job since his software engineering role ended in October 2024.

Before then, gaps in his more than two-decade IT career had typically lasted only a few months.

"I never thought it'd be so severe because I have always been able to find a job," said Dev, who's in his 60s and lives in Dallas.

Gautam Dev has relied on gig work to help pay his bills while searching for a full-time job.

Gautam Dev For the last few years, economists have been wondering when America's low-hire, low-fire job market might finally change.