Employers Still Ruling Out Jobless Applicants

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/12/employers-jobless-applicants-long-term-unemployment_n_896520.html

Posted: 7/12/11 06:32 PM ET

Employers are still discriminating against unemployed people in their online job ads despite an increase of scrutiny on hiring practices, a new report by the National Employment Law Project has found.

HuffPost reported back in June 2010 that a number of job postings on sites such as Craigslist, Monster.com and Indeed.com explicitly ruled out jobless applicants using the language "must be currently employed," or "no unemployed candidates will be considered." According to the new NELP survey of a number of "heavily-trafficked job posting websites," employers have continued to screen out applicants solely because they are unemployed.

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As of June, nearly 6.3 million U.S. workers had been out of work for six months or longer, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average length of unemployment has steadily risen to almost 40 weeks, and there were nearly five job applicants for every job opening as of the most recent data in May.

In order to even out the playing field in the job market, Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) have introduced the Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011, which makes it illegal to discriminate against the jobless in a job advertisement or otherwise.

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