Singles being hired over married job seekers

Single people are finding jobs much faster than married job hunters, the Department of Labor said.

Singles lost five million jobs in the recession and have recovered 90 percent of them. Married people lost six million jobs and just 22 percent came back. And for better or worse, employers might look at it like this:

“Somebody who has a large family or life might be away because of sick kids or mommy-daddy issues,” said Michael Hayes with Momentum Specialized Staffing in Phoenix.

Hayes said one reason single people are getting a leg up on married people with kids for jobs is that singles are more mobile and willing to relocate.

“If you’re trying to transfer a family of four in from Arizona for a job, you’re going to have to pay relocation fees and then their house is going to be upside down,” he said. “So how are you going deal with that?”

Another factor in hiring singles is age — married job hunters tend to be older than singles.

“Most of the job creation has been entirely on the low end and labor intensive,” said Hayes. “So, if you’re a younger person, obviously you’re able to do that, whereas somebody who is 50 years old, are they going to go into a warehouse and stock 1,500 cases in a couple of hours?”