 From Bankrate, the job market was previously red-hot, but not so much of late. Mark Hamrick takes a look. What's going on with the once red-hot job market? It was in April last year the nation's unemployment rate hit the lowest level in more than 50 years, 3.4%. The pandemic and subsequent reopening of the economy knocked the economy for a loop, and the rush to rehire was among a variety of factors associated with a historic burst of inflation.