Jobs Go Unfilled Despite High Unemployment

Zandi’s own firm is feeling the impact of the skills gap. He’s having trouble finding and hiring junior economists with advanced degrees.

“That part of the job market is tightening up quite significantly.”

Extend Health’s Bryce Williams is actively looking at options beyond his company's base in Utah, and beyond that is also trying to develop a home-based model so that he can bring his jobs to the workers he needs. But he's worried he won't be able to ramp up hiring enough, and that would kill his company's growth.

“What it could require us to do is meter the number of clients we can take on, in any given year," he says.

With the health care exchange sector poised for rapid expansion over the next two years because of the health reform law, Williams is determined not to turn business away.