Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/14/2011 -- In an economy where there are 14.5 million unemployed Americans for 3.25 million jobs, employers are experiencing a buyers market.

That’s a ratio of 4.6 applicants for every job posting.

The above figures just take into account people officially on the government’s unemployment benefits rolls. Another 1.3 million are considered discouraged workers. And 99ers are not counted at all, whose numbers are estimated to be over a million and climbing.

Considering the population growth of the last four years, there should have been 4.3 million more people in the workforce today.

Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in December 2010, there were 6.2 million Americans who were not considered part of the labor force but were seeking employment. Another 6.4 million Americans, or 44.3% of the unemployed total, have been jobless for over 26 weeks. This is a historical high since 1948.

All these figures have resulted in putting the employers in the driver’s seat during the hiring process. When stories are floating around of former highly paid managers working as Starbucks baristas and janitors, potential employees feel that they are not in a position to drive a hard bargain. Around 54% of formerly laid-off workers with new jobs are earning less than before.

Hound CEO A. Harrison Barnes believes that although employers have the upper hand, employees can still get a good salary if they know where to apply. “Remember, if a business is hiring in this economy, that means they really need somebody to fill that position.” Hound is a job search engine which collects job postings directly from employer websites. In the last seven days, it has been able to gather 114,000 jobs.