Catherine Rampell wonders why employers’ hiring processes are getting longer and longer:

Some economists have argued that there is a growing “skills gap” between what workers have and what employees need. If that were true, though, we’d expect to see wages being bid up, and so far wages have remained relatively stagnant across the economy.

Another theory is that in an uncertain economy, companies are really, really worried about making a mistake and do not feel pressure to fill openings right away so long as they can still dump more work onto their existing staff members. As a result, employers exercise more exhaustive screening and vetting processes until they’re confident they’ve found their “purple squirrel,” H.R. jargon for an impossibly perfect, overqualified candidate usually willing to work for peanuts. Meanwhile, the costs that companies incur by making the hiring process more involved remain relatively hidden.