This decrease in economic activity and investment due to higher levels of uncertainty was a factor in the tepid growth following the recession, and may still be having an effect on economic growth in the U.S. Because of this lowered growth, firms may be reluctant to increase employment, and they may also be more reluctant to hire workers who are perceived as riskier (such as those who have been unemployed for longer durations). This may be one factor behind firms’ maintaining more vacancies over the past three years than they previously did when unemployment was as high as it is today.