Unemployed workers in the US likely have given up looking for work or are holding out for the perfect job, according to Express Employment Professionals’ fifth annual “State of the Unemployed” national survey released today. Forty-two percent of the unemployed agree that they have “completely given up on looking for a job,” up from 33% in last year’s survey. Of those who have been unemployed for more than two years, 57% said they have given up.

The survey also found more are holding out for the right salary and the right job. Forty-three percent of respondents said they would “only accept a job that I really want to do,” up from 35% last year. And 85% said they need to earn a specific amount of money to help pay their bills; among those respondents, the average amount needed is $60,428 per year.

The average duration of unemployment hit 28 months, the highest level recorded by the survey.

At the time of interviewing, 57% of unemployed Americans had not been on an interview in the last month.

Survey respondents reported being unemployed an average of 28 months in 2018 — up from 23.5 months in 2017, 26.3 months in 2016, 26.8 months in 2015, and 23.2 months in 2014.

“The duration of unemployment may be going up because those who have been out of work longest are ‘stuck’ but those who have only been out a few months are finding jobs at a faster pace,” Express CEO Bill Stoller said. “It could be that the recently unemployed make more attractive job candidates.”

When asked why they are unemployed, 24% said they quit and 19% said they were laid off. This is the highest percentage of respondents saying they quit in the five-year history of the survey, indicating that more people are jobless because of their own choices.

There is no question that the economy and the job market have improved over the five years of this survey, but it’s clear the personal situation of so many Americans hasn’t — especially when you consider the average duration of unemployment exceeds two years,” Stoller said. “It’s a reminder that there’s another side of the story: that millions of jobless Americans who have given up or are holding out.”