I don' t think that it is the job market that is bad, it is the economy in a lot of industries. Many times the financial stability of one market will affect another market even though they have no direct link to each other.

Also, because their seems to be an upsurge in the amount of candidates per position, employers can be pickier about who they want to hire.

And, again, we have the unfortunate fact that some employers prefer to spend less money and hire relatively inexperienced people straight out of high school and college rather than pay a little more to get the experience and work ethic that comes with experience. Realistically, by hiring the more experienced person, the company is saving quite a bit in training costs since an seasoned worker will already know the functions of the position and will just need to be guided in the individual nuances of the company. But, most employers don' t look at it that way. Also, inexperienced workers will gain experience and then go work elsewhere will result in even further costs to the employer. (These are the employers that jobseekers like to say "neener neener neener" to.)