A Gen Xer with a master's degree hasn't found work in 9 years. He says he's only landed four interviews.

• Chris Putro, 55, has been struggling to find a job for the last nine years.

• He has a master's and over a decade of experience but says this hasn't helped him get interviews.

• He said he's on track to run out of savings in a few years.

In 2013, Chris Putro got fired from his financial analyst job at a tech company. More than a decade later, he's still looking for work.

Despite having a bachelor's and master's degree in chemistry — and sending out countless applications — Putro said he's had little luck in the job market.

"I've gotten a total of four phone interviews," the 55-year-old, who's based in Los Angeles, told Business Insider via email. Three of these employers ended up "ghosting" him, while the other one ended the interview call early after deciding he was overqualified for the job.

When Putro lost his job, he was in his 16th year working for the same employer. After taking stock of his finances, he estimated that he had enough savings to get by for a little over a decade if necessary.

"I made enough in those 16 years to survive for another 11," he said.

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Based on his initial forecast, he would have run out of money sometime this year. However, Putro said his stock market investments have performed better than he expected, which he thinks could buy him a "few more years."

Putro said it's been helpful financially that he has no student debt or children. However, he said the only source of income over the last decade has been the $50 a week he gets for producing a standup comedy show in the Los Angeles area. He considers this to be effectively "volunteer work" that helps him stay busy, but as things stand, it's not doing much to slow the steady decline of his savings.

"Thinking about when I might run out of money and lose all my possessions is a very difficult thought process for me," he said.

Putro is among the Americans who are having a hard time finding work. In large part, it's because businesses across the US have significantly pulled back on hiring. The ratio of job openings to unemployed people — an indicator of job availability — has declined considerably over the past two years.

To be sure, both the unemployment rate and layoff rate remain low compared to historical levels. However, the hiring slowdown means that many of the people who are looking for work — whether it be because they were laid off, have just graduated from college, or are returning to the workforce — are having a much harder time than the job seekers of a few years ago.