Unemployed workers' quality doesn't improve during economic downturns as commonly believed. Firms fire better workers during tough times, leading to a decline in the overall quality of the unemployment pool. This affects hiring decisions and can contribute to jobless recoveries. The study uses a model and real-world data to support these findings. In a dynamic trading environment, sellers adjust prices based on their type, and the level of search frictions influences the matching of buyers and sellers. The production function's log-supermodularity or log-submodularity determines whether positive or negative assortative matching occurs.