How much advantage does having a clearance provide?

I have friends who tell me their TS/SCI is extremely helpful in finding a job. I live in an area with a base, but cannot find any jobs. I've searched clearancejobs as well. Many of these positions seem to be located in DC/VA.
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No you're correct. I have a clearance...but it doesn't seem to be doing me any good as I can't seem to land any of the positions which require it.
Jobs that require a clearance have a smaller pool of people to draw from as not everyone can qualify for a security clearance. So for those jobs, there is less competition than for your typical job posting. Getting a security clearance is a process that can take from 4 weeks to 6 months. So these companies also prefer to hire people that already have the clearance. This saves them both time and money (getting a clearance isn't free).
Now, how much will having a clearance help you getting a job? It's hard to say. In a market with many job vacancies, it won't matter much. The applicant pool is small enough compared to the open positions that you will likely find a job at a non clearance position or get hired on and then obtain a clearance.
However, if the market has very few job vacancies (high unemployment), it could make a difference. This means the jobs that require a clearance have a larger pool of applicants and will likely focus on those already cleared.
In my experience, I don't think it matters too much in most markets. The jobs requiring a clearance typically have pay grades set by policy from a government agency or contract. This means the pay rate may not be as much as a bump (if any at all) as you would expect, since they have a smaller pool of candidates.
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