South By North Strategies, Ltd.

From the Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of the December version of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) …

The total number of job openings in December was 3.1 million.  The Current Population Survey shows that the total number of unemployed workers was 14.5 million.  The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was thus 4.7-to-1 in December, unchanged from the revised November ratio.  Despite month-to-month fluctuations, the job seeker’s ratio has been generally improving since its peak of 6.3-to-1 in July 2009.  However, at 4.7-to-1, the ratio is more than three times as high as its average ratio of 1.5-to-1 in 2007.  The current 4.7-to-1 ratio means that for more than 3 out of 4 unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs.