South By North Strategies, Ltd.

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

The total number of job openings in May was 3.0 million, and the total number of unemployed workers was 13.9 million. The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was 4.7-to-1 in May, as it was in April. The job seekers ratio has been above 4.3-to-1 for 29 consecutive months, meaning that for nearly two-and-a-half years, there has been no available job for at least three out of four unemployed workers. In the last recovery, which followed the 2001 recession, the ratio of unemployed to job openings never exceeded 2.8-to-1.