South By North Strategies, Ltd.

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

… August marks three years straight that the job seeker’s ratio has been at or above 3-to-1. Put another way: we’ve exceeded the highest level reached in the early 2000s recession for the last three years straight. And we’ve been substantially above 4-to-1 for the last two years and eight months.  A job seeker’s ratio of more than 4-to-1 means that for more than three out of four unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs. Two years and eight months—139 weeks—of a job seeker’s ratio above 4-to-1 is why the current extended unemployment insurance benefits, which last a maximum of 99 weeks, remain crucial. Furthermore, extending these benefits will not contribute to keeping the unemployment rate high, as some economists have claimed.