The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the hires rate—the share of total employment accounted for by new hires—held steady at 3.3 percent in February. [...]
Job openings showed more strength in February, increasing by 299,000. This brought the total number of job openings to 4.2 million. In February, there were 10.5 million job seekers (unemployment data are from the Current Population Survey), meaning that there were 2.5 times as many job seekers as job openings. Put another way: Job seekers so outnumbered job openings that 60 percent of job seekers were not going to find a job in February no matter what they did. In a labor market with strong job opportunities, there would be roughly as many job openings as job seekers.
Furthermore, the 10.2 million unemployed workers understates how many job openings will be needed when a robust jobs recovery finally begins, due to the existence of 5.3 million would-be workers who are currently not in the labor market, but who would be if job opportunities were strong. Many of these “missing workers” will become job seekers when we enter a robust jobs recovery, so job openings will be needed for them, too.