by Frank James
Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank funded by organized labor, examined some new government data on job openings and, not surprisingly, found that the ratio of people looking job openings versus the number of jobs more than doubled from Dec. 2007 to Dec. 2008.
Here's her analysis:
This morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) data for December of 2008. The data show that there were 2.7 million job openings in December, down 6% from November 2008 and down 32% from the start of the recession in December 2007.
While job openings are becoming more and more scarce, the ranks of the unemployed are growing dramatically - up by 47% in the first year of the recession - such that in December there were 11.1 million unemployed workers.
"This means that there were 4.1 job seekers per available job - more than double the number of job seekers per available job at the beginning of the recession, which stood at 1.9 in December 2007," said EPI economist Heidi Shierholz.
The JOLTS data are available by census region. Since the start of the recession, the West has experienced the largest decline in job openings, at 40%, followed by the South (down 32%), the Midwest (down 30%), and the Northeast (down 15%). The West also had the largest number of unemployed workers per job opening, at 4.9, followed by the Midwest (4.8), the South (3.6), and the Northeast (3.6).
Note: Given the 508,000 (FJ: it was actually 598,000) increase in unemployment in January, if job openings experience the same decline in January that they experienced in December, that will translate into 4.6 unemployed workers per job opening in January.
The ratio obviously differs depending on where in the country you're talking about. The places President Obama is visiting this week, Elkhart, Ind. and Ft. Myers, Fla. are likely a lot worse than the average represented by the BLS numbers.
Another way of looking at the job-openings versus job seekers data is that it tells us that the job climate nationally was more than twice as bad in December 2008 as the year before.
Comments
All we need to do is let the republicans put their eggs in the small business basket. Of course if we give them incentives they will hire more employees than they need even though their sales will remain depressed.
Posted by: bill r. | February 10, 2009 12:19 PM
Spot on Bill as usual. I also think this story is misleading, as is the unemployment stats. Most of the jobs available right now are less than $10/hr., so of course they are going to go unfilled. There was a job opening for a $14.00/hr a few weeks ago, and I applied for it. I was one of about 700 applicants, and 300 interviews....for one job opening!! At $14/ hr, that is still half of what I was making 6 months ago. Thanks Bush.
Posted by: Xcellentform | February 10, 2009 1:58 PM
So the obvious answer is to penalize the job creators.
Here are some thoughts on stimulus from a CEO I know:
1. no bailout for anything except below
2. give every USA family $55,000.00, this is equivalent to 800 billion
3. make depreciation of capitol equipment 12 months instead of 60 months
4. make leasehold improvements to be depreciated over 5 years instead of 15
5. eliminate lawyers ability to sue for medical errors. ( make people who undergo surgery sign a no sue contract that acknowledges risk with being cut open ).
6. this will reduce the cost of health care 75% and thus reduce insurance costs
7. eliminate guaranteed retirement income and life health care for government and state employees who retire after 30 years, we don’t get it why should they.
8. tax credits for every new job you can prove that is created by you and lasts at least 1 year
9. abolish unions and organized labor
10. reduce minimum wage to 5.00 an hour
11. 35% reduction in every government office, group, agency in the entire country, straight line cut of their entire budget!
quit telling everybody they deserve homes, cars, medicine, as many kids as they want without penalty,and no accountability. This creates false expectations.
Make America accountable, let the businesses fail that must fail. Let free enterprise prevail. Free enterprise and free market is far more efficient and far more effective then government,
Just my thoughts, I employ 40,000 Americans directly and indirectly, I create 200 new jobs per week and risk investment every day.
But what do I know?
Posted by: Greg | February 10, 2009 6:54 PM
10. reduce minimum wage to 5.00 an hour.
Wow. That's $175/week, after taxes; not even enough to cover the rent.
How much DO you know, Greg?
Posted by: Gregory | February 10, 2009 10:53 PM
Greg wrote: "2. give every USA family $55,000.00, this is equivalent to 800 billion"
That's off by a factor of 10.
In 2000, there were 105 million households in the USA.
$800B / 105M households = approx. $7600 per household.
Posted by: Jon | February 10, 2009 11:29 PM
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Posted by: raju | February 10, 2009 11:36 PM
Greg wrote: "I employ 40,000 Americans directly and indirectly, I create 200 new jobs per week and risk investment every day.
But what do I know?"
Wow Greg, and you still have time to write to the rest of us, your cockamamy ideas, many of which have gotten us into this mess. I'm impressed.
Posted by: Julio G. Atlas | February 11, 2009 12:28 AM
Greg, I hope this was a sick joke made to get a rise out of people. I refuse to believe that anyone is this stupid.....although !nky is pretty close. Your post has so many factual errors in it.
Maybe if you understood the depreciation schedule a little bit, people *might* believe that you are remotely involoved with business.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~purchase/fixedassets/depreciationsched.html
I hope your rich parents pull the plug on your computer in their base basement.
Posted by: Xcellentform | February 11, 2009 8:51 AM