Number of unemployed persons per job opening
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, shows job openings increased in June as the number of available positions rose to 5.89 million, compared with 5.37 million in May. Meanwhile, our chart of the day shows how different the labor market is today, as competition for those available openings is at its highest since the Great Recession. There are three unemployed people per job opening today versus fewer than one person available prior to the pandemic.