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Unemployed Job Seekers per Opening (JOLTS data)

Northeast Region* and United States
April 2012 - April 2013

Image of a graph showing the Northeast region and united states unemployment job seekers per opening per month.
Data Highlights: April 2013 (Seasonally Adjusted)

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), in April 2013 there were 643,000 job openings in the Northeast region, which includes New York State. This was down 8.0% from March 2013's level of 699,000. (Note: JOLTS data are available nationally and regionally, but not at the state level.)  At the same time, the number of unemployed in the Northeast region decreased by 3.4%, from 2.24 million in March 2013 to 2.17 million in April 2013.

The ratio of unemployed job seekers to job openings is a useful labor market indicator. It is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed workers by the number of job openings. In April 2013, there were 3.4 job seekers per job opening in the Northeast region, an increase from March 2013's 3.2 level. The region's ratio stood at 3.4 in April 2012.

Nationally, the number of unemployed decreased by 0.7% and the number of job openings decreased by 3.0% between March 2013 and April 2013. As a result, the ratio in the U.S. increased from 3.0 to 3.1 over this period. In April 2012, the U.S. ratio was 3.6.

At the beginning of the last national recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed job seekers per job opening stood at 1.9 in the Northeast and 1.8 in the nation. By June 2009 -- the official end of the U.S. recession -- the ratio was 4.2 in the Northeast region and 6.2 in the nation as a whole.

Historical Unemployed Job Seekers per Opening data, Northeast region and U.S.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program produces data on job openings, hires, and separations:http://www.bls.gov/jlt/

Unemployment data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program:http://www.bls.gov/bls/unemployment.htm

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