The numbers are undeniable. The economy is booming but so is the level of difficulty in finding top talent. Recruiting talent is definitely a growing challenge. If you look carefully at the data gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics you can see why.
Just take a look at some of these numbers generated monthly by JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey). No wonder Talent Acquisition professionals are unsure where their next hire can be found.
- At 0.9 persons per job opening, the number of job openings has exceeded the number of unemployed persons for 21 consecutive months prior to November 2019.
- Job openings have exceeded hires from 2015 to the present.
- The unemployment rate has plunged from 9.8% in January of 2010 to 3.5% in December of 2019
- Quits have exceeded layoffs and discharges since July 2011.
- The quit rate has grown consistently from less than 1% in 2009 to short of 2.5% in 2019
- Job openings nationwide have shown an increase from 2,731,000 in January 2009 to 7,625,000 in January 2019. Whew!
- The gap between quits and layoffs/discharges continues to increase.
- The industries with the greatest percentage of job openings are Leisure/Hospitality and Health Care/Social Assistance.
Want to see numbers that are a little closer to home? JOLTS is working on State Estimates. They can be found on the BLS website and show everything from Job Openings to Hires to Quits to Layoffs and Discharges and total separations. The data is available from February 2001 to June 2019.
Here’s the good news…all of these numbers – and more – are updated monthly and can be downloaded free of charge on the BLS.gov site and can help with recruiting.
Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistics/JOLTS
