The Competition For Jobs, By The Numbers

WASHINGTON — The competition for jobs intensified in May, the government said Tuesday, as employers advertised more positions but the number of people looking for them also increased.

The Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey found there were 2.6 million positions available at the end of May, up from 2.5 million in April.

While that's good news, it's down from 4 million a year earlier.

The JOLTS report demonstrates that even in a recession, jobs do become available and companies hire new workers. It's part of what economists like to call "churn" in the labor market: Millions of people are hired and let go each month, even in a slow economy.

But the Labor Department's monthly employment reports, issued separately, show that companies are still cutting more jobs than they're adding.

Employers eliminated a net total of 322,000 jobs in May, the department said recently. At the same time, about 350,000 people entered the labor force, pushing the number of unemployed people to 14.5 million.

That means, on average, about 5.7 people were looking for work in May for every available job. That's up from about 5.5 in April and way up from less than two per job in December 2007, when the recession began.

Here are some other interesting details from Tuesday's JOLTS report, by the numbers.

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HARD HIT

39,000: Construction jobs available in May

162,000: Construction jobs available in May 2008

91,000: Manufacturing jobs available in May

280,000: Manufacturing jobs available in May 2008

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BRIGHT SPOTS

537,000: Jobs open in education and health services in May, up 22,000 from April

520,000: Jobs open in professional and business services in May, up 59,000 from April

302,000: Jobs open in retail trade in May, up 97,000 from April

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STILL DECLINING

248,000: Hotel and restaurant jobs available in May, down 64,000 from April

261,000: State and local government jobs available in May, down 46,000 from April

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REGION BY REGION

545,000: Job openings in the Northeast

922,000: Job openings in the South

517,000: Job openings in the Midwest

567,000: Job openings in the West

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DON'T TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT

1.75 million: Number of people who quit their jobs in May

2.65 million: Number who quit in May 2008

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QUITTING, OR LAID OFF?

33 percent: Proportion of people leaving jobs in August 2006 who were laid off or fired

53 percent: Proportion of people leaving jobs in May 2009 who were laid off or fired

59 percent: Proportion of people leaving jobs in January 2008 who quit

40 percent: Proportion of people leaving jobs in May 2009 who quit

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CHURN, BABY, CHURN

52.9 million: Number of hires in the 12 months ending in May

57.8 million: Number of layoffs, resignations and other separations in same period

4.9 million: Net employment loss during that time

Comments

[jjkmack]

There are still 60,000+ H1B visas (skilled workers) being allowed believe it or not!!

I worked in an IT group of 1200 people last year for a major US company. Only 2% were full time employees, the rest were contractors, and 99% were from India. However, the company wanted to sell their products back here in the US, not India.

H1B visas are the modern corporate sneaky version of flooding the market with cheap labor like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They’re hiding behind the “free-trade” and “globalization” scams promoted by rightwing corporatists like Thomas Friedman to drive down the salaries and pay of the middle and working class, which in the long run only benefits a tiny minority at the top

[Chaimirija]

Should be illegal

[KriTiKiT]

yeah and they won't tell you the hourly rate till they offer you the job... and it's peanuts

[valletta]

Still bottoming. I've been unemployed now going on two years.
"Overqualified"

[vegasobserver]

You should move to Valletta, Malta. There your name will be so big, you'll be bound to get a job.

[ImportTexan]

My wife told me about a $15 / hr job posting (Texas) that got close to 200 resumes. This was for a Software QA job that in good times would have paid $30-$40 / hr.

[hey0there]

That's cool though. At least the tech jobs are becoming available to Americans again instead of H1B guest workers. Finaly, corporations see there are people in their own country that will work for these dirt cheap wages too if given the chance. You don't need to turn to India.

[marijam]

My husband just got laid off.

[cozen]

have we bottomed, or still bottoming?