Job Openings Hit Highest Level In 16 Months (CHART)

For job seekers, it turns out April wasn't the cruelest month. According to the latest findings from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS), courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was a net increase in job openings in April, entirely thanks to private sector.

The news that job openings rose to the highest level in 16 months in April comes on the heel's of last week's dreary jobs report for May.

Overall there were 3.1 million new job openings in April, with the most coming out of service-oriented industries such as education, health, and professional business services. Government jobs fell the most, by 36,000 openings, despite the spike in census employment.

Furthermore, according to the Associated Press, manufacturing job gains in the Midwest lowered the nation's economic stress levels to its lowest point in five months. Only Louisa and Nevada showed worsening economic stress in April.

As a result there were five unemployed people jostling for every opening in April -- down slightly from 5.4 in March.

The BLS summary looked at three indicators: number of job openings, hiring rate and separations rate (the rate of people leaving their jobs voluntarily or involuntarily).

Check out the full BLS report here, and the nifty chart below (hat tip to Calculated Risk).

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Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve

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Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve

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Comments

[missygoose]

02:48 PM on 06/10/2010

I will be adding AC Moore to the list of companies I am currently boycotting. They wouldn't hire my sister-in-law because she's been laid off for two years. They said 'We don't hire people who've been sitting around doing nothing for two years." Yeah, if you count looking for a job NOTHING!

[Womanvoter4Obama]

06:09 PM on 06/28/2010

There is a discrimination going on against people who have been unemployed long term. Back in 2001 my husband was unemployed for two years because his field was not in demand. It just went under for awhile and came back. It's definitely not fair but I think it's becoming more widespread. I'm currently laid off and one of my former co-workers who was laid off (through no fault of her own) hit her two year mark last week. I just hit my one year mark and I don't think it's getting better out there.

[raleigh1997]

04:13 PM on 06/09/2010

socialmistfit 20 hours ago (7:49 PM) 114 Fans Become a fan Unfan
Net job gain for Bush's eight years in office = plus 3.8 million

Net job gain for Obama's 18 months in office = minus 3.8 million

Seems libs were right... Obama is the complete opposite of Bush... only faster.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Go to United States Department of Labor, I think you'll find your post is wrong.

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2009/03/art2full.pdf

Employment contraction,
Jan 2008–Dec 2008:
3.1 million jobs

[MyrtleJune]

02:13 PM on 06/09/2010

Well, that's nice but the people who own houses cannot travel to GET another job because they can't sell their house without being ruined financially and can't continue to pay for it so either way decent people will still be ruined financially because of the housing nightmare.

[goldheart]

06:34 AM on 06/09/2010

Reading that April 2010 was a month where alot of jobs were created is wonderful and hopeful! Being one of the recently unemployed, I find this news to be encouraging and I also feel that the creation of new jobs will pick up immensely, in spite of the dismal May 2010 job creation report...I just don't see us having high unemployment coming into 2011...

My question is , is the "stimulus funds" stimulating the economy??? Billions of dollars was infused into the economy, or supposingly, yet we are still not feeling and seeing too much different as before the infusion of funds?? I live in NYS and know that we recevied billions of dollars, yet the Governer is still talking about a 9 billion dollar budget deficit, just like he did before the "stimulus" funds...

WHERE IS THIS MONEY??

[Paul Peete]

11:08 AM on 06/09/2010

I'm happy to see you have an improved outlook for employment, however you fail to acknowledge the impact the Stimulus has had on creating an improving employment environment. The stimulus created over a a million private sector jobs and saved many public positions threatened by the state and local tax revenue shortfalls the great recession created.

We are not out of the woods yet, especially with the Euro crisis, BP in the Gulf, and Political intransigence in an election year; but another Stimulus in the form of a CETA styled jobs bill is needed NOW! We cannot afford a double dip recession to take hold for it will exacerbate the pain Main Street is suffering.

The Teabaggers' manta of run away Government deficits fail to recognize that unless we keep the economy growing through increased Federal spending, the tax coffers of the IRS, state, and local municipalities will see further erosion. The Republicans will oppose any significant jobs creation in fear that it will bolster Democrats clout come November.

[socialmistfit]

12:18 AM on 06/09/2010

From Bureau of Labor Stats (in thousands):

Year---Annual----Gain Loss
2000----1,953
2001----1,762
2002------540
2003--------87
2004----2,047
2005----2,496
2006----2,060
2007----1,078
2008----3,623-------3,769
2009 ---4,740
2010 ------982 ----- (3,758)

So...

96 Months of Bush = 3.8 million jobs GAINED
18 Months of Obama = 3.8 million jobs LOST

How is that hopey changey thing working for ya'?

[renewable energyM]

02:53 AM on 06/09/2010

But Bush inherited those jobs from Clinton. It was Clinton that did it. Just like dubbaya is to blame for our current job losses. Heck....I bet dubbaya caused katrina and bp.

[moose and squirrel]

03:08 AM on 06/09/2010

3.8 mil jobs in 8 yrs is nothing to brag about. clinton created 20 mil +.

obama aint done yet. see you in 2016, then we'll see who's on top.

[jabailo]

10:37 PM on 06/08/2010

The coming Jobs Boom will strip out all excess workers.

Labor is the new Capital.

The Employee is now King.

[markinaz]

09:30 PM on 06/08/2010

If this persists much longer, what are those 4 other peolpe who didn't get the job gonna do?

[SonicUltimate]

04:56 PM on 06/09/2010

Join the growing population of people who are now sitting on their hands after being out competed for so long. Learned helplessness is disastrous.

[socialmistfit]

07:49 PM on 06/08/2010

Net job gain for Bush's eight years in office = plus 3.8 million

Net job gain for Obama's 18 months in office = minus 3.8 million

Seems libs were right... Obama is the complete opposite of Bush... only faster.

[Sandiegosun5]

08:06 PM on 06/08/2010

That's not at all accurate.

[Always Thinkin]

11:24 PM on 06/08/2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_created_during_U.S._presidential_terms
Job creation (in millions):
Jimmy Carter: 10.8
Ronald Reagan (Term 1): 5.3
Ronald Reagan (Term 2): 10.3
George H W Bush.: 2.6
Bill Clinton (Term 1): 11.5
Bill Clinton (Term 2): 11.2
George Bush (Term 1): .01
George Bush (Term 2): 1.1

George Bush was certainly no Reagan! Hell he wasn't even a Carter! In annual job creation you would literally have to go back to Herbert Hoover to find a weaker annual increase. AND on top of that he left HUUUGE structural problems namely a massive defecit created by 8 years of wars, tax cuts for billionaires which has pushed income inquities past where they were during the 20s, and outsourcing just about every damn job not nailed down, something that no mere 18 month president could fix. Good luck on your revisionism buddy, your gonna need it 'cause those of us born after 1980 know that Bush took our future and smashed it too little piece just for the hell of it because he is goddamn snake!

[CountryBeforeParty]

11:46 PM on 06/08/2010

THe lack of intelligence of the Republicans never ceases to amaze me

[thruseer]

08:41 AM on 06/09/2010

Amen to you CountryBeforeParty

[hidflect]

06:38 PM on 06/08/2010

McDonalds is hiring again!

[trobts]

10:32 AM on 06/09/2010

Yeah and Walmart!

[RightWingMarine]

01:04 PM on 06/09/2010

is there something wrong or shameful about working at these places? Should those that work there be looked down upon? Everyone starts somewhere and millions of people started at those companies and have become very successful.

[Janine547]

06:08 PM on 06/08/2010

The so called Midwest jobs boom is another "smoke and mirror" scam. I live in a surburb of Detroit, there are some auto manufactures that are hiring. That's saying they're adding 100 -150 jobs. Those jobs are offered to already unemployed auto employees first. Anything left not filled goes to the general public.

[anniegirl9]

06:45 PM on 06/08/2010

Bringing back 100-150 workers doesn't sound like bad news to me. It's a small step, but my husband's plant went from reducing hours instead of layoffs during the worst part of the recession. They are now back to full-time. Even over-time recently.

I'm still layed-off, but any upswing is good in my opinion.

[jcaunter]

08:39 AM on 06/09/2010

Uh, you completely misunderstood the lady's comment. Go back and see if you can make more sense of it after a second read.

[socialmistfit]

07:50 PM on 06/08/2010

Detroit should not be considered part of the mid-West. It is a class all by itself.

[gtposse]

05:54 PM on 06/08/2010

Right-wing nutjobs love drama and phony baloney outrage. Diplomacy and tack is not what they are comfortable with. This is why the country is in such dismal shape.

[Sandiegosun5]

08:12 PM on 06/08/2010

We house a corrupt, lazy, inaccurate, uninformative, and generally unenlightened media straight out of 1984 that attempts to mislead the public on a nearly constant basis. Everyone worth a minimum IQ score knows the source of a reported "surge" in hiring to be the census. Any additional job "gains" are more or less the result of the BLS's sustained cooking of the books. ShadowStats has been all over this for years.

I have learned to add roughly 7 pts to any reported figure. CA unemployment is out of control. Nationally rates hover between the ubiquitous lowball 10.0 to a true value of roughly 20%+/-5 in major metro areas like Las Vegas and Phoenix. Detroit is reported to have 40-50%+.
The worst unemployment rate is in El Centro, CA - an eye-popping 27%+ 7 = 34% (see kids? add 7!).

The US has already reached 3rd-World status in many regards. Intelligent people realize this now.

I'm just debating if I want to sell my soul to the US military or not. It's the only surefire way to get a career these days.

[vippy]

05:33 PM on 06/08/2010

The word "surge" with today's job market is misplaced. One million people or more have given up looking for work. Even "mini-boom" does not sound right when applied to all those who lost their
jobs and now have lost all benefits and pensions.

[Sandiegosun5]

08:14 PM on 06/08/2010

Correct, well-stated. It's the informed vs the sheeple today. See my post above.

[pfrogger]

05:18 PM on 06/08/2010

how could this possibly go wrong?
with the democratic leaders unwilling to extend employment benefits and businesses refusing to hire, what will happen to all these people?
will they go quietly into the long dark night? not likely. if you want increased pain and suffering, this is the way to do it. good job. we've become the country that gives more tax loopholes to corporations and everyone else is forgotten.

[MAB]

05:08 PM on 06/08/2010

Regarding that state of Louisa, do residents call it "Weezy"?

[DesertDawgAlpha]

04:00 PM on 06/08/2010

Do the census 3 times and we can have 3 times the job creation as we did last month! Stimulus spending at its best.

Move to Texas, get a job. Job growth happens in low tax, right to work states, which have the healthiest economies. Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, PA, NY and NJ - fuggedabooutit!

[Christian McMorna]

04:14 PM on 06/08/2010

These are private job openings, not public sector. Your census remark is a non-sequiter.

Texas deliberately mangles its jobs numbers to make its economy look stronger than it is. Like most right to work states, its employees are grossly underpaid and without benefits (25% of Texans have no health insurance.)

It would be easier to try to make a living in hell than in Texas.

[DesertDawgAlpha]

04:56 PM on 06/08/2010

The exodus of Texans to Michigan is staggering. This is why the unionized Midwest is losing lots of Congressional seats in the next redistricting while Texas will pick up at least 4. Making a living in hell is called living in Detroit, where you can't sell you house or get a job.

[moose and squirrel]

03:11 AM on 06/09/2010

is that why gov perry needed stimulus funds to balance his budget? what about the 10's of billions in federal spending within the state? no i guess that doesnt count...

[bryanzth]

04:44 PM on 06/08/2010

No desire to go South, unless it is "very" South. Kinda skip the Confederacy completely.

"Right to work" actually means "right to fire". Get that straight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law

It's a little like whatever these types of laws say, believe the reverse.

BZ.

[DesertDawgAlpha]

04:57 PM on 06/08/2010

Right to work means right to work without being mandated to join a union, and thus have a suicide pact between you and your employment.

Check out where economies are growing and shrinking. Next you'll tell me that high tax states like NJ are thriving.

[Alexandra Mandelis]

07:07 PM on 06/08/2010

Thanks for that link. I thought "right to work in Texas" sounded like some sort of union-busting enshrined in law!