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Number of unemployed people per job opening was 0.6 in August 2022

October 11, 2022

On the last business day of August 2022, there were 10.1 million job openings and 6.0 million unemployed people. This yielded a ratio of unemployed people to job openings of 0.6 for August, compared with 0.5 in July.

Number of unemployed people per job opening, August 2019 to August 2022
Month Unemployed people per job opening

Aug 2019

0.8

Sep 2019

0.8

Oct 2019

0.8

Nov 2019

0.9

Dec 2019

0.9

Jan 2020

0.8

Feb 2020

0.8

Mar 2020

1.2

Apr 2020

4.9

May 2020

3.8

Jun 2020

2.9

Jul 2020

2.5

Aug 2020

2.1

Sep 2020

1.9

Oct 2020

1.6

Nov 2020

1.6

Dec 2020

1.6

Jan 2021

1.4

Feb 2021

1.3

Mar 2021

1.1

Apr 2021

1.0

May 2021

1.0

Jun 2021

1.0

Jul 2021

0.8

Aug 2021

0.8

Sep 2021

0.7

Oct 2021

0.7

Nov 2021

0.6

Dec 2021

0.6

Jan 2022

0.6

Feb 2022

0.6

Mar 2022

0.5

Apr 2022

0.5

May 2022

0.5

Jun 2022

0.5

Jul 2022

0.5

Aug 2022

0.6

The ratio of unemployed people per job opening has been below 1.0 since July 2021. The August 2022 figure marks the first increase in the ratio since April 2020, when it reached 4.9.  The number of unemployed people per job opening reached its highest level of 6.4 in October of 2009, at the height of the Great Recession. 

These data are from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey and are seasonally adjusted. Job openings data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "Job Openings and Labor Turnover — August 2022." We also have more charts showing job openings, hires, and separations data.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Number of unemployed people per job opening was 0.6 in August 2022 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/number-of-unemployed-people-per-job-opening-was-0-6-in-august-2022.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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