
An official website of the United States government
There were 10.8 million job openings on the last business day of January 2023, while the number of unemployed was 5.7 million in January. This yielded a ratio of unemployed people to job openings of 0.5 for January. The number of unemployed people per job opening has been 0.9 or lower since May 2021.
Month | Number of unemployed people per job opening |
Number of unemployed (Civilian unemployment) |
Number of nonfarm job openings |
---|---|---|---|
Jan 2018 |
1.0 | 6,489,000 | 6,621,000 |
Feb 2018 |
1.0 | 6,581,000 | 6,552,000 |
Mar 2018 |
0.9 | 6,472,000 | 6,818,000 |
Apr 2018 |
0.9 | 6,459,000 | 6,877,000 |
May 2018 |
0.9 | 6,196,000 | 7,016,000 |
Jun 2018 |
0.9 | 6,447,000 | 7,230,000 |
Jul 2018 |
0.9 | 6,195,000 | 7,190,000 |
Aug 2018 |
0.9 | 6,156,000 | 7,208,000 |
Sep 2018 |
0.8 | 6,073,000 | 7,411,000 |
Oct 2018 |
0.9 | 6,211,000 | 7,304,000 |
Nov 2018 |
0.8 | 6,115,000 | 7,594,000 |
Dec 2018 |
0.9 | 6,389,000 | 7,489,000 |
Jan 2019 |
0.9 | 6,439,000 | 7,517,000 |
Feb 2019 |
0.9 | 6,115,000 | 7,072,000 |
Mar 2019 |
0.8 | 6,182,000 | 7,337,000 |
Apr 2019 |
0.8 | 5,911,000 | 7,191,000 |
May 2019 |
0.8 | 5,941,000 | 7,311,000 |
Jun 2019 |
0.8 | 5,909,000 | 7,139,000 |
Jul 2019 |
0.9 | 6,008,000 | 7,051,000 |
Aug 2019 |
0.8 | 5,981,000 | 7,172,000 |
Sep 2019 |
0.8 | 5,775,000 | 7,160,000 |
Oct 2019 |
0.8 | 5,957,000 | 7,325,000 |
Nov 2019 |
0.9 | 5,911,000 | 6,919,000 |
Dec 2019 |
0.9 | 5,870,000 | 6,709,000 |
Jan 2020 |
0.8 | 5,804,000 | 7,184,000 |
Feb 2020 |
0.8 | 5,708,000 | 6,995,000 |
Mar 2020 |
1.2 | 7,184,000 | 5,794,000 |
Apr 2020 |
4.9 | 23,050,000 | 4,686,000 |
May 2020 |
3.8 | 20,939,000 | 5,581,000 |
Jun 2020 |
2.9 | 17,624,000 | 6,119,000 |
Jul 2020 |
2.5 | 16,324,000 | 6,514,000 |
Aug 2020 |
2.1 | 13,521,000 | 6,360,000 |
Sep 2020 |
1.9 | 12,599,000 | 6,512,000 |
Oct 2020 |
1.6 | 11,090,000 | 6,820,000 |
Nov 2020 |
1.6 | 10,760,000 | 6,875,000 |
Dec 2020 |
1.6 | 10,795,000 | 6,854,000 |
Jan 2021 |
1.4 | 10,155,000 | 7,175,000 |
Feb 2021 |
1.3 | 9,982,000 | 7,760,000 |
Mar 2021 |
1.2 | 9,712,000 | 8,399,000 |
Apr 2021 |
1.0 | 9,737,000 | 9,288,000 |
May 2021 |
0.9 | 9,257,000 | 9,840,000 |
Jun 2021 |
0.9 | 9,508,000 | 10,069,000 |
Jul 2021 |
0.8 | 8,704,000 | 10,882,000 |
Aug 2021 |
0.8 | 8,324,000 | 10,960,000 |
Sep 2021 |
0.7 | 7,677,000 | 10,882,000 |
Oct 2021 |
0.6 | 7,345,000 | 11,368,000 |
Nov 2021 |
0.6 | 6,780,000 | 11,232,000 |
Dec 2021 |
0.5 | 6,329,000 | 11,826,000 |
Jan 2022 |
0.6 | 6,511,000 | 11,487,000 |
Feb 2022 |
0.5 | 6,272,000 | 11,601,000 |
Mar 2022 |
0.5 | 5,972,000 | 12,027,000 |
Apr 2022 |
0.5 | 5,968,000 | 11,755,000 |
May 2022 |
0.5 | 5,979,000 | 11,443,000 |
Jun 2022 |
0.5 | 5,945,000 | 10,961,000 |
Jul 2022 |
0.5 | 5,718,000 | 11,380,000 |
Aug 2022 |
0.6 | 6,021,000 | 10,198,000 |
Sep 2022 |
0.5 | 5,770,000 | 10,854,000 |
Oct 2022 |
0.6 | 6,053,000 | 10,471,000 |
Nov 2022 |
0.6 | 6,000,000 | 10,746,000 |
Dec 2022 |
0.5 | 5,722,000 | 11,234,000 |
Jan 2023 |
0.5 | 5,694,000 | 10,824,000 |
The ratio of unemployed people to job openings ranged from 0.8 to 1.0 during 2018 and 2019. Over the past 5 years, the number of unemployed people per job opening reached a high of 4.9 in April 2020, when there were 23.1 million unemployed people and 4.7 million job openings. Since October 2021, the ratio has been 0.5 or 0.6 every month.
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 — January 2023." Also see job openings, hires, and separations data charts. The unemployed people per job openings ratio shows whether the labor market is tight or slack. When ratios equal 1.0, there is approximately 1 unemployed person per job opening. When less than 1.0, the labor market is tight, as job openings outnumber the unemployed. When greater than 1.0, there are more unemployed people than available jobs.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, More job openings than unemployed people since May 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/more-job-openings-than-unemployed-people-since-may-2021.htm (visited February 18, 2025).