Summary 10-03 / March 2010 • U.S. Department of Labor • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Job availability during a recession: an examination of the 

number of unemployed persons per job opening 

As a labor market contracts, workers experience job 

loss and can have a diffi cult 

time fi nding a new job. Job 

availability declines because 

many establishments are 

forced to slow or freeze hiring 

and others have to go out of 

business. In order to remain in 

business, many establishments 

resort to layoffs and discharges 

to decrease the number of 

employees on their payrolls. 

Thus, the number of available 

job openings decreases and the 

number of people looking for a 

job may increase. 

When the current recession 

offi cially began in December 

2007,1 both the Job Openings 

and Labor Turnover Survey 

(JOLTS)2 job openings data 

and Current Population 

Survey (CPS)3 unemployment 

levels were already refl ecting 

the effects of an economic 

contraction. The job openings 

level experienced a downward 

trend, declining from a high of 

4.8 million job openings in June 

2007 to 2.3 million job openings 

in July 2009. The job openings 

level stands at 2.7 million in 

January 2010. Unemployment 

levels increased from a low of 

6.7 million in March 2007 to 

15.6 million in October 2009. 

The unemployment level stands 

at 14.8 million in January 2010.

Combining the unemployment level, seasonally adjusted, and total job openings 

data, seasonally adjusted, 

produces a ratio between the 

two series that can serve as an 

indication of how the number 

of unemployed persons per job 

opening changes over time. 

This number has been used by 

researchers and the media as 

an additional way to analyze 

the current recession. There are 

some caveats that accompany 

using the JOLTS and CPS 

data sources since they are 

two distinct surveys that are 

sampled and designed to collect 

different types of information. 

However, this ratio can provide 

a way to look at the changing 

composition of labor supply as 

it relates to labor demand.

With increasing unemployment and a decreasing number 

of job openings, the ratio of 

unemployed persons per job 

opening has increased since 

2006 from a series of low 

ratios ranging between 1.4 

and 1.6 unemployed persons 

per job opening to a high of 

6.2 unemployed persons per 

job opening in November 

2009. This is the highest ratio 

of unemployed persons per 

job opening since the JOLTS 

survey began to track job 

openings in December 2000. 

(See table 1.)

The ratio of unemployed 

persons per job opening from 

December 2000 to the present 

is displayed in chart 1. This 

chart shows the effect of the 

economic contraction and the 

onset of the current recession 

on the unemployed-personsper-job-opening ratio. Note 

the increase that has taken 

place since March 2007. The 

ratio climbed slowly and then 

began to rise at an increasing 

rate around May 2008. There 

was also an increase in the ratio 

during the previous recession 

from March 2001 through 

November 2001. During that 

recession, the ratio continued to 

increase long after the offi cial 

end of the recession. The ratio 

Table 1. Ratios using national unemployment and job openings data, December 2000–January 2010, seasonally 

adjusted

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

January - 1.2 2.2 2.4 2.4 2.0 1.7 1.6 1.8 4.3 5.4

February - 1.2 2.3 2.5 2.3 2.1 1.6 1.5 1.8 4.5 -

March - 1.2 2.3 2.7 2.4 2.0 1.5 1.4 1.9 5.0 -

April - 1.3 2.5 2.7 2.3 1.8 1.5 1.5 1.9 5.6 -

May - 1.4 2.3 2.8 2.2 2.0 1.5 1.5 2.1 5.8 -

June - 1.4 2.4 2.8 2.4 1.8 1.6 1.5 2.2 5.8 -

July - 1.5 2.4 2.8 2.1 1.8 1.7 1.6 2.3 6.2 -

August - 1.6 2.4 2.8 2.1 1.8 1.6 1.5 2.6 6.2 -

September - 1.7 2.4 2.8 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.6 2.9 5.8 -

October - 2.1 2.2 2.6 2.0 1.7 1.4 1.7 3.1 6.1 -

November - 2.2 2.3 2.6 2.3 1.7 1.5 1.6 3.3 6.2 -

December 1.1 2.3 2.8 2.5 2.0 1.6 1.5 1.8 3.7 6.0 -

Note: JOLTS data became available in December 2000. Dash indicates data not available.

 
peaked in 2003, and then 

started to decline again.

Ratio analysis at the 

regional level

At the regional level,4

 job 

openings and unemployment, 

seasonally adjusted, have 

followed a trend similar 

to the national level. Job 

openings in all four regions 

decreased as unemployment 

increased. Comparing Local 

Area Unemployment Statistics 

(LAUS)5

 Census region unemployment data with JOLTS 

Census region job openings 

data, ratios for the number of 

unemployed persons per job 

opening were computed. 

The highest ratio of 

unemployed persons per job 

opening as of January 2010 

was in the West at 6.6 to 1 or 

between 6 and 7 unemployed 

persons for every job opening. 

The ratio in the Midwest was 

6.2 to 1 in January 2010. The 

ratios for the Northeast and 

South were between 5.5 to 1 

and 5.6 to 1. All four regions 

show an increasing trend in 

the ratio around the beginning 

of 2007. 

Of the four regions, the West 

showed the largest fl uctuation 

in the ratio of unemployed 

persons per job opening. The 

ratio ranged from lows of 1.3 

and 1.4 to 1 in late 2006 to a 

high of 8.0 to 1 in July 2009. 

In the Midwest, the ratio 

climbed after a period of lows 

around 1.8 to 2.0 unemployed 

persons per job opening in 

2006 and 2007 to a high of 

7.3 unemployed persons per 

job opening in July 2009. The 

South region reached a ratio 

of 6.2 to 1 in July 2009 after 

it experienced lows of 1.2 

to 1 in March through May 

2007. The region showing the 

least amount of fl uctuation is 

the Northeast, although this 

region has still experienced 

an increase from a low of 1.3 

unemployed persons per job 

opening in late 2006 to a high 

of 5.5 unemployed persons 

per job opening in January 

2010. Chart 2 shows that all 

four regions exhibit a similar 

pattern from December 2000 

to the present: trending upward 

during and after the 2001 

recession, reaching a period 

of low ratios during 2006 and 

2007, and then increasing 

rapidly after that point.

Ratio analysis by selected 

industries

It is also possible to create 

ratios of unemployed persons 

per job opening by selected 

industries, although, again, 

there are some caveats. The CPS 

produces data (not seasonally 

adjusted) on unemployed 

persons by industry. 6 The 

survey collects industry or 

occupational information on 

those individuals who lost 

their job, left their job, or 

had been employed at some 

point in the past and are now 

reentering the labor market. 

Information on new entrants 

into the labor market, however, 

is not available by industry or 

occupation of last job; therefore, 

these data only include the 

“experienced unemployed.”

With this caveat in mind, 

ratios of unemployed persons 

per job opening were computed 

using CPS data on unemployed 

persons by industry and JOLTS 

job openings data by industry 

using the 20 broad NAICS 

industry classifi cations at 

comparable levels of industry 

classifi cation. (See chart 3.)

Construction has shown the 

most dramatic increase in the 

ratio of unemployed persons 

per job opening. From a 

period of low ratios during the 

summer of 2007, including a 

low of 3 unemployed persons 

per job opening in July 2007, 

the ratio climbed to a high of 

56 unemployed persons per 

job opening in April 2009. 

The unemployed-personsper-job-opening ratio stood 

at 37.2 to 1 in January 2010. 

Manufacturing also showed 

a large increase in the ratio 

of unemployed persons per 

job opening, climbing from 

a low of 2 persons per job 

opening for most of 2006 

and early 2007 to a high of 

19.1 persons per job opening 

1

 See Determination of the 

December 2007 Peak in Economic 

Activity by the National Bureau of 

Economic Research, published on

December 1, 2008. Available on the 

Internet at http://www.nber.org/cycles/

dec2008.html. (Accessed Dec. 11, 

2008.) 2

 To qualify as a job opening as 

measured by the Job Openings and 

Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), the 

following conditions are required: 

1) A job opening exists and work is 

available for that position. 2) Work 

could start within 30 days regardless of 

whether a suitable candidate is found. 

3) The employer is actively recruiting 

from outside the establishment to fi ll 

in May 2009. In contrast, 

education and health services 

and government had slightly 

increasing ratios. 

In summary, during the 

current recession, the ratio of 

unemployed persons per job 

opening has climbed from a 

low period in 2006 and 2007 

to high rates at the national 

level and at all four regional 

levels. The recession has also 

affected some industries, 

including construction and 

manufacturing, more heavily 

than others. It is important 

to note that although this 

information could be useful, it 

may not refl ect the experience 

of all individuals in the labor 

market. There are some people 

who will have more diffi culty 

fi nding a job than this ratio 

indicates, and there are others 

who will have less diffi culty. 

This Issues paper was prepared by Katherine Klemmer, 

an economist with the 

Division of Administrative 

Statistics and Labor Turnover, 

Offi ce of Employment and 

Unemployment Statistics, 

Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

Washington, DC, 20212. For 

additional information, send 

an email to JOLTSInfo@bls.

gov, call (202) 691-5870, or 

visit the JOLTS Web site at

http://www.bls.gov/jlt/. □

the position. 3

 The Current Population 

Survey (CPS) produces measures 

of unemployment. For individuals 

to be considered unemployed they 

must meet the following criteria: 1) 

They had no employment during 

the reference week. 2) They were 

available for work at that time. 3) 

They made specifi c efforts to fi nd 

employment sometime during the 

4-week period ending with the 

reference week. 4) Workers expecting 

to be recalled from layoff are counted 

as unemployed whether or not they 

have engaged in a specifi c jobseeking 

activity. 4

 The States (including the 

District of Columbia) that make up 

the regions are as follows: Northeast: 

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, 

New Hampshire, New Jersey, New 

York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and 

Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, 

Delaware, District of Columbia, 

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, 

Maryland, Mississippi, North 

Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, 

Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West 

Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, 

Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, 

Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, 

Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; 

West: Alaska, Arizona, California, 

Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, 

Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, 

Washington, and Wyoming. 5

 The Local Area Unemployment 

Survey (LAUS) produces measures 

of unemployment at the State and 

area level. Unemployed persons 

are those who were not employed 

during the reference week (based 

on the defi nition in endnote 3), had 

actively looked for a job sometime 

in the 4-week period ending with the 

reference week, and were currently 

available for work; persons on layoff 

expecting recall need not be looking 

for work to be counted as unemployed. 6

 For individuals to be considered 

unemployed, the Current Population 

Survey requires that they meet the 

specifi c criteria. See endnote 3. 

Notes
Dec. 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Jan.

 2000 2010

 7.0

 6.0

 1.0

 5.0

 4.0

 3.0

 2.0 Ratio

Chart 1. Ratio of CPS unemployment levels to JOLTS job openings, December 2000 to 

January 2010, seasonally adjusted

NOTE: The shaded area represents a recession as designated by the National Bureau of Economic 

Research (NBER). The vertical line represents the beginning of the current recession for which NBER 

has not, at this time, determined an end point.

Ratio 9.0

 6.0

 0.0

 5.0

 4.0

 3.0

 2.0

 7.0

 8.0

 1.0

NOTE: The shaded area represents a recession as designated by the National Bureau of Economic 

Research (NBER). The vertical line represents the beginning of the current recession for which NBER 

has not, at this time, determined an end point.

Chart 2. Unemployed persons per job opening ratio by region, December 2000 to 

January 2010, seasonally adjusted

Ratio, NE Region

Ratio, MW Region

Ratio, SO Region

Ratio, WE Region

Dec. 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Jan.

 2000 2010
Ratio

NOTE: The shaded area represents a recession as designated by the National Bureau of Economic 

Research (NBER). The vertical line represents the beginning of the current recession for which NBER 

has not, at this time, determined an end point.

Chart 3. Unemployed persons per job opening, by selected industry, December 2000 to 

January 2010, not seasonally adjusted 60

 50

 0

 40

 30

 20

 10

Manufacturing

Education & Health

Government

Construction

 Dec. 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Jan.

 2000 2010