Friday, May 13, 2011
Whether or not it’s of any comfort to the millions of American who have been out of work for months or even years, the number of people currently competing for available employment has shrunk.
As of March, an average of 4.3 jobseekers vied for each open position, according to new data released by the Department of Labor. This ratio is the lowest in more than two years. The ratio hit its bad news peak in July 2009, when there were 6.9 workers per opening.
Back in December 2000, there was almost one job for every person who was unemployed, and as recently as mid-2007 the ratio was only about 1.5 to 1.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Four Workers for Every Job Opening (by Catherine Rampell, New York Times)
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