Bureau of Labor Statistics Beyond the Numbers | What is the Unemployed People Per Job Openings Ratio? A 21-year Case Study Into Unemployment Trends

Excerpt:  “Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, there have been extreme movements in the number of unemployed people and job openings. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a useful measure that can help us understand and analyze these movements in the U.S. labor market: the unemployed people per job openings ratio. The ratio is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed people by the number of job openings in a particular month. This number provides insight into how tight or slack the U.S. labor market is. In other words, it tells us about the relationship between labor supply (unemployed people) and labor demand (job openings).”