Overview
New York State and United States
April 2023 - April 2024
Data Highlights: April 2024 (seasonally adjusted)
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), in April 2024 there were 440,000 job openings in New York State. This was down from March’s revised level of 511,000. At the same time, the number of unemployed in New York State decreased from 418,200 in March to 410,500 in April 2024.
The ratio of unemployed job seekers to job openings is a useful labor market indicator. It is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed workers by the number of job openings. In April 2024, there were 0.9 job seekers per job opening in New York State, up from 0.8 in March. The state’s ratio stood at 0.8 in April 2023.
Nationally, the number of job openings decreased by 3.5% and the number of unemployed increased by 1.0% between March and April 2024. As a result, the ratio of unemployed job seekers to job openings in the U.S. held constant at 0.8 during this period. In April 2023, the U.S. ratio was 0.6.
At the beginning of the last national recession in February 2020, the number of unemployed job seekers per job opening stood at 1.1 in New York State and at 0.8 in the nation.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program produces data on job openings, hires and separations: https://www.bls.gov/jlt/
Unemployment data come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program: https://www.bls.gov/bls/unemployment.htm