Overview
New York State and United States
December 2021 - December 2022
Data Highlights: December 2022 (seasonally adjusted)
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), in December 2022 there were 458,000 job openings in New York State. This was up 3.6% from November’s revised level of 442,000. At the same time, the number of unemployed in New York State decreased from 398,400 in November to 395,500 in December 2022.
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 December 2022, there were 0.9 job seekers per job opening in New York State, unchanged from November’s level. The state’s ratio stood at 0.9 in December 2021.
Nationally, the number of job openings increased by 4.5% and the number of unemployed decreased by 4.6% between November and December 2022. As a result, the ratio of unemployed job seekers to job openings in the U.S. decreased from 0.6 to 0.5 during this period. In December 2021, the U.S. ratio was 0.5.
At the beginning of the last national recession in February 2020, the number of unemployed job seekers per job opening stood at 1.0 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