Tuesday’s JOLTS Says Jobs are growing in U.S.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released Tuesday by the BLS shows that despite the slight increase in unemployment claims and still low increase in numbers of employed, jobs are growing – but it’s the people who are not willing to take those jobs. According to the JOLTS, U.S. employers advertised 3.74 million jobs in March, which is the highest since July 2008.

The JOLTS data shows that job openings are increasing though it is taking employers time to find proper employees, or its taking time for the right employees to find their way to those jobs. As there were only 12.7 million unemployed people on record in March, that would give a ratio of 3.4 persons vying for a job. That’s way better than the 7-to-1 applicants-to-jobs ration during the end of the recession. In U.S. a ratio of 2:1 in employment versus jobs scenario is considered to show a healthy economy.

Analysts say that the poor actual job gains in March and April is due to the time it takes for jobs and employees to come together properly. Despite the huge numbers of jobs advertised by employers, only 115,000 jobs were added in April and 154,000 in March.

Analysts are also attributing the slowing job growth to an unusually warm winter that may have pushed up job growth and is slowing the growth in spring seem comparatively weak. At the same time the JOLTS showed that more people quit jobs in March despite the highest number of jobs advertised in four years. However, economists are opining that a greater number of quits are a healthy sign, because people do not quit without alternative opportunities being available.

The unemployment rate, too, has fallen by 8.1 percent since April. So, all in all it seems that the economy, especially jobseekers may be in for slightly better times. Though unemployment claims have been rising since April there are more openings also because at least 500,000 Americans have left the labor forces since February. That’s one of the biggest reasons for the sharp drop in unemployment.

According to latest reports, only 43 percent of the jobs lost during the recession have been regained.