Real-time job openings data from Indeed Hiring Lab show the number of vacancies in the United States continuing to climb and on pace to hit a record high when the government publishes official statistics next month.
The next JOLTS report, which will show the number of job openings on the last day of August, is due Oct. 12, while the Nov. 12 report will show the number of vacancies on the final day of September.
The Indeed data provides a real-time picture of labor market activity and so is more up to date than the Labor Department’s official monthly snapshot. The Indeed figures show that the number of job openings between July 31 and Sept. 24 rose by 6.1 percent, which works out to around 11.6 million, which would make it the highest number in the history of the JOLTS job opening series.
Hiring difficulties have emerged as a key issue for businesses as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic recession. There are now around 2.5 million more job openings than there are unemployed people in the United States.
A recent review of job opening data by the St. Louis Federal Reserve reinforces the picture of continuing labor market tightness, with the number of days it takes to fill an open position more than doubling in recent months.
“Soon, conditions reverted. And now we’re in a situation where there are many openings and relatively few of them are being filled. In a matter of months, the time to fill an open position went from 20 days to 50 days, which may go higher still,” the analysts wrote.
While the continued reopening of the economy has driven many businesses to seek workers, hiring efforts have been hampered by a labor shortage, with analysts generally pointing to factors such as child care issues, lingering worries about the pandemic, and generous unemployment benefits.
The federal pandemic jobless aid programs have ended in all states, with future labor market reports sure to be closely scrutinized for whether rolling back those programs drove a bump in job searches and hiring.