By Manuel Gutierrez, Consulting Economist to NKBA
If you want a job, you should be able to find one, as the number of job openings rose to 11 million in December, an increase of 572,000 from November. The December level is almost a million short of the historic peak of 11.9 million, reached last March.
- The increase in open jobs combined with a decline in unemployment means there are 1.92 jobs currently open for every unemployed individual.
- The construction industry overall accounts for just 4 percent of open jobs, in line with construction accounting for 5 percent of overall employment. The number of openings in the sector rose by 82,000 in December, as 20,000 workers quit their jobs, even as construction businesses hired 34,000 people.
- Most of the new openings are in hospitality, which added 409,000 jobs in December but still hasn’t recovered from the massive losses during the pandemic. About 16 percent of all open jobs are in this sector, where employment is currently 6 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
- Health fields account for 18 percent of all open positions, while transportation and utilities combine for 16 percent of available positions.
- Federal, state and local governments added 20,000 positions in December, and accounted for 10 percent of all openings — the third-highest employment category.
- Openings in retail businesses increased by 134,000 jobs, accounting for 9 percent of all available jobs, while openings with manufacturers shrank by 39,000 in December, accounting for 7 percent of all open positions.
