By Manuel Gutierrez, Consulting Economist to NKBA

Availabilities are now three million above year-ago levels.

• Despite businesses and government expanding their payrolls by over 400,000 for the month, there was a 200,000+ job shortfall based on the 600,000+ positions available.
• Over half of the jobs currently open fall within three areas, with Professional & Business Services accounting for 19 percent of all availabilities, followed by Health & Social services at 18 percent and Hotels & Restaurants at 13 percent.
• Construction is the only area within our industry that tracks this data. It currently accounts for 3 percent of all open jobs although nationally it accounts for 5 percent of all employment.
• The largest number of overall openings are in Professional & Business services, with 2.1 million jobs available. Jobs range from lawyers, accountant and architects to security guards, janitors and various clerical positions.
• The ratio of job openings to those unemployed is 2 to 1, translating into two available positions for every individual who is not employed, but the skill sets are not aligning.