Bureau of Labor Statistics Reports 2.4 Million Job Openings At the End of November

It may seem curious to some that the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that there were 2.4 million job openings in the United States as of the end of November.

Tell that to the millions upon millions of people in the United States who currently find themselves unemployed. I'm sure that they are all asking the question - where are these 2.4 million job openings?

Let's delve into the recent press release from the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) to see where these job openings are currently hiding:

According to the BLS, there were approximately 2,415,000 job openings in the United States as of the end of November, 2009. This is down from about 3.3 million the year before.

Of these 2.4 million job openings, approximately 2.07 million were in the private sector, while the remainder (339,000) were in the form of government jobs (state, local, federal).

According to the BLS, here is how the job openings break down by industry:

Construction - 77,000
Manufacturing - 145,000
Trade, Transportation and Utilities - 324,000
-Retail Trade - 208,000
Professional and Business Services - 436,000
Education and Health Services - 546,000
Leisure and Hospitality - 238,000
-Arts, Entertainment, Recreation - 24,000
-Accommodation and Food Services - 216,000
Government - 339,000
-State and Local Government - 251,000

The lines that start with "-" are subcategories.

Now, here is a regional breakdown of where the available jobs are:

Northeast - 496,000
South - 796,000
Midwest - 551,000
West - 584,000

So there you go - this is where the 2.4 million current job openings in the United States are currently hiding.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics - Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

Filed under: General Knowledge