It’s said to be one of Janet Yellen’s favorite economic indicators in determining the true health of the jobs market. The Jobs Opening or JOLTS report shows 5,534,000 job openings in line with consensus but down from September.
The quits portion declined to 2,986,000 indicating a continued reluctance to leave for a new job and presumably higher wage, but it also speaks to the so-called skills gap many hate hearing about, however it is pervasive from computer coding to welding.
The unemployed to job opening ratio is at an all-time low of 1.4, a stark improvement from the record high 6.6 in July 2009 (which also saw a record low 2,196,000 job openings) and better than the 1.9 level of December 2007 when the nation lurched into recession.
There are still issues for those blue collar workers, although there is a ray of hope in construction, which saw better-than-expected job growth in the November jobs report.
|
October Job Openings Dirty Fingernails |
2016 |
2015 |
|
Construction |
205,000 |
129,000 |
|
Mining |
12,000 |
19,000 |
|
Manufacturing |
328,000 |
311,000 |
Once again this report hints at increased employment and potentially higher wages. On that note, this market is breaking out big time- going into a parabolic phase.