Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
The chart above shows that job openings have been increasing nicely since the recession ended, according to two different measures, one from the BLS (job openings) and another from the Conference Board (online advertised vacancies). In contrast, the unemployment rate has barely moved from its peak a year ago of 10.1%. What's going on here? Mike Mandel offers three possible explanations for why the jobless rate hasn't improved much, despite the significant, ongoing improvements in job openings: Mismatch, offshoring, and lags. 1. Mismatch says that companies would like to hire, but can't find the right people. 2. Offshoring says that companies have openings, but they are filling them overseas. 3. Lag would say that companies have openings, but it's taking them time to pull the trigger, given the overall uncertainty. I'm going to vote for a combination of offshoring and lag. I'm sure that some job openings are going overseas. But the statistics also suggest that hiring pressure is building up in some sectors of the economy. If that's so, 2011 may be a better year for the labor market than people expect." MP: After looking at jobless rates by educational attainment, I would offer some support for the mismatch explanation for the following reason: the jobless rates for the highest and least educated workers have continued to rise and reached all-time highs in November. 1. The jobless rate for workers with less than a high school degree was 15.7% in November, the highest in BLS history back to 1992 for this data series. 2. The jobless rate for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher reached an all-time record high of 5.1% in November. On the other hand, the jobless rate for workers with a high school degree has fallen by almost one percentage point from its 10.9% peak to 10% in November, and the rate for those with an associate's degree has fallen almost a half percentage point from its peak of 9.1% to 8.7%. This might suggest some mismatch in the labor market between the education requirements of job openings and the educational attainment of job candidates? Further, there are sectors like construction that still has a stubbornly high jobless rate of 18.8% and leisure and hospitality that has a jobless rate of 12.4%, and there are probably very few of those jobs that are being offshored. In contrast, the jobless rate in the manufacturing sector, maybe the sector most likely to have jobs outsourced, has come down to 9.9% in November, just slightly higher than the 9.3% rate overall (not seasonally adjusted). In any case, I do agree with Mike that there are many indications that 2011 might be a better year for the U.S. labor market than many people are probably expecting. Update 1: Thanks to Morganovich for pointing out in the comments section a fourth explanation - the troubles in the housing market make workers less mobile than in past post-recession periods, which would be a variation of the mismatch explanation. And yes, it would be interesting to see a geographical overlay of job openings and unemployment rates. Update 2: Thanks to Westywildcat and Scott Lincicome for another explanation, or variation of the mismatch theory: The historically unprecedented 99 weeks (with another extension pending) of government unemployment insurance benefits, which would create disincentives to work even though job openings are available and increasing.
another factor worth considering is that our labor force is less mobile right now than it has traditionally been.with so many home owners underwater on loans, a great many people cannot move to where the jobs are as they have in the past.it would be interesting to see a geographical overlay of openings and unemployment.
What portion of the job openings is due to extended unemployment benefits? Why work when the government will pay you to not work?
Wouldn't the unprecedented 99 weeks (and soon-to-be 13 months more) of government unemployment insurance also feed into the "mismatch" theory, i.e., that people whose higher-paying jobs have disappeared are choosing to accept UI instead of "lesser" work?
Westywildcat beats me by a nose!
is there a non-conspiracy theory explanation for the polarization of the BLS and CB's estimates; the timing is a little eerie given that post 2008, one seems to be overly pessimistic/optimistic, respectively
OK, another theory:The economy is not robust enough for strong hiring at this point BUT will be in 2011. So, the statistics for Jan 2011 and forward will be plus-sized for employment. Hiring budgets are being set for "11", influenced by an optimistic end to "10".
Qiick add to comment:Job openings and interviews taking place now for 2011 hiring budgets.
About Me Name: Mark J. Perry Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Perry is currently on sabbatical from the University of Michigan and is a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
View my complete profile
Previous Posts Probably The Best Feedback a Teacher Can Get Cartoon of the Day Job Openings Rise to Two-Year High in October Incentives Matter: The Speed Camera Lottery Employment Trends Index Gains in November Perfect SAT Scores: Male vs. Female for 2010 Government Website Promotes "3% or Less" Down ISM Employment Indexes Above Fall 2007 Levels Perfect SAT Math Scores: Male-Female Ratio of 2:1 Phrase of the Day: Frugality Fatigue BLOG_initCsi('classic_blogspot'); var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-10045229-2"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}