My guess is the feds have no clue how many jobs are available. Multiple recruiters listing the same job, HR departments constantly advertising non-existent jobs to keep their skills sharp and look busy, etc. With the virtual world, there’s just no way to tell.
Exactly. Pick up your newspaper and scan the help wanted pages just as an exercise. We tend to have quite a few listing here in the Pittsburgh area because our economy, while not great, is still better than average.
Next, put a check mark on the following job categories:
- Hot field where openings chronically exceed job seekers in almost any economy.
- High turnover, usually for the reason that the employer sucks, the pay sucks or the work is of such a nature it is much easier and, after taxes and commuting expense, pays as well (often better) to sit on your butt and collect a government check. Sometimes all of the above.
On a good day, you will be lucky if even 10% of the listings are unchecked. And only because employment prospects in our region are above the national average. Otherwise, that number would plummet to less than 5%.