No JOLTS in Job Creation

James Sherk / October 09, 2009

Unemployment has risen sharply during this recession and has almost reached 10 percent of the workforce. However policy makers have paid relatively little attention to why unemployment has risen so sharply. With so much coverage of the collapse of the auto industry in Detroit, the finance industry in New York, and the deflation of the housing bubble nationwide much of the press has focused on job losses. And there is a lot of truth to this. Layoffs have increased significantly since the start of the recession. But that is not the whole story, or even the biggest part of the story.

Data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics sheds light on why unemployment has jumped so sharply. The latest release of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) shows that lower job creation is the bigger – and largely untold – story behind rising unemployment. (more…)