Are There Really More Job Openings Than Unemployed People?

Touting the success of the Trump administration and Republican leadership, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa) said in a recent campaign stop that “there are now more job openings than there are unemployed people in the United States.” Many in the media cried foul at that assertion, labeling it typical Trumpian hyperbole, but it turns out to be true.

According to the Labor Department’s JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) report, since March there have indeed been fewer unemployed Americans than available jobs. This has not happened since the Labor Department began tracking job openings 18 years ago in 2000. It is indisputably a significant milestone, and one wonders why it hasn’t been promoted more loudly and widely. Could it be that Democrats don’t want to acknowledge Trump’s economic successes…and that Republicans don’t want to acknowledge that maybe just maybe we could use some immigrants to help ease the acute labor shortage? The chart below was published on theatlas.com.

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Womack Weekly Commentary: September 18, 2017

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