Jobs picture is improving slightly

This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a mildly encouraging October report from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), showing that job openings increased by 351,000 in October, while revisions to earlier data reveal that there were 82,000 more job openings in September than previously reported.

The total number of job openings in October was 3.4 million, while the total number of unemployed workers was 14.8 million (according to the Current Population Survey). This is the highest number of monthly job openings since August 2008. EPI analysis shows the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings improved to 4.4-to-1 in October, an increase from the revised September ratio of 4.9-to-1.