Today's #JOLTS data show that by the end of August—a month after Republicans in the Senate let the extra $600 in weekly UI benefits expire—there were 6.6 million more unemployed workers than job openings. The cruelty is mindblowing. People can’t get jobs that don’t exist. 1/
#JOLTS data also show hiring has slowed dramatically since May and June and is now roughly where it was before the recession hit. This is a disaster given that we need to make up over 12 jobs. 2/ epi.org/press/slowdown…
Without Congressional action, we are facing a slow, painful recovery, if not another recession. 3/ epi.org/blog/the-first…
Top policy priorities are fiscal aid to state and local governments, and extending the unemployment insurance provisions of the CARES Act. These actions alone could create or save over 10 million jobs. 4/ epi.org/blog/cutting-o…
Another concerning things in the #JOLTS data is that job openings declined and are now substantially *below* where they were before the virus hit. The low level of job openings when we need to make up more than 12 million jobs is NOT a good sign for the pace of the recovery. 5/
Yet another bad sign in the #JOLTS data is that quits declined. A higher level of quits is a sign of a vibrant economy, where people are able move to jobs that are a better fit for them. Declining quits is a sign of…not that. 6/
Honestly, in all of the labor market data I stare at every day, the slowdown in hiring since May and June in the #JOLTS data may scare me the most. HIRING IS NOW ROUGHLY WHERE IT WAS BEFORE THE RECESSION STARTED—BUT WE NEED TO MAKE UP MORE THAN 12 MILLION JOBS. Good lord.
The decline in layoffs in the August #JOLTS data was welcome, but it does not capture all the major layoff announcements since then, so I’m not getting too much comfort from that. 8/
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