---
title: "Jobs situation looks brighter as employers seek to fill more positions"
description: "There were 1.8 unemployed people per job opening in January, another indicator of the improving jobs situation."
date: "2015-03-11"
authors:
  - name: "Drew DeSilver"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/drew-desilver/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/03/11/jobs-situation-looks-brighter-as-employers-seek-to-fill-more-positions/"
categories:
  - "Business & Workplace"
  - "Economic Conditions"
  - "Recessions & Recoveries"
---

# Jobs situation looks brighter as employers seek to fill more positions

[![Since Recession's End, Fewer Unemployed and More Job Openings](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/03/FT_15.03.10_jobsOpeningsRatio.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/?attachment_id=267854)

While two-thirds of Americans see at least some improvement in the jobs situation from the depths of the Great Recession, most (60%) say the jobs recovery has been only partial, according to a [Pew Research Center report](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/03/04/most-say-government-policies-since-recession-have-done-little-to-help-middle-class-poor/) earlier this month. But by at least one measure – the number of unemployed people per job opening – things are just about back to normal.

In January, there were 1.8 unemployed people per open position, according to the latest [Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey](http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm) (or JOLTS) and jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While that may sound disheartening, it's actually well within pre-recession norms: Between January 2005 and December 2007, the number of unemployed people per opening varied between 1.45 and 2.17, and averaged 1.68 over the entire three-year period.

But once the recession turned from ordinary into "Great," the unemployed-to-openings ratio soared – peaking at 6.8 in July 2009, a month after the recession's official end. It's been trending downward since then as employers have stepped up hiring.

There were nearly 5 million openings in January (after adjusting for seasonal variations), the most since the heady days of the dot-com bubble, according to the [JOLTS report](http://www.bls.gov/web/jolts/jlt_labstatgraphs.pdf). The job openings rate (openings as a percentage of total employment plus openings) was 3.4% for the fourth straight month, the highest level since April 2001. (To count as a job opening, an employer must be actively recruiting from outside to fill a specific position that has work available within 30 days.)

[![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2015/03/Across-the-Board-More-Say-Job-Situation-Has-at-Least-Partially-Recovered.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/03/04/most-say-government-policies-since-recession-have-done-little-to-help-middle-class-poor/)

The Pew Research survey found that public perceptions of improvement in the job situation had risen sharply since September 2013, when only 47% said jobs had fully (2%) or partially (45%) recovered. Although the rosier views spanned partisan and income divides, Democrats were much more likely than Republicans and independents to say they saw a jobs recovery.

If you're looking for work, service industries in the South and West might be your best bet. Those regions had the highest job openings rates in January (3.6% each), and the sectors with the highest rates were leisure and hospitality (particularly accommodation and food services, at 5.1%) and professional and business services (4.5%).