According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings are now at about 8.5 million, significantly down from the 12.2 million openings recorded in March 2022 but still higher than pre-pandemic levels. The takeaway is that although openings are down, businesses are still struggling to find people.
Is this true? Can we even rely on this data?
For years, there have been arguments that have contested the way the voluntary Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is calculated. According to a Bloomberg report last year, the response rate on the so-called JOLTS survey on the number of job openings was already falling before the pandemic, which saw participation decline even further, with one economist going so far as to call it "garbage." Multiple academic and government studies have tested the reliability of the methodology behind the monthly number with mixed conclusions about potential bias and ambiguity. Even the BLS admits that it has about "90 percent confidence" in its numbers. Right or wrong, the JOLTS numbers have been calculated the same way for at least 20 years.
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