COMP NEWS – According to a study performed by CareerCloud that merged data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and popular job boards, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and CareerBuilder, Alabama has the eleventh largest labor shortage in the United States. According to such data, there is estimated to being at least one job opening for every unemployed person in the state.
According to CareerCloud, Alabama has 1.1 job openings for every person without a job. The District of Columbia has the highest ratio of unemployed individuals to job openings, with 2.37 openings per jobless person. Hawaii’s job market is the best for employers, with 0.41 jobs per unemployed individual.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released their jobs report for the month of August, and reported that the number of job openings had increased by nearly 11 million since July 31.
According to the BLS last week, the number and rate of job openings by July 31 had increased to 10.9 million, or 6.9%. That’s the most since 2000 and represented an increase of 749,000, with the largest increases registered in health care and social assistance, finance and insurance, and accommodation and food services. The number of job openings increased in the Northeast, South, and West regions.
While this increase in jobs has had a positive impact on the unemployment rate in Alabama, there is still a wage shortage.
Alabama saw its jobless rate plummet yet again in July, falling to 3.2%. That was down from 3.3% a month earlier, and well below the national rate of 5.4% in July. The state’s all-time low unemployment was 2.7% in February 2020, just before the coming of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers have added over 73,000 jobs in the past year in the state.
But while there may be one available job for every person without one, the circumstances are more complicated. According to CareerCloud, three of the four industries with the highest number of job openings have annual wages that are well under the national median, while the highest-paying sector (information) has the second-lowest number of available jobs.
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