The job-openings-to-job-seekers ratio is getting smaller

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released some pretty underwhelming US jobs data, with only 12,000 nonfarm payroll jobs added last month — the lowest figure since December 2020, and considerably less than the reported 223,000 new jobs added this September.

Though it might not have always felt like it, for much of the past six years (pandemic-craziness aside), it’s been a job seeker’s market, with more job openings than people unemployed.