The October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released on Tuesday reported a 235,000 increase in job openings to 7.3 million. The survey continues to show the economy is functioning at a level with more job openings than unemployed individuals. This can be seen in the following two charts, with the first one showing only .81 unemployed workers available per job opening. The second chart shows the number of unemployed individuals (5.8 million versus the total job openings (7.3 million)).
The strong labor market is drawing individuals back into the labor force who were