The Rising Jobs Openings Rate

Jerry Bowyer claims:

Before the president’s tax cut of 2003, there were slightly more than 2.5 million unfilled jobs in the country. Now there are over 5 million … Commentators have consistently underrated the dynamic effect of marginal and investment tax cuts. This has caused them to miss the fact that since 2003, millions of people have entered the work force.

Notice something – his own chart drawn from JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) says this figure is 4.1 million, which my math teacher said was LESS than 5 million. Also, job openings typically rise during recoveries – and this recovery was bound to happen even with the 2003 tax cut. Also realize that the labor force typically rising over time. While the labor force participation rate was around 67% before Bush took office, it seems stuck at around 66% now.

I have provided a graph of the Job Openings Rate, defined as the number of openings divided by employment plus job openings. The first reporting of this rate was during the last month of Clinton’s term in office (I bet the rightwing just hates that). The rate fell during the recession and has only partially recovered.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey is fairly new but the Beveridge curve concept has been around for quite some time.