One of the most enlightening and sobering parts of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s public address on October 2nd was this chart: Indicators of Labor Market Tightness.
It highlights what we believe to be one of the greatest challenges to sustaining GDP growth in the United States — insufficient numbers of qualified workers.
Two weeks ago, the Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, reported there were 7.14 million unfilled positions in the economy in August. That was the highest level since the series started in 2000. But U.S. job openings are far outpacing the rise in hiring, reinforcing the Fed Chairman’s chart showing companies are increasingly having difficulties finding qualified workers.
We brought the issue to your attention, addressed the cause of the problem, and noted what the US Government is and should be doing about it in our earlier posting on September 18th, Now Hiring. We encourage you to re-read it.
But we didn’t have the chart we’re sharing with you today, which even more clearly portrays the challenge.
This is a high class problem to have — more jobs than workers — which a lot of countries must envy, but in the long run, if it isn’t sufficiently addressed, it will be a missed opportunity for millions of Americans and a drag on the economy.