For Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Donte Donald, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

July’s Job-Seekers Ratio, the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings, increased slightly (by one-tenth) to 3.5-to-1, signaling the lack of truly robust growth. While July’s ratio shows great improvement from its peak of 6.7-to-1 in summer 2009, a job-seekers ratio above 3-to-1 still means that there are no jobs for more than two out of three unemployed workers.  In her analysis, EPI economist Heidi Shierholz noted other positive signs that the labor market is improving, including the drop in the number of layoffs. “Layoffs dropped by 207,000 in July to 1.55 million, the lowest level since the survey began in December 2000,” wrote Shierholz.

###