New Job Openings Across the U.S. Have Risen 28% in May

As states begin relaxing lockdown restrictions and opening up their economies, we are analyzing our job market data closely for indications of how quickly the labor market might recover at a local and national level. We’ll be posting more detailed data in the coming days and weeks, but the first chart we want to highlight is the change by state in the average number of new job openings posted on company websites each day for the weeks ending April 26 and May 17.

For the country as a whole, new job openings rose 28% between the last week of April and the middle of May, and the variance among states was quite significant, ranging from a decline of 19% in New Mexico to an increase of 82% in South Carolina.

Again, we’ll post additional detail on the labor market in the coming days and weeks, but in the meantime, you can look at additional information about our job market data.