By Oriane Casale
May 2024
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) Survey conducted by the BLS shows that the number of job openings decreased by 7,000 or 4.1% in Minnesota to 164,000 in March on a seasonally adjusted basis. Compared to one year ago, job openings were down by 16,000 or 8.9%. This compares to an over-the-year decline of 12.9% at the national level.
Minnesota had a job vacancy rate of 5.1 in March, the same as the rate nationally (see figure below). The job openings rate is the number of job openings as a percent of employment plus job opening, or the share of openings to existing jobs.
In Minnesota there were 0.5 unemployed workers for each job vacancy in March. This ratio has varied little over the last year, remaining at 0.5 in all months except April, May, and December 2023 when it dropped to 0.4. This indicates that Minnesota has a very tight labor market where there are only 5 (or 4 in several months) unemployed workers for every 10 job openings. Nationwide there were 0.8 unemployed workers for each job opening in March, up from 0.7 in February.
