The latest JOLTS report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed workers fell below 1 to 0.99 in July, the lowest since April 2021, when the ratio was 0.96.

One data point is useless, without context.

This graph, from 2024, goes back to 2001. Less than 1 opening, per unemployed worker, was the norm, until the late teens.

nelsoncorp.com - The job seekers ratio

Caught an interesting conversation on Yahoo's streaming finance channel, a few days ago. The guest proposed that "JCs" are not going to create as many jobs, going forward, as they have in the past, because the combination of retiring boomers, deportations, and closed borders tells them they will not be able to fill more jobs, so creating them is pointless. She was looking for monthly "jobs" numbers, going forward, in the 30,000 range, with some months in 2026-27 showing zero net job creation.

I saw a piece on the wire a few days ago that said some 1.2M have left the US workforce since the start of the year.

1.2M immigrants are gone from the US labor force under Trump, preliminary data shows

abcnews.go.com - 12m immigrants US labor force trump preliminary data

Steve...back into lurk mode, before I get flamed again