But that's a stock number, that's the number of people in that state, it doesn't tell us much about how vibrant the situation is. One of the numbers that helps us is the job openings number:Job openings were little changed in December, but hires continued a multi-month winning streak, as economic growth powers on. There were 5.5 million job openings on the last day of December, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Additionally, the JOLTS report also includes the quits rate, which is one of the labor-market indicators favored by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. First there's that stock of unemployment, the unemployment number (which itself comes in 6 variations at least according to different definitions of unemployment).

Source: Forbes February 07, 2017 17:49 UTC