Bullhorn, a national recruiting software company based in Boston, issued its Job Opportunity Report today, which found that Vermont is leading the United States in job openings. Year over year, Vermont experienced a 62 percent increase in job openings. Kentucky, North Dakota, Kansas and Oklahoma rounded out the top five. In New England, Maine had an increase of 21 percent, New Hampshire had an increase of 20 percent, Connecticut had an increase of 19 percent, Massachusetts had an increase of 11 percent, and Rhode Island came in at 6 percent.
Bullhorn's November Job Opportunity Report benchmarks new job openings by region and sector to identify bright spots in employment. According to Bullhorn’s data, the Mid-Atlantic (8 percent) and Midwest (1 percent) experienced month-over-month growth in November, but year-over-year, all regions have shown gains. By sector, the retail trade industry gained the most month-over-month with a 31 percent increase in new job openings. [NOTE: The Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Opportunity and Labor Turnover Survey data also issued today show job openings in October 2011, while Bullhorn's data reports on job openings added in November 2011.]
Looking across its job openings data from the past year, Bullhorn can also project the upcoming data from the BLS Employment Opportunity Index that will be released on January 2, 2012. Bullhorn predicts that the US economy will add 130,000 jobs in December 2011, continuing the positive trend.
‘We’ve seen some positive numbers over the last few months, and while they are not the watershed numbers we all are looking for, they are on an upward trajectory,’ said Art Papas, CEO of Bullhorn. ‘The Bullhorn Job Opportunity Index shows some nice gains across the country year-over-year, and looking ahead, we see this as a positive sign and expect the BLS Employment Opportunity Index to come in adding another 130,000 jobs in December.’
Regional Data
Month-over-month, the Mid-Atlantic shows the most opportunity with an eight percent gain in new job openings, while the Northeast added the fewest new jobs (-15 percent). Typically, new job openings slow in November’s holiday season which lowers month-over-month results. Year-over-year data shows a better outlook with gains in all six regions, with the Southwest at the top, gaining 39 percent in new job openings.
State-by-state, Alabama is the only state in negative territory year over year (-1 percent), while Rhode Island (six percent), Florida (six percent), New Jersey (seven percent), and Louisiana (11 percent), rounded out the bottom five states. At the top for the year (January through November 2010), was Vermont, whose job openings grew 62 percent. The others in top five include Kentucky (59 percent), North Dakota (58 percent), Kansas (56 percent), and Oklahoma (56 percent).
Sector Data
The retail trade sector showed the greatest opportunity with a 31 percent month-over-month gain in new job openings. Manufacturing showed the greatest losses, with a 58 percent contraction in new job openings. Similar to the regional data, a year-over-year view shows a more promising picture with gains in almost every sector. The accommodations and food service sector led the year-over-year growth coming in at 133 percent, while public administration came in last with a loss of 65 percent.
The Bullhorn Job Opportunity Report is calculated based on new job openings across more than 50,000 recruiters and five years of historical data, which includes 13 million analyzed records.
Bullhorn’s Job Opportunity Index differs from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Bullhorn’s data allows it to project figures a full month ahead of BLS.
Go to http://www.bullhorn.com/news-event/job-opportunity-index for charts and graphs of the November Bullhorn Job Opportunity Index.
About Bullhorn
Bullhorn® creates software and services that improve the way employees and employers come together. For over ten years our innovations have powered the recruiting and staffing operations of fast-growing start-ups up through the world's largest employment brands. Headquartered in Boston, with offices in London and Sydney, Bullhorn’s recruiting CRM and social recruiting products serve over 5,000 clients and 45,000 users across 35 countries. Privately owned, Bullhorn is principally backed by Highland Capital Partners and General Catalyst Partners.
Bullhorn 12.13.2011