History was recently made. As the chart above shows there are now more job openings than unemployed workers. 

Questions:

1. In what year was the gap widest in terms of the difference between the number of unemployed and the available jobs? What do you think happens to wages for workers in that year? 
2. What has been the primary contributor to this situation in 2018 where job openings now exceed the number of unemployed? Has it been the growth in job openings or the decrease in the number of unemployed? 
3. How can the number of job openings exceed the number of unemployed? Why do you some folks remain unemployed even where there are all of these job openings? 
4. What is one additional question that you would like to research after seeing this chart? 

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Lots more graphs where this one came from...check out NGPF Data Crunches and provide many opportunities for your students to analyze charts and graphs. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.