The Industry-Occupation Mix of U.S. Job Openings and Hires

Abstract

We introduce a method that combines data from the U.S. Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and state-level Job Vacancy Surveys to construct annual estimates of the number of job openings and hires in the U.S. in the spring of each year by industry and occupation combination. We then use our estimates to examine the source behind the observed decline in aggregate match efficiency during and after the Great Recession. Our results indicate that the rightward shift of the Beveridge curve can be attributed to a change in the distribution of vacancies, specifically on the occupational side, driven primarily by a compositional shift of labor demand from occupations with high vacancy yields, like construction, to occupations with low vacancy yields, like healthcare.

Keywords: job openings, labor market mobility, measurement, occupations

JEL Classification: J23, J60, J63