America Works Data Center
Stephanie Ferguson
November 8, 2023
A national crisis by the numbers
Right now, there are too many jobs without people to fill them. As a result, businesses can’t grow, compete, and thrive. The U.S. Chamber and Chamber Foundation’s America Works initiative is mobilizing business and government to swiftly address the crisis.
This page captures the trends on job openings, labor force participation, quit rates, and more, for a quick understanding of the state of the workforce. Take a look behind the numbers at what is causing the worker shortage and learn which states and industries have been impacted the most.
The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that thousands of people are entering the workforce. This is good. However, labor force participation does not match what it was before the pandemic.
If the percentage of people participating in the labor force was the same as in February 2020, we would have 1.47 million more people in the workforce today—and this shortage is impacting all industries in nearly every state. If every unemployed worker took an open job in their industry, there would still be millions of open jobs.
