Yesterday the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest information (through November) from its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and, being a firmly ensconced denizen of fly-over land, this information caught my eye:

   

Jolt_november_job_openings

   

In case you're not that familiar with JOLTS, here is how the job openings rate is defined:

Job opening (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)
A specific position of employment to be filled at an establishment; conditions include the following: there is work available for that position, the job could start within 30 days, and the employer is actively recruiting for the position.
Job openings rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)
The number of job openings on the last business day of the month divided by the sum of the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month and the number of job openings on the last business day of the month.

Essentially, then, job openings are vacancies, and the pace at which these are expanding in the Midwest (relative to the number of available regional jobs) has increasingly lagged the rest of the country over the past year or so.

Jeez, wasn't Michigan-USC and OSU-Florida enough punishment?