Of course, this remarkable strength in the job market ended with a thud in early 2020 when the US economy was shut down in March due to the covid pandemic, and when there were a record 18.5 million more unemployed than there were job openings.

How things have changed since then: according to the BLS, as of July the number of unemployed employees had dropped to 8.7 million, down sharply from 9.5 million in June and the lowest since March 2020. But what is more notable is that this happens during a time of historic labor shortages, with the NFIB yesterday reporting that unfilled job openings at small business had hit a new record high, with 49% of owners reporting job openings they could not fill in July, according to NFIB's monthly jobs report. Unfilled job openings have remained far above the 48-year historical average of 22%.