These numbers are based on a method developed by Steven J. Davis, R. Jason Faberman and John Haltiwanger, and they reflect the average number of working days between when a job is first posted and when an offer is finally accepted. Typically, there is also an additional lag between the fill date and the new employee’s starting date, but that delay is not included in this measure.

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In some industries, job openings are staying vacant for much longer than 25 days. In financial services, for example, the typical job opening stayed vacant for about 4o days (compared to a low of 18.4 days in August 2009).

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In construction — a sector where some analysts have argued that a skilled-labor shortage has held back the housing market — workers are getting hired on a much shorter time frame. The average construction posting stays open for fewer than 10 days before being filled. Bear in mind though that during the depths of the recession, there was one month when construction jobs stayed open for less than 2 days, likely because there was such a large glut of idle workers and very little work.

The employers that really seem to be dragging their feet these days are big companies: At firms with at least 5,000 employees, the average position stays open an astonishing 68.5 working days.