With the number of unemployed outpacing available jobs, the report somewhat weakens the argument that much of the unemployment problem afflicting the economy is the result of a skills mismatch.

“Unemployed workers far outnumber job openings in every sector,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.

“This underscores that by far the main cause of today’s persistent high unemployment is a broad-based lack of demand for workers and not, as is often claimed, available workers lacking the skills needed for the sectors with job openings.”