Vacancy Rate
2022 National Average Value
15
%
What is the Vacancy Rate?
Vacancy Rate measures the percentage of unfilled positions within an organization's workforce relative to the size of the overall workforce. It can provide insights into the efficiency of recruitment and hiring processes, and the workforce's overall health and productivity.
What is the average value of the Vacancy Rate?
According to the Saratoga Workforce Index, the national average Vacancy Rate in 2022 was 15%.
What is the Vacancy Rate by industry?
The median Vacancy Rate varies widely across industries ranging from 10% to almost 24%. Contact us if you need the Vacancy Rate for your industry.
Where can I get Vacancy Rate benchmarks?
The annual Saratoga HR and Workforce Benchmarking Study releases the Vacancy Rate benchmark for over 20 different industries each year. The national average is released as part of the annual Saratoga Workforce Index.
How is Vacancy Rate calculated?
Vacancy Rate is calculated as the average number of posted positions that were vacant at the end of each month, as a percentage of the total non-contingent headcount of the organization including vacancies. This rate indicates how many positions are open relative to the total existing positions.
What does a low Vacancy Rate mean?
A low Vacancy Rate could indicate that the organization is successful in filling open positions quickly or there are fewer positions being opened relative to the total headcount. This could be due to efficient hiring processes, high employee retention, or a lack of growth or expansion in the organization. While it is generally desirable to have a low vacancy rate, slowing down hiring may be helpful if workforce cuts are imminent, budgets are being reduced, or you want to take more time getting the appropriate candidates vs. filling a position quickly. A low vacancy rate combined with a high first year turnover rate may indicate a quality of hire issue.
What does a high Vacancy Rate mean?
A high Vacancy Rate could indicate that hiring is not keeping up with the demand for new employees, either due to rapid growth, high turnover, or an issue with the hiring process. It could also be an indicator of a labor market with very low unemployment or a low supply for skills specific to your organization. Continued high vacancy rates can also indicate a potential risk of burnout as existing employees are likely working harder to cover for open positions.
What other benchmarks are relevant to Vacancy Rate?
Other relevant benchmarks include:
The Saratoga annual benchmarking study provides data for over 1000 different HR metrics. Contact us to learn more.
About the Saratoga Workforce Index
The Saratoga Workforce Index is an indispensable reference of national averages of 30 commonly requested HR metrics. Based on PwC Saratoga’s annual workforce benchmarking study of over 1000 metrics spanning hundreds of companies and over 20 industries, the Saratoga Workforce Index is your “quick start” guide to workforce benchmarks.
Download the guide to see the national averages for all of these:
- 90 Day Total Turnover Rate
- Average Number of Direct Reports
- Cost per Hire
- Director Headcount Ratio
- Executive Headcount Ratio
- Finance FTE Ratio
- First Year of Service Turnover Rate
- General & Administrative Function Voluntary Separation Rate
- Hire Rate
- HR FTE Ratio
- Information Technology FTE Ratio
- Labor Cost Revenue Percent
- Layers
- Learning & Development Investment per Employee
- Legal FTE Ratio
- Management Headcount Ratio
- Manager Headcount Ratio
- Offer Acceptance Rate
- One to Three Years of Service Voluntary Separation Rate
- Promotion Rate
- Racial/Ethnic Minority Headcount Percent
- Racial/Ethnic Minority Promotion Rate
- Racial/Ethnic Minority Voluntary Separation Rate
- Revenue per FTE
- Time to Accept
- Time to Start
- Turnover Rate
- Vacancy Rate
- Voluntary Separation Rate
- Women Executive Headcount Percent
- Women Headcount Percent
- Women Promotion Rate
- Women Voluntary Separation Rate
Need industry-specific benchmarks?
We provide these values as a reference point for discussions. However, given the high variance across industries, sizes and revenue, these national averages should NOT be used to make important business decisions or used in any formal reporting.
If you intend to use benchmarks for business decisions, please join Saratoga as a full member so you can have access to more specific comparison groups for each industry, revenue, size, profit/non-profit status and more. With a full membership, you’ll have access to over 1,000 metrics that are much more accurate and specific than a national average. The membership process is relatively simple, mostly automated and reasonably priced with a clear ROI.
Referencing Saratoga Workforce Index Data
If you choose to refer to these metrics in any of your materials, whether internally or externally, we ask that you include the following statement:
Excerpted from the Saratoga Workforce Index. © 2023 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, all rights reserved. Data is for discussion purposes only and cannot be used for investment decisions or financial evaluations.
You may include up to five metrics in any internal or external publication without any additional permissions. Contact us at saratoga@pwc.com if you want to use more than five or would like to reproduce the Saratoga Workforce Index in its entirety.
About Saratoga
Saratoga workforce and HR benchmarks provide reference points for executive-level discussions, context for people dashboards, and data to inform workforce and HR decisions. Hundreds of companies across over 20 industries trust Saratoga each year to supply over 1,000 validated workforce benchmarks around turnover, diversity, staffing, productivity, efficiency, fairness, and more.
Request a demo of Saratoga to get access to industry-specific benchmarks for up to 1000 benchmarks.