What JOLTS Tells Us About the Labor Market

The monthly jobs report (Employment Situation) gets all the headlines, but the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) often tells a more complete story. While the jobs report counts net employment change, JOLTS reveals the underlying dynamics: how many positions are open, how many workers are being hired, and how many are leaving — and why.

The Four JOLTS Metrics

Job openings represent unfilled positions for which employers are actively recruiting. High openings relative to unemployment means workers have more options — a tight labor market. During the COVID-19 pandemic recovery, job openings reached historically unprecedented levels, exceeding 11 million in early 2022.

Hires count all new adds to payroll during the month. This is gross hiring, not net employment change. Even in a month where total employment falls, there can be 5–6 million hires.

Quits are voluntary separations initiated by employees. The quits rate — quits as a share of employment — is sometimes called the "take this job and shove it" indicator. A rising quits rate means workers feel confident enough to leave for better opportunities. It peaked at 3.0% in late 2021 during the "Great Resignation." Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen cited the quits rate as a key measure of labor market health.

Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations. Low layoffs combined with high openings is the ideal labor market scenario — employers want more workers and aren't shedding existing ones. The layoffs rate spiked to over 7% in April 2020 during the COVID shutdowns, the highest ever recorded.

JOLTS and Beveridge Curve Analysis

Economists plot job openings against the unemployment rate on a "Beveridge Curve." Normally, as unemployment rises, openings fall. Post-pandemic, the curve shifted outward — more openings at any given unemployment rate — suggesting structural mismatch between available workers and available jobs, possibly due to geographic, skill, or preference mismatches.

Explore current JOLTS data at our job openings section.