JOLTS Job Openings
JOLTS job openings count the positions employers are actively trying to fill on the last business day of the month. It is the broadest measure of unmet demand for labour, and it leads hiring by roughly a month.
History
Openings, hires and quits
The survey tracks the whole flow: openings at the start, hires and separations during the month, quits and layoffs as subsets. Openings tell you how much demand exists; hires tell you how much is being met; quits tell you how confident workers are, because people quit when they expect to find something better.
Why the ratio matters
Openings per unemployed worker was the tightest labour-market measure of the last cycle. Above one, there are more jobs than job seekers, which is when wage growth accelerates. Below one, employers have the upper hand and wage pressure fades.
The ratio can fall for two reasons: fewer openings or more unemployed people. The first is a soft landing, the second is a recession. Look at both series.
The lag problem
JOLTS is published about six weeks after the reference month, so by the time it arrives the labour market has already moved. Its value is in confirming a trend rather than in calling a turn, and in revisions, which are frequent and occasionally large.
How this reading is calculated
We pull JTSJOL from FRED, apply the transform shown above, and keep every observation the source publishes. Missing dates are dropped rather than filled, so holidays leave gaps instead of fake zeroes. The percentile is the share of observations since 2000 that sit below today's value.
The file is rebuilt daily. Derived series are computed by us from public-domain inputs and the formula is stated on this page, so anyone can reproduce the number from the original release.
How to read the percentile
The percentile compares today's reading with the indicator's own history, not with other indicators. A 20th percentile on this page means the current reading is lower than four fifths of all observations since 2000; it says nothing about whether that is good or bad for markets.
Extremes are the useful part. A reading above the 90th or below the 10th percentile is unusual enough to be worth explaining, and unusual readings tend to mean-revert. The middle of the distribution is mostly noise.
What is free and what is member-only
The current reading, the percentile and the full historical record are free. The most recent months of data are reserved for members, because that is the part that tells you what the indicator is doing right now rather than what it did years ago.
Members see every observation through the latest release, the same chart without the mask, and the same numbers on every indicator page. Nothing on this site is intraday.
Distribution since 2000
Each row is the share of historical observations at or below that level. A reading in the 90th percentile is higher than nine tenths of the record.
Important
Not investment advice. This page is published for information and education only. It is not a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any security. Market data may be delayed, incomplete, or revised. Indicators describe the past; they do not forecast returns. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Do your own research or consult a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here.
Questions
Why are job openings so much larger than hires?
An opening is a position an employer intends to fill, often for weeks or months. A hire is one completed match in a single month. The gap is the time it takes to fill a role.
What is the quits rate telling us?
It is a confidence measure. Workers quit when they believe another job is available. A falling quits rate usually precedes slower wage growth by several months.
Is JOLTS revised?
Yes, every month, and annually with a benchmark. Initial estimates have been revised by hundreds of thousands of openings, so treat the level as an estimate and the direction as the signal.
Why is the newest month locked?
The current reading and the full history are free; the most recent releases are member-only.