JOLTS Day Graphs: May 2023 Edition

Every month the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on hiring, firing, and other labor market flows from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, better known as JOLTS. Today, the BLS released the latest data for May 2023. This report doesn’t get as much attention as the monthly Employment Situation Report, but it contains useful information about the state of the U.S. labor market. Below are a few key graphs using data from the report.

The quits rate rose from to 2.4 percent in April to 2.6 percent in May as more than 4 million workers quit their jobs.

The vacancy yield, a measure that captures how easy it is for employers to fill open positions, rose in May as job openings fell to 9.8 million and hires increased to 6.3 million.

The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings increased slightly in May, as the number of job openings saw a bigger drop than the number of unemployed workers.

The Beveridge Curve, which usually captures that there tend to be relatively more open positions when the labor market is strong, moved inwards and down as the unemployment rate increased and the job openings rate fell in May.

Most industries experienced an increase in quits in May. There was an especially sharp rise in the construction sector, where the quits rate increased from 2.1 percent to 2.9 percent.