Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

February 07, 2012

There were 3.4 million job openings on the last business day of December, up from 3.1 million in November. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and the separations rate (3.0 percent) were unchanged in December. More...
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Current

• Job Openings and Labor Turnover (HTML) (PDF)
• JOLTS Graphs and Highlights
• Significant Change Tables

Archived

For Annual Data, please open the January 2011 press release (PDF).

• Archived JOLTS Releases
• Archived JOLTS Significant Change Tables, Graphs and Highlights

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)

• Katherine Bauer Klemmer and Robert Lazaneo "Job openings and hires show little postrecession improvement"
• Caryn N. Bruyere, Guy L. Podgornik, and James R. Spletzer "Employment dynamics over the last decade"
• Mark deWolf and Katherine Klemmer "Job openings, hires, and separations fall during the recession"
• Katherine Klemmer “Job availability during a recession: an examination of the number of unemployed persons per job opening”
• Katherine Klemmer “Job openings and hires decline in 2008”
• Zhi Boon “Job openings, hires, and turnover decrease in 2007”
• Zhi Boon, Charles M. Carson, R. Jason Faberman, and Randy E. Ilg, “Studying the labor market using BLS labor dynamics data”
• Brady Stephens and Kim Riley, “Developing Annual Estimates of Hires and Separations”
• John Wohlford, Mary Anne Phillips, Richard Clayton, and George Werking, “Reconciling Labor Turnover and Employment Statistics”
• Kelly A. Clark and Mary Anne Phillips, “A Comparison of Job Openings Surveys: Concepts and Survey Design”
• Kelly A. Clark, “What an Indicator of Labor Demand Means for U.S. Labor Market Analysis: Initial Results from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey”
• Kelly A. Clark, Mary Anne Phillips, and Brady Stephens, “The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey: Preparing to Publish Data for a New Survey”
• Kelly A. Clark and Rosemary Hyson, “New tools for labor market analysis: JOLTS” (PDF 41K)
• Mark Crankshaw and George Stamas, “Sample Design in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey”
• Charlotte Mueller and John Wohlford, “Developing a New Business Survey: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey at the Bureau of Labor Statistics”
• Mary Anne Phillips and Charlotte Mueller, “The Genesis of an Establishment Survey: Research and Development for the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey at the BLS”

Forms

• JOLTS Basic (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview) Form (PDF 24K)
• JOLTS Temporary Help/Professional Employer Organization Industry (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview) Form (PDF 23K)
• JOLTS Education Industry (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview) Form (PDF 23K)

People Are Asking...

1. Are annual estimates available?
2. Are seasonally adjusted JOLTS data available?
3. What dates are the JOLTS data released?
4. Does JOLTS have estimates by occupation, by state, or by metropolitan area?
5. Can JOLTS help my job search?
6. What is the cost of turnover?
7. What is the average number of jobs a person holds over a lifetime?

Frequently Asked Questions

Information for JOLTS Survey Participants

1. Frequently Asked Questions
2. Example Cases for JOLTS Survey Participants

Information for JOLTS Data Users

1. What is JOLTS?
2. Availability
3. Frame and Sample
4. Data Definitions
5. Data Collection
6. Data Presentation

What JOLTS does not have:

1. List of Individual Job Openings
2. Cost of Turnover
3. Tenure
4. Number of Jobs the Average Person has over a lifetime
5. Turnover Rates by Occupation

All JOLTS FAQs »

• August 2011 estimates of hires, separations, and job openings originally published on October 12, 2011, had not been adjusted to account for a strike in the information industry. With the September release, August estimates reflect both regular revisions and corrections. For further assistance, see www.bls.gov/bls/errata/jolts_corrections_11082011.htm.

• With the release of January 2009 data on March 10, 2009, BLS implemented improvements to the methodology used to generate estimates of hires, separations, and job openings from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program. These changes were designed to improve the measurement of hires, separations, and openings and to more closely align the hires and separations estimates with monthly employment change as measured by the BLS Current Employment Statistics (establishment) survey. All JOLTS historical series were revised to incorporate the new methods. For general information about the improvements in our methodology, please see (www.bls.gov/jlt/methodologyimprovement.htm).

Other BLS Programs

• Business Employment Dynamics—quarterly data series of job gains and job losses statistics, generated from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program.
• Current Employment Statistics (National)— monthly national data by detailed industry on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.
• Current Population Survey— monthly data on the labor force, employment, unemployment and persons not in the labor force. It also provides monthly data on job losers and job leavers and biennial data on displaced workers.
• Mass Layoff Statistics— reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs.

Other Useful Links

• CareerOneStop— a source of helpful job search information.
• America's Career InfoNet (ACINet)— helps people make more informed career decisions. America's Career InfoNet is ideal for job seekers, employers, human resource specialists and workforce development specialists.

For additional information concerning the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), contact a JOLTS staff member at:

• Email: Contact JOLTS staff by email
• Telephone number: (202) 691-5870
• Fax number: (202) 691-6645
• Postal address:
  
  Bureau of Labor Statistics
  Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics
  Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Suite 4840
  2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
  Washington, DC 20212-0001

  Survey participants who need assistance in completing their monthly report, call 1-800-341-4620.

  • BLS News Service Subscription