Job Openings vs. Unemployment
This chart plots the monthly U.S. job openings rate against the unemployment rate, connecting observations in chronological order. It combines BLS JOLTS and Current Population Survey series via FRED from December 2000 onward; movement or shifts in the path do not by themselves reveal changes in matching efficiency or their causes.
The original idea: Job vacancies and unemployment usually move in opposite directions over the business cycle, while shifts in their relationship can reflect changes in labor-market matching. Read the original ↗ · Plain-language overview ↗
What does it show?
The latest labor market still has more job openings at a given unemployment rate than was typical before the pandemic.
Methodology
Matches the monthly, seasonally adjusted total-nonfarm job openings rate from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (FRED JTSJOR) with the monthly, seasonally adjusted U-3 unemployment rate from the BLS Current Population Survey (FRED UNRATE), beginning in December 2000. The x-axis is unemployment and the y-axis is job openings; observations are connected in date order and the latest month is highlighted. The two rates use different survey denominators, and movement or shifts in the curve do not by themselves identify changes in matching efficiency or their causes.