What this does
In the U.S. overview on the home page, just below the headline numbers, two line charts sit side by side. One shows the national unemployment rate month by month. The other shows three rates from employers: job openings, hires and quits, each as a share of all jobs. Each chart has a Time range control that switches between the last five and the last ten years.
Together they show whether the job market is tight or slack, and which way it is heading. Low unemployment with many openings and many quits means employers are competing for workers. Rising unemployment with falling openings and hires means jobs are harder to find. For a student finishing school soon, a parent weighing timing, or a counselor explaining the market, this is the quickest read of the national trend.
Before you start
- Choose United States in Showing data for. Both charts appear in the national view. With a state chosen, only the unemployment chart remains, with a line for the state and one for the U.S. (see Reading the results).
- Know what “rate” means here. The unemployment rate is a share of the labor force: people working or looking for work. The openings, hires and quits rates are shares of all jobs. The two charts use different bases, so do not compare their numbers directly.
- The newest month is the least settled. BLS revises recent months, so the last point on a line can move a little later.
Step by step
- Open the home page with Showing data for on United States and scroll past the headline numbers. The charts Unemployment rate, last 5 years and Job openings, hires and quits rates, last 5 years appear side by side (one above the other on a phone).
- Read the unemployment chart's line under the drawing: Latest: followed by the newest rate and its month.
- Move the pointer over either chart, or tap it on a phone. A small box shows the month and each line's rate at that point, for example “Hires rate: …%”.
- On the openings, hires and quits chart, look at the legend above the drawing: Openings rate (blue), Hires rate (orange) and Quits rate (green). Click a name to hide that line; click it again to bring it back.
- Click 10y in the Time range buttons at the top right of a chart. The chart redraws with ten years of months, and its title changes to “…, last 10 years”. The other chart does not change.
- Click 5y to return to five years.
- Read the Source: line under each chart for the survey and the last month included.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5y (Time range, unemployment chart) | Top right of Unemployment rate | Shows the last 60 months of the unemployment rate. | Selected | The selected button is filled in blue. |
| 10y (Time range, unemployment chart) | Next to 5y on the same chart | Shows the last 120 months. The title and the Latest: line are redrawn. | Not selected | If the ten-year figures cannot be loaded, the chart you had stays on screen. |
| 5y (Time range, openings, hires and quits chart) | Top right of Job openings, hires and quits rates | Shows the last 60 months of all three rates. | Selected | Works separately from the unemployment chart's buttons. |
| 10y (Time range, openings, hires and quits chart) | Next to 5y on the same chart | Shows the last 120 months of all three rates. | Not selected | The choice is not remembered; reloading the page goes back to 5y. |
| Legend names Openings rate, Hires rate, Quits rate | Above the openings, hires and quits chart | Clicking a name hides or shows that line. | All three shown | Hide two lines to read one more easily. The unemployment chart has a single line and no legend. |
| Hover or tap on the unemployment chart | Anywhere over the drawing | Shows the month and “U.S. unemployment rate: …%”. | None | Nothing happens on click; the chart does not open another page. |
| Hover or tap on the openings, hires and quits chart | Anywhere over the drawing | Shows the month and the three rates for that month. | None | Same: no click-through. |
| Showing data for menu | Top of the home page | United States shows both charts. A state replaces them with one unemployment chart comparing that state and the U.S. | United States on a first visit | See Choosing a state. |
Reading the results
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate line | Share of the labor force that is out of work and looking for work, each month. Sub-line: “Official U.S. rate from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (seasonally adjusted).” | Percent, one decimal | BLS Current Population Survey, national, seasonally adjusted; monthly, up to the month in the source line | The official published rate for each of the last 60 or 120 months, oldest on the left. |
| Latest: line | The newest point on the unemployment line, with its month. | Percent and month | Same | The last month in the chart. |
| The latest month is preliminary and may be revised. | Note under the openings, hires and quits chart. | — | BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey | Always shown: BLS publishes the newest month as a preliminary estimate and revises it the following month. |
| Openings rate (blue) | Jobs employers were trying to fill on the last day of the month, as a share of all jobs plus those openings. Sub-line for the chart: “Each as a share of all jobs, by month (seasonally adjusted)”. | Percent | BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), national, seasonally adjusted; monthly | The published national rate for each month. |
| Hires rate (orange) | People hired during the month, as a share of all jobs. | Percent | JOLTS, as above | The published rate. |
| Quits rate (green) | People who left their job by choice during the month, as a share of all jobs. | Percent | JOLTS, as above | The published rate. |
| Chart title | “Unemployment rate, last 5 years” or “Job openings, hires and quits rates, last 5 years”, changing to “last 10 years” with 10y. | Years or months | — | If fewer months exist than asked for, the title says how much is shown, such as “last 3 years”, or “last 8 months” when under a year. |
| Bottom axis | The months, written year first. Up to six labels are shown to keep it readable. | Year and month | — | — |
| Side axis | The rate. | Percent | — | Scaled to fit the lines shown, so it does not always start at zero. |
| Source: lines | “Source: BLS Current Population Survey, through …” and “Source: BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, through …”, each with the last month included. | Month and year | — | The newest month in the national data for that survey. |
How current the lines are
- The national figures are refreshed from BLS every night, so a new month appears soon after BLS publishes it.
- The openings, hires and quits survey is published later than the unemployment rate, so its line usually ends a month or so earlier. Compare the two Source: lines to see the gap.
- BLS treats the newest month of openings, hires and quits as preliminary and revises it the following month, so the last point on those lines can shift slightly when the next month is added. The note under the chart says so: The latest month is preliminary and may be revised.
- The unemployment rate is not revised from month to month, but BLS updates its seasonal adjustment once a year, which can nudge the earlier months.
- The openings, hires and quits history Samantar holds goes back to December 2000, so 10y always shows a full ten years.
Seasonally adjusted
Both charts use seasonally adjusted figures. BLS removes the regular swings of the calendar, such as summer jobs and holiday hiring, so a rise or fall reflects a real change rather than the time of year.
When a state is chosen
With a state in Showing data for, the home page shows a single unemployment chart with two lines and a legend: the state (official statewide rate from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, seasonally adjusted) and the U.S. (BLS Current Population Survey). Its source line reads “Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (…) and Current Population Survey (U.S.), through …”. It has the same 5y / 10y buttons. The openings, hires and quits chart does not appear; the state's openings, hires and quits rates show as side-by-side headline numbers instead, at the state's latest month. For the District of Columbia the sub-line says “District-wide” instead of “statewide”.
When a chart is missing
- No national unemployment figures: “The U.S. unemployment trend isn't available right now.” in place of the chart.
- Fewer than three months of openings, hires and quits: “Job openings, hires and quits rates aren't available right now.”
- With a state chosen and no seasonally adjusted state figures: “Seasonally adjusted unemployment for … isn't available yet.”
- If the national figures cannot be loaded at all, the whole overview, charts included, is hidden.
For how the figures are produced, see how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A parent wants to know whether the job market is getting easier or harder before a child graduates next spring.
- On the home page, with United States chosen, the parent finds the two charts under the headline numbers. Both titles say “last 5 years”.
- The unemployment line shows its path over five years; the Latest: line gives the newest rate and month.
- On the right, the blue openings line, orange hires line and green quits line show whether employers are posting fewer openings and whether people are quitting less, which tends to come before slower hiring.
- The parent clicks Quits rate and Hires rate in the legend to hide them and look at openings alone, then clicks them again to bring them back.
- To see the last ten years, including the larger swings of earlier years, the parent clicks 10y on each chart in turn. Each title changes to “last 10 years”.
- Comparing the two Source: lines, the parent sees that the openings chart ends a month earlier than the unemployment chart, and that its newest point may still be revised.
- Finally, the parent picks their state in Showing data for. The page reloads with one unemployment chart showing the state and the U.S. together.
Common questions
- Why did the last point on the openings line change since my last visit?
- BLS publishes the newest month of openings, hires and quits as a preliminary estimate and revises it a month later. The site reloads the national figures every night, so the revised figure replaces the first one.
- Why does the openings chart end earlier than the unemployment chart?
- The openings, hires and quits survey comes out later than the unemployment rate for the same month. Each Source: line gives the last month included.
- I clicked 10y on one chart. Why did the other not change?
- Each chart has its own Time range buttons. Click 10y on both if you want both to show ten years.
- Why did a line disappear?
- Clicking a name in the legend hides that line. Click the name again to show it.
- Why can't I see the openings, hires and quits chart for my state?
- When a state is chosen, the home page shows the state's openings, hires and quits rates as headline numbers next to the U.S. figures, not as a chart. Choose United States to see the national chart.
- Why don't the unemployment rate and the openings rate add up or line up?
- They measure different things on different bases: unemployment is a share of people in the labor force; openings, hires and quits are shares of jobs, from a survey of employers.
- Can I see more than ten years?
- No. The charts show at most ten years.
What this does NOT do
- It does not forecast. The lines stop at the newest month BLS has published.
- It is not advice about when to look for work or enrol; it describes the national market as a whole.
- It does not break the rates down by industry, age or education.
- It does not mark which point is preliminary on the line itself; the note under the chart says the newest month may still change.
- It does not remember your 5y / 10y choice between visits, and nothing about you is stored to view it; sign-in is only for saving reports.
- The figures are survey estimates, not exact counts or guarantees.
Related
- National overview: everything else in the U.S. overview.
- Unemployment trend: the unemployment chart on a state's own page.
- Choosing a state
- Jobs Trends: postings and trends for a career in your state.
- The live page: Home.