What this does
When Showing data for is set to United States, the home page shows a section below the tiles called U.S. labor market at a glance, with the line “Jobs, pay and hiring across the whole country, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Click a career name for its details.”
It is a one-screen picture of the national job market: how many people are out of work, how much hiring and quitting is going on, which industries employ the most people, which careers pay the most, which are expected to grow fastest or have the most openings, and where pay has kept up with prices over about ten years. Every figure comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
A student can use it to spot careers worth a closer look. A parent can see which fields pay well and which have lost ground to inflation. A counselor gets a national starting point before narrowing to a state.
Before you start
- Choose United States. The overview appears only when Showing data for reads United States. If a state is chosen, the same space shows that state next to the U.S. instead (see the last part of Reading the results).
- Have a state in mind for the next step. The career names in the lists open that career's page, and those pages work one state at a time, so you will be asked to pick a state when you click one.
- Nothing to type. The section has no search box or filters. The only settings are the two 5y / 10y buttons on the charts.
Step by step
- Open the home page and make sure Showing data for reads United States. Below the eight tiles, the heading U.S. labor market at a glance appears once the figures have loaded.
- Read the headline strip: up to five boxes, U.S. unemployment, Job openings, Hires rate, Quits rate and Payroll jobs, each with the month it describes.
- Look at the two charts, the unemployment rate and the job openings, hires and quits rates. Each opens on the last five years. Click 10y above a chart to see ten years; click 5y to go back. The chart page explains them.
- Scroll to Jobs by industry and Top-paying careers in the U.S., side by side on a wide screen and one above the other on a phone.
- Below them, read Fastest-growing careers in the U.S. and Most job openings each year in the U.S.
- Then read Pay that grew faster than inflation and Pay that fell behind inflation.
- Click a career name in any of these lists. The Careers page opens and, because no state is chosen, shows Pick a state to see pay and schools for <career name>. with the state menu. Choose a state, and the page loads that career's summary for the state you chose.
- To compare the whole country with one state, follow the last line of the section, “Pick a state in "Showing data for" to compare it with the U.S.”, and choose a state at the top of the page.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for menu | Top of the home page, above the title | United States shows this overview. A state replaces it with that state next to the U.S. | United States on a first visit | See Choosing a state. |
| Headline boxes | Top of the section | Nothing; they are not clickable. | Shown when their figure exists | Each box names its month, which can differ from box to box. |
| Time range 5y / 10y on the unemployment chart | Top right of the unemployment chart | Shows the last five or the last ten years of the unemployment rate. | 5y | Changes only this chart. Details on the chart page. |
| Time range 5y / 10y on the openings, hires and quits chart | Top right of that chart | Shows the last five or ten years of the three rates. | 5y | Independent of the other chart's buttons. |
| Rows in Jobs by industry | Third row of the section, left | Nothing; industry names are plain text, not links. | Largest industry first | On a phone each row shows the name, then “Jobs … · 12-month change …”. |
| Career names in Top-paying careers in the U.S. | Third row, right | Opens that career on the Careers page. | Highest pay first | You will be asked to pick a state first. |
| Career names in Fastest-growing careers in the U.S. | Fourth row, left | Opens that career on the Careers page. | Fastest growth first | You will be asked to pick a state first. |
| Career names in Most job openings each year in the U.S. | Fourth row, right | Opens that career on the Careers page. | Most openings first | A few rows are broad groups of jobs rather than single careers; those names are plain text, not links. |
| Career names in Pay that grew faster than inflation | Fifth row, left | Opens that career on the Careers page. | Biggest real gain first | You will be asked to pick a state first. |
| Career names in Pay that fell behind inflation | Fifth row, right | Opens that career on the Careers page. | Biggest real loss first | You will be asked to pick a state first. |
Reading the results
Every block ends with a Source: line naming the BLS program and the month or years it covers. Rates are shown to one decimal place. A figure that is missing shows as —. The national figures are refreshed from BLS every night, so the months move forward as BLS publishes.
Headline strip
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. unemployment | Share of people in the labor force who are out of work and looking. The small line gives the month, “seasonally adjusted”, and the change from the same month a year earlier (for example “… points from a year earlier” or “no change from a year earlier”). | Percent; change in percentage points | BLS Current Population Survey, latest month | The newest seasonally adjusted national rate, minus the rate for the same month one year before. |
| Job openings | Jobs employers were trying to fill on the last day of the month. The small line adds the openings rate, “… of jobs”, and the month. | Number of openings, shown in millions; rate in percent | BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), national, seasonally adjusted, latest month | The published national count and rate for the newest month. |
| Hires rate | People hired during the month, as a share of all jobs (“share of jobs”). | Percent | JOLTS, same month | The published rate. |
| Quits rate | People who left their job by choice during the month, as a share of all jobs. A higher rate usually means workers feel confident about finding something else. | Percent | JOLTS, same month | The published rate. |
| Payroll jobs | All jobs on employers' payrolls outside farming. The small line gives the change “in 12 months” and the month. | Number of jobs, in millions; change in jobs | BLS Current Employment Statistics, total nonfarm, seasonally adjusted, latest month | The newest month's total, and that total minus the same month a year earlier. |
The openings, hires and quits figures usually run a month or so behind the unemployment and payroll figures, because BLS publishes them later. That is why the boxes can name different months.
The two charts
Unemployment rate, last 5 years draws the monthly national unemployment rate (BLS Current Population Survey, seasonally adjusted), with a “Latest:” line under it giving the newest rate and month. Job openings, hires and quits rates, last 5 years draws three lines, Openings rate, Hires rate and Quits rate, each as a share of all jobs (BLS JOLTS, seasonally adjusted). Each chart has its own Time range buttons, 5y (the default) and 10y, and its title changes to “last 10 years” when you switch. The newest month of openings, hires and quits is a first estimate that BLS revises the following month. Everything about these charts is on Unemployment, hires, openings and quits chart.
Jobs by industry
Sub-line: “Payroll jobs and the change from a year earlier”. Columns: Industry, Jobs, 12-month change.
- Industry: the eleven broad industry groups BLS uses: Mining and logging; Construction; Manufacturing; Trade, transportation, and utilities; Information; Financial activities; Professional and business services; Private education and health services; Leisure and hospitality; Other services; Government. Together they make up all nonfarm payroll jobs, so nothing is counted twice. Health care is inside “Private education and health services”.
- Jobs: payroll jobs in that industry in the latest month, shown in millions or as a whole number.
- 12-month change: jobs now minus jobs in the same month a year earlier, with the percentage change in brackets. A plus sign means growth; a minus sign means fewer jobs.
- Order: largest industry first. Rows are not numbered and not linked.
- Source: BLS Current Employment Statistics, seasonally adjusted; the month is in the source line.
Top-paying careers in the U.S.
Sub-line: “Median annual pay”. Up to ten careers, highest first.
- Value: the national median yearly wage in dollars: half the workers in the career earn more, half earn less.
- + after a figure: BLS does not publish a median above its top published value. Careers whose median is above it are shown at that value with a +, meaning “at least this much”, and listed first. The source line then adds “BLS doesn't publish medians above its top value, shown with +.”
- Which careers count: single careers (not broad groups) with a name, a published median, and more than 500 workers nationally.
- Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 (the source line gives the May year in use).
Fastest-growing careers in the U.S.
Sub-line: “Projected change in jobs, 2024–2034” (the years shown are those of the projection in use).
- Value: the percentage change in the number of jobs BLS projects between the first and last year of the projection, shown in green with a plus sign.
- Which careers count: only careers projected to grow, and only those with at least 5,000 jobs in the final year, so very small careers with large percentages do not crowd the list. Up to ten, fastest first.
- Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034.
Most job openings each year in the U.S.
Sub-line: “Projected average openings a year, 2024–2034, from new jobs and from workers leaving or retiring”.
- Value: the average number of openings per year over the projection, written as a number followed by “a year”. It counts openings from new jobs and from workers who retire or move to another career, so a large career with little growth can still rank high.
- Which careers count: the ten with the most openings. Catch-all groups whose name contains “All Other” are left out. A few rows are broad BLS groups that have no single career page; their names are not links.
- Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034.
Pay that grew faster than inflation / Pay that fell behind inflation
Sub-line: “Change in median pay, 2014–2024, adjusted for inflation with the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U)” when every career in that list starts in the same year. Most careers start in May 2014; a career with no 2014 figure starts in 2013 or 2012. When a list holds such a career, its sub-line reads “Change in median pay, adjusted for inflation with the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). May 2014 to May 2024 for most careers; a few start in 2012 or 2013.”, naming only the older years that actually occur. Each list has its own sub-line, in both the U.S. view and the state vs U.S. view.
- Value: the change in a career's national median yearly pay over about ten years, after inflation, in percent. Green with a plus in the first list; red with a minus in the second. Up to five careers in each.
- How it is computed: the older median is raised by the rise in consumer prices (CPI-U, U.S. city average, annual average) to today's dollars; the change is the newest median minus that adjusted figure, divided by the adjusted figure. The older year is normally ten years back; for a career with no figure that year, eleven or twelve years back is used.
- Which careers count: careers with at least 1,000 workers and a reliable pay estimate in both years. Broad catch-all groups (“All Other”, “Miscellaneous”) and legislators are left out, and so is any year in which BLS's pay figures for the career bunch up at one value, which makes the median unreliable.
- Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2014 and May 2024; BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).
When a block is missing or replaced by a line
- If the national figures cannot be loaded at all, the whole section stays hidden. The tiles and the rest of the home page are unaffected.
- A headline box is left out when its figure is missing; the strip disappears if all five are.
- A list with fewer than three careers to show is replaced by one plain line, such as “Too few careers with U.S. pay data to rank.”, “Too few growing careers in the U.S. projections to rank.”, “Too few careers with projected openings in the U.S. to rank.”, or “Too few U.S. careers where pay grew faster than inflation over about 10 years to rank.”
- Fewer than three industries: “Jobs by industry aren't available right now.” No unemployment figures: “The U.S. unemployment trend isn't available right now.” Too few openings, hires and quits months: “Job openings, hires and quits rates aren't available right now.”
When a state is chosen instead
The section becomes your state vs U.S. (for example “Ohio vs U.S.”) with the line “How … compares with the whole country on jobs, pay and hiring.” Headline boxes show the state and the U.S. side by side for the unemployment rate and the openings, hires and quits rates, taken at the state's latest month. The unemployment chart has two lines, the state's rate (BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics) and the U.S. rate. The career lists (top-paying, fastest-growing, and the two inflation lists) are ranked by the state's figures, with a U.S. column next to each; a — there means BLS has no national figure for that career on the same basis. In the top-paying list, a figure with a + (state or U.S.) is at or above the BLS top value, as in the U.S. list; top-coded state careers are listed first. A strip called your state only shows counts of universities, degree programs and careers Samantar has for the state, and either a list of the careers with the most openings or the most hiring there, or a line explaining why the state's projections cannot be ranked that way. Jobs by industry and the openings, hires and quits chart are national only and do not appear. If the comparison cannot be loaded, the section shows “U.S. comparison isn't available right now.”
For how all of these figures are produced, see how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A high school junior in Ohio is curious about health care and wants a national picture before narrowing down.
- She opens the home page with Showing data for on United States. U.S. labor market at a glance appears below the tiles.
- The headline strip shows the national unemployment rate with its month and the change from a year earlier, the number of job openings in millions, the hires and quits rates, and total payroll jobs with their 12-month change.
- In Jobs by industry she finds “Private education and health services” near the top, with its jobs in millions and a 12-month change with a plus or minus sign.
- In Fastest-growing careers in the U.S. she sees ten careers with green percentages for 2024–2034, several of them in health care. In Most job openings each year in the U.S. she sees a different set: large careers with many openings a year, even where growth is modest.
- In Pay that grew faster than inflation she checks whether any of those careers also gained in real pay over about ten years.
- She clicks a nursing career in one of the lists. The Careers page opens with Pick a state to see pay and schools for, followed by the name of the career she clicked. She chooses Ohio, and the page loads that career's summary for Ohio.
- Back on the home page, it now shows Ohio vs U.S., because Ohio is remembered. She compares Ohio's unemployment rate and the top-growing careers in Ohio with the national figures next to them.
Common questions
- Why does clicking a career ask me to pick a state?
- Career pages show pay, schools and jobs for one state at a time. In the national view no state is chosen, so the page asks for one. The career you clicked is kept; once you choose a state, its page loads.
- Why do the headline boxes show different months?
- BLS publishes each survey on its own schedule. The openings, hires and quits survey usually comes out about a month after the unemployment rate and payroll jobs for the same month.
- Why did the newest figure change since yesterday?
- The figures are refreshed from BLS every night. When BLS publishes a new month, it appears, and BLS also revises recent months of openings, hires, quits and payroll jobs as more survey responses come in.
- What does the + after a salary mean?
- BLS does not publish medians above a top value. A career whose median is above it is shown at that value with a +, meaning the real median is at least that much.
- Why is a career that is growing fast missing from Fastest-growing?
- The list leaves out careers with fewer than 5,000 jobs at the end of the projection, and it only has room for ten. Very small careers can grow by large percentages without adding many jobs.
- Why are the Fastest-growing and Most openings lists so different?
- One measures percentage growth; the other counts all openings a year, including those from people retiring or changing careers. A large career with slow growth can have far more openings than a small career growing quickly.
- Why do some names in Most job openings have no link?
- A few rows are broad groups of jobs that BLS projects together but that have no single career page on Samantar, so there is nothing to open.
- The whole overview is missing. Why?
- If the national figures cannot be loaded, the section is hidden rather than shown half empty. Reload later. If a state is chosen, you see that state's comparison instead; choose United States to get the national view back.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board. The lists describe careers; there are no job postings or applications here.
- It is not advice. A career on a list is not a recommendation.
- Projections and pay figures are estimates from BLS surveys and models, not guarantees of what any person will earn or find.
- Nothing about you is stored to view it; sign-in is only for saving reports.
- It shows national figures only. Pay, growth and openings in your state can be quite different; choose a state to compare.
- It does not show the years behind each individual career in the inflation lists; the sub-line gives the overall span.
Related
- Unemployment, hires, openings and quits chart
- Choosing a state
- Home page tiles
- State pages, and the state panels such as Top-paying careers and Real-wage winners and losers
- Careers: where a career name takes you.
- The live page: Home.