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Handbook of Methods Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Presentation

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey : Presentation

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) program publishes national seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted estimates at the total nonfarm, total private, and government levels for all sampled North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) sectors and subsectors and total nonfarm estimates by region. At the total private level, estimates are produced by establishment size class. The JOLTS program also produces total nonfarm state-level estimates for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

JOLTS estimates are published monthly, with the publication dates set prior to the beginning of each calendar year. Estimates are released at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on the publication dates. National estimates are published the first week of the month or the last week of the prior month. State estimates are published within 2 weeks of the national estimates.

Estimates of rates and levels are summarized in the JOLTS monthly news release for the current month and the revised previous month and are available on at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/jolts.pdf. Archived news releases are also available on the JOLTS website. Time series data are accessible on the JOLTS website by using the database tools. Significant change tables provide tests of significance for over-the-month and over-the-year changes. The JOLTS Publications section of the JOLTS website provides JOLTS-related articles from the Monthly Labor Review and other Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) sources.

JOLTS produces both a preliminary and final estimate each month with the final estimate being the revised preliminary estimate. The revised estimate incorporates any corrected or late-reported microdata. If additional corrections are needed, the data will be footnoted in the public database and noted on the BLS errata page. Please see the Calculation section for a description of sampling and nonsampling error.

Annual national estimates of rates and levels for hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, other separations, and total separations are released with the January news release, which comes out in March each year. Annual state estimates of rates and levels for hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, and total separations are released in June of each year.

The annual estimates of levels are approximately equal to the sum of the 12 published monthly levels. The annual estimates of rates are computed by dividing the annual level by the Current Employment Statistics (CES) annual average employment level and multiplying the resulting quotient by 100. The annual rate is approximately equal to the sum of the 12 monthly rates.

Annual estimates are not calculated for job openings. Job openings are a stock, or point-in-time, measurement on the last business day of each month. Only jobs still open on the last day of the month are counted. For the same reason that job openings are not cumulated throughout each month, annual figures for job openings are not created by summing the monthly estimates. Because hires and separations are flow measures and are cumulated over the month with a total reported for the month, these annual figures are calculated by summing the monthly estimates.

Data revisions

The JOLTS press releases highlight preliminary estimates for the current month, which are revised the following month. At the end of each calendar year, estimates are revised for the 5 previous years. See the Calculation section, Annual estimates and benchmarking, for more information.

Error correction policy

BLS statistical products must meet high standards of reliability, accuracy, timeliness, and objectivity in order to provide a sound and efficient basis for decisions and actions by governments, businesses, households, and other organizations. BLS statistical products must be released on a timely basis to ensure that all users have equitable and timely access to data and analyses that are disseminated to the public. Errors in published statistical products discovered after release will be evaluated and a plan of action developed within three working days of discovery, or as soon as practical. When a substantial correction will be required, the public will be notified that an error exists, and, where possible, informed of the extent of the error and given a date when corrections will be applied.