36  Monthly Labor Review • May 2010

JOLTS Annual Story

Data from the Job Openings and 

Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) reflect the continued impact that the 

recession which began in December 2007 

(according to the National Bureau of Economic Research1

) has had on the demand 

for labor and worker flows. Job openings—

a measure of labor demand—and hires and 

separations—measures of worker flows—all 

declined during the 2007–09 period and 

reached series lows in 2009. The job openings rate, seasonally adjusted, dropped from 

3.1 percent in December 2007 to 1.9 percent in December 2009. The job openings 

rate reached a series low of 1.8 percent in 

April 2009. The annual hires rate declined 

from 46.1 percent to 37.2 percent, a series 

low, during the 2007-to-2009 period. The 

annual separations rate (which includes 

both voluntary and involuntary separations) 

dropped from 45.1 percent to 41.0 percent, 

also a series low, during the 2007–09 period. 

(See table 1.)

The downward trends in job openings, 

hires, and separations that began in 2007 are 

consistent with recessionary trends in other 

economic statistics. The unemployment rate 

reached a peak of 10.1 percent in October 

2009, having climbed from 5.0 percent in 

December 2007. Nonfarm employment 

reached a low of 130 million in December 

Job openings, hires, and separations 

fall during the recession

JOLTS data indicate record-low levels of job openings, hires, 

and separations in 2009, as well as a record-high number 

of layoffs and discharges

2009 after having fallen from a high of 138 

million in December 2007, a net employment loss of approximately 8 million.2

The JOLTS program measures job openings, hires, and separations on a monthly 

basis by industry3 and geographic region. 

JOLTS gauges labor demand by collecting 

data monthly from a sample of approximately 16,000 nonfarm business establishments. Published JOLTS data are available 

from December 2000 forward. All monthly 

JOLTS data used in this report are seasonally 

adjusted.

Job openings

During the recession that began in December 2007, the number of job openings has 

indicated a contraction in labor demand. 

National job openings reached a prerecession peak of 4.8 million in March 2007. By 

the official start of the recession, job openings had decreased to 4.4 million. Nonfarm 

payroll employment peaked at 138 million 

in December 2007. The declines in job openings became steeper after the onset of the 

recession. In a weak economy, job openings 

fall as employers cut back their hiring plans 

in response to weak demand.4 The national 

job openings level reached a series low of 2.3 

million in July 2009, a decline of 2.5 million 

Mark deWolf and 

Katherine Klemmer 

are economists in the 

Division of Administrative 

Statistics and Labor 

Turnover in the Office 

of Employment and 

Unemployment Statistics 

at the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics. Email: 

dewolf.mark@bls.gov 

or klemmer.katherine@

bls.gov

Mark deWolf 

and 

Katherine Klemmer
Monthly Labor Review • May 2010  37

Table 1. Job openings (seasonally adjusted), hires, and separations rates and levels, 2007–09

[In thousands]

December rates December levels

Dec. 2007 Dec. 2008 Dec. 2009 Dec. 2007 Dec. 2008 Dec. 2009

Job openings................................ 3.1 2.2 1.9 4,378 3,078 2,531

Annual rates Annual levels

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

Hires.................................................. 46.1 41.1 37.2 63,404 56,204 48,696

Separations................................... 45.1 43.6 41.0 62,125 59,640 53,679

Definitions of JOLTS terms

Job openings. Monthly job openings are defined as the number of 

openings on the last day of the reference month. 

Hires. Monthly hires are all additions of personnel to the payroll 

during the reference month, and annual hires are all additions to 

the payroll during a given year.

Total separations. Monthly total separations are the number of 

employees separated from payroll during the reference month, and 

annual total separations are the number separated during a given 

year. Separations are classified as quits, layoffs and discharges, and 

other separations.

Quits. Cases in which people left a job voluntarily but did 

not retire or transfer.

Layoffs and discharges. Involuntary separations initiated by 

employers.

Other separations. Retirements, transfers, deaths, and separations caused by disability. 

openings from its March 2007 peak. Job openings trended 

up in the second half of 2009, and the national level was 

2.7 million in February 2010. (See chart 1.)

Job openings by industry. The monthly job openings levels 

for all published industries have trended downward during the recession, with every industry falling to a series low 

during 2009. The job openings levels for most industries 

began to decline before the start of the recession. The two 

industries with the steepest drops in job openings were 

construction and manufacturing. Both industries peaked 

in early 2007 and trended downward prior to the recession. For all JOLTS industries, the decline in job openings 

appears to have leveled off in the second half of 2009. 

Manufacturing has trended upward since July 2009, and 

retail trade has done so since November 2009. All industries except for manufacturing ended 2009 with fewer job 

openings than existed in December 2008. 

Job openings by region. The finest geographical breakout 

the JOLTS sample can provide is for the Midwest, 

Northeast, South, and West regions. All four regions 

experienced recessionary trends in job openings similar 

to that of the national level, reaching their peaks before 

December 2007. Job openings trended downward in the 

four regions during the recession and dropped to series lows 

in July 2009. The West experienced the largest decline in 

job openings, with the level dropping 59 percent from the 

start of the recession to July 2009. The downward trend in 

job openings appears to have subsided in the four regions 

during the middle of 2009, with an upward trend starting 

at the end of the year. Despite the upward movement late 

in the year, all four regions had lower levels of job openings 

in December 2009 than in December 2008.

Job openings and unemployment. Historically, the total 

nonfarm job openings rate and the Current Population 

Survey’s national unemployment rate have moved 

inversely. An economic expansion is indicated by a low 

unemployment rate and a high rate of job openings. A 

contraction is indicated by a high unemployment rate 

and a low rate of job openings. Chart 2 illustrates the 

historically inverse relationship between these two series: 

the two rates move toward each other during expansions 

and away from each other during contractions. Before the 

recession the difference between the two rates had never 

(since the beginning of the JOLTS data series) surpassed 3.8 

percentage points. With the exception of the period from 

the beginning of the data series through May 2001, the 

difference between the two series was smallest in March 

2007. In April 2007, the two rates began to move away 

from each other, reflecting the weakening of the economy 

before the beginning of the most recent recession. At 

the onset of the recession, the difference between the job 

openings rate and the unemployment rate began to grow 

rapidly, reaching a series high of 8.2 percent in October 

2009. Since October the gap has decreased, and by 

February 2010 it was 7.6 percent. (See chart 2.)
JOLTS Annual Story

38  Monthly Labor Review • May 2010

 Chart 1. JOLTS total nonfarm job openings and CES total nonfarm employment, both seasonally adjusted, 

December 2000–February 2010

Job openings Employment

Job openings

[In thousands]

5,500

5,000

4,500

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

2,000

Dec 2000 Dec 2001 Dec 2002 Dec 2003 Dec 2004 Dec 2005 Dec 2006 Dec 2007 Dec 2008 Dec 2009

140,000

138,000

136,000

134,000

132,000

130,000

128,000

126,000

124,000

Employment

 Chart 2. JOLTS job openings rate and CPS unemployment rate, both seasonally adjusted, December 2000–

February 2010

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0

Job openings

rate

Dec 2000 Dec 2001 Dec 2002 Dec 2003 Dec 2004 Dec 2005 Dec 2006 Dec 2007 Dec 2008 Dec 2009

Unemployment

rate

Job openings rate

Unemployment rate

1.0

8.2

3.8

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0
Monthly Labor Review • May 2010  39

The Beveridge Curve is the economic model used to 

examine the inverse relationship between labor demand 

(as measured by job openings) and labor supply (as 

measured by the number of unemployed people) over 

time.5 The curve plots the job openings rate with respect to 

the unemployment rate. During the recession that began 

in December 2007, the curve began to move southeasterly, 

with job openings and labor demand decreasing and 

unemployment and excess labor supply increasing. The 

movement reflects the contracting job market. In October 

2008 the curve started to move horizontally to the right 

as the unemployment rate increased faster than the job 

openings rate decreased. The lowest points on the curve, 

representing the series lows for the job openings rate, 

occurred in April, July, and August 2009, but the highest 

unemployment rate did not occur until October 2009. 

(See chart 3.)

Another way to look at the effect the recession had on the 

labor market is to create a ratio from the unemployment 

and job openings data. In the most recent recession, the 

ratio has increased. There are many more unemployed 

people than there are job openings. The southeasterly 

movement of the Beveridge Curve during the recession 

also shows that the number of jobseekers per opening was 

increasing.6

3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0 9.5 10.0 10.5

 Chart 3. The Beveridge curve (job openings rate versus unemployment rate), seasonally adjusted, December 

2000–February 2010

Job openings

rate

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

Job openings 

rate

Unemployment rate

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

Oct. ‘09

Dec. ‘07

Apr. ‘09 Aug. ‘09

Feb. ‘10

Nov. ‘01

Oct. ‘08

Dec. ‘00 Mar. ‘01

The ratio of unemployed persons per job opening 

bottomed in late 2006 to early 2007 and then began to 

climb through the onset of the December 2007 recession. 

The ratio reached a series high of 6.2 unemployed persons 

per job opening in November 2009 and has since fallen. 

The ratio was 5.5 in February 2010. 7 (See chart 4.)

Hires and separations

The levels of both hires and separations began to decline 

during the months before the most recent recession 

began. Both the level of hires and that of separations 

reached high points in May 2006: 5.6 million hires 

and approximately the same number of separations. 

Employment, as measured by the Current Employment 

Statistics program, reached a high point of 138 million 

in December 2007. Shortly after the recession began, the 

level of hires and that of employment showed steep drops 

whereas separations declined slowly until a more rapid 

decline began after January 2009. From January 2008 

through January 2010, separations consistently exceeded 

hires, causing employment levels to drop.8 Hires and 

employment leveled off in late 2009, whereas separations 

have continued to decline. (See chart 5.)

The level of hires hovered between 5.3 million and 5.6 
JOLTS Annual Story

40  Monthly Labor Review • May 2010

 Chart 4. Ratio of unemployed persons per job opening, seasonally adjusted, December 2000–February 2010

Unemployed persons

per job opening 

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0

Dec 2000 Dec 2001 Dec 2002 Dec 2003 Dec 2004 Dec 2005 Dec 2006 Dec 2007 Dec 2008 Dec 2009

Unemployed persons

per job opening 

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0

 Chart 5. Hires, separations, and employment, all seasonally adjusted, December 2000–February 2010

Hires and 

separations

6,000

5,500

5,000

4,500

4,000

3,500

Employment

Employment

Separations

Hires

Dec 2000 Dec 2001 Dec 2002 Dec 2003 Dec 2004 Dec 2005 Dec 2006 Dec 2007 Dec 2008 Dec 2009

140,000

135,000

130,000

125,000

[In thousands]
Monthly Labor Review • May 2010  41

million from May 2006 through November 2006 and 

then began a steady decline. In June 2009, the hires level 

dropped to a series low of 3.9 million. Since July 2009, 

the hires level has remained between 4.0 million and 4.2 

million. A primary reason for the drop in hires before and 

during the recession was the hiring freezes implemented 

by companies that were looking to reduce the size of their 

workforce but avoid layoffs.9 Total annual hires for 2009 

were 48.7 million, making that year the weakest one since 

the series began.10

The dynamic nature of the labor market has remained 

apparent during the recession that began in December 

2007. Hires and separations have continued to occur, albeit at increasingly lower levels. Although many companies 

have discharged employees, many of them have continued 

to hire at the same time. Sometimes companies lay off employees with outdated skills and search for new employees 

who have different skills because the companies are moving away from retaining and retraining employees.11 

In May 2006, the separations level was 5.6 million. The 

separations level declined from that point to reach a series 

low in February 2010 of 4.0 million. Between May 2006 

and January 2009, the number of separations had declined 

at a slower pace; after January 2009, separations began a 

steeper drop. The relatively slower decline in separations 

between May 2006 and January 2009 can be attributed to 

high levels of layoffs and discharges. Another component 

of separations is quits, which declined from November 

2006 through September 2009. Economic uncertainty has 

likely resulted in workers keeping the jobs that they have 

instead of risking unemployment.12 Beginning in January 

2009, layoffs and discharges started to decline. The separations level for the year 2009 declined to 53.7 million, 

which is the lowest annual level since the series began. 

Hires by industry. Hires within industries show trends 

similar to the trend at the national level. Seasonally adjusted 

monthly data show that in most industries hires began to 

decline before the onset of the recession. Hires in construction peaked relatively early—in August 2005—at 534,000 

hires and declined through June 2009, when they reached a 

low point of 268,000. In late 2009 and early 2010, construction hires have risen slightly. Manufacturing hires peaked at 

421,000 in March 2006 and reached a trough of 204,000 in 

May 2009. Retail trade; professional and business services; 

education and health services; and arts, entertainment, and 

recreation all appear to have reached low points and leveled 

off or increased slightly by early 2010. The exception is accommodation and food services, for which hiring peaked 

in November 2006 and declined from that point onward; 

hiring in this industry was at a series low in February 2010. 

Annual hires data show that all industries declined for the 

year 2009, with the exception of the “other services” industry, which showed a slight increase in hires. 

Hires by region. Annual hires in all four Census regions 

have declined since the beginning of the recession and 

dropped to series lows in 2009. From 2007 to 2009, the 

South experienced the largest decline in hires, followed 

closely by the West.13 Hires fell in the South from 24 million annually in 2007 to 18 million annually in 2009. Annual hires in the West fell from 15 million in 2007 to 

11 million in 2009. Both the Northeast and the Midwest 

also have been affected by the recession, with annual hires 

levels falling by 1.2 million in the former and 3.4 million 

in the latter from 2007 to 2009. 

Components of total separations

Total separations comprise quits, layoffs and discharges, 

and other separations. Each component contributes to 

the overall movement in total separations. However, every 

component has unique trends and cyclical movements. 

Overall, monthly total separations changed little from the 

beginning of the recession through early 2009, hovering 

between 4.8 million and 5.1 million. Still, the labor market has remained dynamic, as indicated by the underlying 

movements of the components of separations. Quits decreased because many employees chose to keep their jobs. 

Layoffs and discharges, in contrast, increased. 

The number of quits usually exceeds the number of layoffs and discharges. During the most recent economic expansion, the gap between quits and layoffs and discharges 

widened considerably and then narrowed during 2007. 

The two series reversed an 8-year trend when the number 

of layoffs and discharges exceeded the number of quits in 

November 2008 for the first time. Layoffs and discharges 

continued to exceed quits through January 2010. February 

2010 is the first month since November 2008 in which 

the quits level was higher than the layoffs and discharges 

level. (See chart 6.)

Between 2007 and 2009, the relative annual contributions to total separations of quits and of layoffs and discharges changed dramatically. Note the differences between the two pie graphs of chart 7. From 2007 to 2009, 

the annual share of quits dropped from 57 percent to 

41 percent. In that same period, the share of layoffs and 

discharges increased from 36 percent to 52 percent. The 

share of other separations remained stable at 7 percent 

from 2007 through 2009 in spite of an aging baby-boomer 
JOLTS Annual Story

42  Monthly Labor Review • May 2010

 Chart 7. Composition of total separations, 2007 and 2009

Composition of total 

separations: 2007

Composition of total 

separations: 2009

Percentage

other

separations

7%

Percentage

quits 

41%

Percentage

layoffs and

discharges

52%

Percentage

quits 

57%

Percentage

other

separations

7%

Percentage

layoffs and

discharges

36%

 Chart 6. Quits and layoffs and discharges, both seasonally adjusted, December 2000–February 2010

[In thousands]

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0

Dec 2000 Dec 2001 Dec 2002 Dec 2003 Dec 2004 Dec 2005 Dec 2006 Dec 2007 Dec 2008 Dec 2009

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0

Layoffs and discharges

Quits

[In thousands]
Monthly Labor Review • May 2010  43

Table 3. Annual levels of quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations, by region, 2007–09

[In thousands]

Region

Quits Layoffs and discharges Other separations

2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009 2007 2008 2009

Northeast........................................ 4,708 4,622 3,294 4,002 4,395 5,335 820 779 740

South................................................. 14,475 12,426 8,645 7,912 8,300 9,554 1,475 1,372 1,445

Midwest........................................... 7,554 6,893 4,928 5,282 5,316 6,103 1,034 954 900

West.................................................. 8,370 7,131 5,100 5,359 6,538 6,797 1,134 916 839

population, possibly indicating a recession-induced reluctance among workers to retire. (See table 2 and chart 7.)

Components of separations by industry and region. From the 

onset of the recession in December 2007 through February 2010, each industry has shown an overall decline 

in the quits level. Annual quits decreased from 2008 to 

2009 in every JOLTS industry and, with the exception of 

educational services, reached a series low in each industry. 

In addition, quits declined from 2008 to 2009 in every 

region on an annual basis. The majority of industries and 

all regions showed a decline in quits from 2007 to 2008.

The annual number of layoffs and discharges increased 

from 2008 to 2009 in every industry with the exceptions 

of retail trade and arts, entertainment, and recreation, and 

reached series highs in almost every industry. On an annual basis, layoffs and discharges increased in every region from 2008 to 2009. From 2007 to 2008, layoffs and 

discharges increased for the majority of industries and all 

regions. (See table 3.)

Most industries showed small declines in the component of other separations from 2007 to 2008 and from 

2008 to 2009. Construction showed the largest decline in 

2009, with 100,000 fewer other separations than in 2008. 

Examination of the demand for labor and of 

worker flows provides valuable insight into how employers react to the business cycle. JOLTS data show that 

the labor market contracted over the 2007–09 period. 

Both the number of job openings and the number of hires 

declined from the months before the recession through 

the first half of 2009. Decomposition of the separations 

data shows that underlying churning in the labor market caused a significant shift in the behavior of quits and 

layoffs and discharges data that caused the two series to 

reverse their historical trend.

NOTES

1 Determination of the December 2007 Peak in Economic Activity (Cambridge, Mass., National Bureau of Economic Research), on 

the Internet at www.nber.org/cycles/dec2008.html (visited May 11, 

2010). The National Bureau of Economic Research has not yet determined an endpoint for the recession. Therefore, all economic analysis 

in this article neither assumes the recession has ended nor assumes it 

is still ongoing.

2 Data on annual employment levels are available from the Current 

Employment Statistics program at http://stats.bls.gov/ces/home.

htm (visited Apr. 6, 2010).

3 The term “industry” can refer to a supersector, sector, or subsector, 

depending on the context. In analyzing “industries,” the JOLTS program follows the North American Industry Classification System.

Table 2. Composition of JOLTS separations, 2001–09

Year

Total separations, in thousandsLayoffs and 

discharges, in 

thousands

Layoffs and 

discharges:

percentage of 

total separations

Quits, in 

thousands

Quits: percentage of total 

separations

Other separations, in thousands

Other 

separations:

percentage 

of total separations

2001......................................... 65,610 24,351 37.1 36,405 55.5 4,851 7.4

2002......................................... 60,412 23,325 38.6 32,375 53.6 4,711 7.8

2003......................................... 57,847 23,959 41.4 29,351 50.7 4,537 7.8

2004......................................... 59,666 23,389 39.2 31,852 53.4 4,425 7.4

2005......................................... 62,107 22,774 36.7 34,964 56.3 4,369 7.0

2006.......................................... 62,661 21,460 34.2 36,327 58.0 4,871 7.8

2007......................................... 62,125 22,557 36.3 35,108 56.5 4,464 7.2

2008.......................................... 59,640 24,549 41.2 31,074 52.1 4,018 6.7

2009.......................................... 53,679 27,790 51.8 21,964 40.9 3,921 7.3
JOLTS Annual Story

44  Monthly Labor Review • May 2010

4 Kelly A. Clark and Rosemary Hyson, “New tools for labor market 

analysis: JOLTS,” Monthly Labor Review, December 2001, on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2001/12/art4full.pdf (visited Apr. 26, 

2010).

5 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 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003), on the Internet at

www.bls.gov/osmr/pdf/st030150.pdf (visited Apr. 26, 2010).

6 Julie Hotchkiss and Menbere Shiferaw, “Employment Survey 

Delivers JOLTS,” EconSouth, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, first 

quarter 2010, on the Internet at www.frbatlanta.org/documents/

pubs/econsouth/q110econsouth.pdf (visited Mar. 22, 2010).

7 Katherine Klemmer, “Job availability during a recession: an examination of the number of unemployed persons per job opening,” Issues 

in Labor Statistics, March 2010, on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/

ils/pdf/opbils80.pdf (visited Apr. 14, 2010).

8 Casey B. Mulligan, “Another Look at Hiring and Layoffs,” The 

New York Times Economix blog, Dec. 23, 2009, on the Internet at 

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/another-look-athiring-and-layoffs/ (visited Apr. 12, 2010).

9 Chris Isidore, “The jobs problem you don’t know about,” 

CNNMoney.com, Feb. 9, 2009, on the Internet at http://money.cnn.

com/2009/02/05/news/economy/jobs_outlook/index.htm (visited 

Mar. 22, 2010).

10 Mark Lieberman, “In English, Please: A Dismal Jolt,” FOXBusiness, July 7, 2009, on the Internet at www.foxbusiness.com/story/

markets/english-dismal-jolt/ (visited Mar. 22, 2010). 

11 Cari Tuna, “Many Companies Hire as They Fire,” The Wall Street 

Journal, May 11, 2009, p. B6, on the Internet at http://online.wsj.

com/article/SB124198904713604533.html (visited Mar. 22, 2010).

12 Chris Isidore, “Take this job and tolerate it,” CNNMoney.com, 

Mar. 23, 2010, on the Internet at http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/23/

news/economy/trapped_in_a_job/ (visited Apr. 21, 2010).

13 Hotchkiss and Shiferaw, “Employment Survey Delivers JOLTS.”