The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is a monthly survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that measures job vacancies, hires, and separations across the U.S. economy. First published in December 2000, JOLTS has become one of the most closely watched indicators of labor market health.

The survey collects data from approximately 21,000 nonfarm business and government establishments, providing insights into labor demand that complement the more widely known Employment Situation report (commonly known as the "jobs report").

Job openings serve as a leading indicator of labor demand. When openings rise, it typically signals employer confidence and economic expansion. Conversely, declining openings often precede broader economic slowdowns and rising unemployment.

The Federal Reserve closely monitors JOLTS data when making monetary policy decisions. The ratio of job openings to unemployed workers (the "vacancy-to-unemployment ratio") is particularly significant—a high ratio suggests a tight labor market with employers competing for workers, while a low ratio indicates labor market slack.

This dashboard pulls data directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics public API. The data is refreshed automatically via scheduled background jobs using Convex, ensuring you always see the most current figures.

All job openings values are seasonally adjusted and expressed in thousands. The dashboard converts these to millions for readability (e.g., 7,500 thousand = 7.50M).

The dashboard provides three primary views:

The rotating insights at the top right provide automatically generated analysis of notable patterns in the data, including peak comparisons, sector-specific changes, and pre-pandemic benchmarks.

CHART CONTROLS

Contributed by @grandSpecial, this feature pulls live federal job postings from USAJOBS.gov and scans them for AI-related skills. It answers a question central to this project: how is AI changing the job market?

While JOLTS data shows us aggregate trends in job openings, it doesn't tell us what skills employers are actually looking for. By scanning federal job postings for keywords like "machine learning," "LLM," "prompt engineering," and other AI-related terms, we can see in real-time how AI skills are becoming embedded in workforce requirements.

The significance goes beyond just "AI jobs." When employers add AI skills to existing roles, they're betting that AI-augmented workers will be more productive— potentially reducing the need for additional hiring. A single employee who can leverage AI tools effectively might do the work that previously required two or three. This is the productivity story that could reshape labor demand even as job openings appear stable.

This feature is experimental and meant to provide directional insight rather than precise measurement. Think of it as one more signal in understanding how AI is reshaping the workforce.

Built with modern web technologies to deliver real-time data updates without manual page refreshes:

Data is fetched via scheduled Convex cron jobs and stored in a reactive database, enabling instant UI updates when new BLS releases become available.