PlainLabor

About PlainLabor

Our Mission

The U.S. labor market generates a monthly flood of data that shapes Federal Reserve decisions, drives policy debates, and signals economic turning points, yet most of that data is locked in spreadsheets and time-series databases designed for economists, not the general public. We built PlainLabor because we believe every worker, business owner, and student deserves to understand what the labor market looks like in their state and industry.

Our philosophy is simple: take the most important labor market indicators, job openings, hires, quits, and layoffs, and present them in a format anyone can browse, compare, and understand. PlainLabor transforms the Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS survey from dense time-series codes into clear, navigable state and industry profiles.

We believe that labor market transparency empowers better decisions, whether you are negotiating a raise, choosing where to relocate, evaluating a career change, or simply trying to understand the health of the American economy.

JOLTS is one of the most closely watched economic indicators by the Federal Reserve, Wall Street analysts, and labor economists. PlainLabor brings that same data to everyone else, no subscription, no login, no data science skills required.

What is JOLTS?

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It measures five key labor market flows that together paint a comprehensive picture of workforce dynamics:

  • Job Openings - Positions available to be filled on the last business day of the reference month
  • Hires - Total additions to payroll during the month
  • Quits - Voluntary separations initiated by employees, widely considered the best indicator of worker confidence
  • Layoffs and Discharges - Involuntary separations initiated by employers
  • Total Separations - All separations including quits, layoffs, and other reasons such as retirements and disability

JOLTS data is collected from a sample of approximately 21,000 nonfarm business and government establishments. The survey covers all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with industry breakdowns following the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

JOLTS is a key economic indicator used by the Federal Reserve, policymakers, and economists to assess labor market health and tightness. The ratio of job openings to unemployed workers is particularly watched as a measure of labor market slack.

Our Data Sources

All data on PlainLabor comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) JOLTS survey. We access the data through two channels:

  • BLS Public API - Programmatic access to JOLTS time series for automated monthly updates
  • JOLTS Flat Files - Complete time-series data files available at download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/jt/, including series definitions, area codes, industry codes, and historical data points

The BLS JOLTS program publishes both seasonally adjusted and not-seasonally-adjusted data at the national level, and not-seasonally-adjusted data at the state level. Industry breakdowns are available for major NAICS sectors at the national level.

How We Process the Data

We pull the full JOLTS time series directly from BLS data files and process them through several stages:

  • Series Parsing - BLS publishes JOLTS as coded time series (e.g., JTS000000000000000JOR). We decode each series ID into its component dimensions: data element, state or region, industry code, and rate type
  • Time-Series Assembly - Monthly data points are assembled into chronological records for each state-industry-metric combination, preserving BLS revision flags
  • State Profiles - Data is organized into browsable state profiles showing all metrics for one state, with the latest month highlighted and historical trends preserved
  • Industry Profiles - National-level data is organized by NAICS sector, enabling comparison of labor market health across industries
  • Rankings - State-level rankings are computed across six categories including job opening rates, quit rates, and hiring rates
  • Indexing - Database indexes optimize lookups by state code, industry code, date, and metric type

Each metric is stored as reported by BLS without modification. When BLS marks a data point as preliminary, we preserve that status on the page. Historical data is retained so users can track trends over time.

Our database updates automatically each month when new JOLTS figures are published. Previous months' data may be revised by BLS in subsequent releases as late-arriving survey responses are incorporated.

Data Currency

BLS publishes new JOLTS data on the first Tuesday of each month (or the following business day). Each release covers data from two months prior, for example, the April release covers February data. This two-month lag is inherent to the JOLTS survey methodology.

Our database updates within 24 hours of each monthly BLS publication. We monitor the BLS release calendar and incorporate both new data and revisions to previous months in each update cycle.

BLS revises JOLTS data in subsequent months as late-arriving survey responses are processed. Initial estimates are marked as preliminary, and final figures typically appear two to three months after the initial release.

Editorial Independence

Raw data from BLS, DOL, EEOC, and related labor agencies is loaded into PlainLabor, validated against the upstream release, and reviewed by the PlainLabor editorial team (operating under PlainLabor) before publication. The team is responsible for editorial standards, methodology, and corrections.

We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from employers, agencies, or any labor-market entity. Our only revenue source is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense, advertisers do not influence which entities we cover or how we present data, and they do not receive preferential placement.

Limitations and Disclaimers

PlainLabor is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Bureau of Labor Statistics or any government agency. This site is for informational purposes only.

  • Sample-based estimates - JOLTS data is derived from a sample of approximately 21,000 establishments, not a complete census. Figures are subject to sampling error, particularly at the state and industry level
  • Nonfarm only - JOLTS covers nonfarm payroll employment. Agricultural workers, self-employed individuals, and unpaid family workers are excluded
  • State data is not seasonally adjusted - State-level data is only available not-seasonally-adjusted, so month-to-month comparisons may reflect seasonal patterns rather than underlying trends
  • Industry detail varies by geography - Not all industry breakdowns are available for all states. BLS suppresses estimates when sample sizes are too small
  • Two-month publication lag - JOLTS data reflects conditions from two months before the release date
  • Rates vs. levels - JOLTS publishes both levels (thousands of openings/hires/quits) and rates (as a percentage of employment). Rate comparisons across states are more meaningful than level comparisons due to state size differences

While we strive for accuracy, verify important information with official BLS sources at bls.gov/jlt.

Editorial Team

PlainLabor is published by PlainLabor Editorial, a small independent team that builds public-data portals so that government records remain accessible to the people they describe. Our editorial work on JOLTS and labor-market data is led by editors with backgrounds in labor economics, BLS publication interpretation, and economic-policy reporting, disciplines that combine to vet what the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes, surface its limitations (revision schedules, sample-design constraints, NAICS sector aggregation choices), and translate Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey series-level codes into language a job seeker, employer, or policymaker can use.

We do not employ practicing economists or licensed labor analysts, and we do not publish original economic forecasts. Instead, our editorial standard is verification, citation, and transparency: every JOLTS quit rate, layoff rate, hire rate, openings level, and unemployment-claims figure we surface is traceable to a BLS or DOL release, and every methodology decision (how we deduplicate revisions, how we time-align across vintages, how we handle seasonal-adjustment changes) is documented at /methodology. When BLS data has known shortcomings, for example, JOLTS sample size limits cross-tabulation accuracy below the 4-digit NAICS level, we say so on the page where the data appears, not buried in a footer.

Editorial questions, fact corrections, and source-attribution issues should go to hello@plainlabor.com. We are accountable for what we publish: every correction we make is reflected in the next data refresh, and our update cadence aligns with BLS's monthly JOLTS release calendar. PlainLabor does not accept paid placement, sponsored coverage, recruitment-firm subscriptions, or any incentive that would compromise the neutrality of how industries, regions, or labor flows appear on the site.

Contact

Questions, feedback, or data inquiries? Reach us at hello@plainlabor.com. We welcome inquiries from economists, journalists, job seekers, and anyone interested in the U.S. labor market.

PlainLabor is an independent publisher, a data intelligence company that builds free, public-interest data portals. We transform complex government datasets into accessible, searchable resources for researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the public.