Below, EPI senior economist Elise Gould offers her insights on today’s release of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for April. Read the full thread here.

Job openings continue to trend toward pre-pandemic levels, down nearly 300k between March and April, and down 1.8 million over the year. High levels of job openings at the height of the pandemic recovery were driven by faster churn. The job openings rate is nearly back to normal. pic.twitter.com/TA9uoNaCC6

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) June 4, 2024

Since the peak in March 2022 when churn was high as employers scrambled to find workers after massive layoffs and many workers quit in search of better opportunities, job openings are now more than 80% of the way back to “normal” (and the job openings rate is 90% back to normal). pic.twitter.com/mgsfS9gffO

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) June 4, 2024