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

The uptick in the quits rate is notable, likely due in part to increased opportunities for workers to find better job matches, potentially with higher wages or safer working conditions in the lingering pandemic (which had not worsening as much during the June reference period). pic.twitter.com/bYOCIhlEYy

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) August 9, 2021

It cannot be emphasized enough that the official unemployment measure misses millions of workers that left the labor force, were misclassified as employed not at work, or experienced a drop in pay or hours because of the pandemic. https://t.co/iot18cMqFj

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) August 9, 2021