This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data for March, which further confirms what we already know: The labor market deteriorated quickly through the month of March. As a reminder, JOLTS data are for the whole month (not just mid-month, like the monthly employment numbers). JOLTS shows a net decline of 9.3 million jobs in March, while the monthly employment numbers showed a loss of 870,000. The difference is due to the labor market collapse in the last half of March.

Total separations hit an all-time high of 14.5 million in March. The increase from February of 8.9 million was nearly 13 times faster than any other point in the history of the survey, which dates back to 2000. Separations occurred across nearly all sectors of the economy, but the largest losses were found in leisure and hospitality, other services, retail trade, and education and health services.

The number of layoffs more than account for the increase in the total number of separations. Between February and March, layoffs increased by 9.5 million, hitting 11.4 million in March. In April 2009—the worst month of the Great Recession for layoffs—there were nearly 2.7 million layoffs, or 2% of the workforce. Layoffs in March were more than four times larger than the worst month in the Great Recession.

The layoffs rate—the number of layoffs during the entire month as a percent of total employment—hit 7.5%, more than three times larger than the series high. As with separations, the largest numbers of layoffs occurred in the service sectors. There were nearly 4.9 million layoffs in leisure and hospitality, almost all in accommodation and food services. There were more than 1.1 million layoffs in retail trade and 1.2 million layoffs in education and health services.

JOLTS

Hires, layoffs, and quits, 2000–2025

Date	Hires	Quits	Layoffs
Dec-2000	5426	2882	2018
Jan-2001	5722	3245	2220
Feb-2001	5303	3053	1855
Mar-2001	5528	3054	2133
Apr-2001	5204	3163	1883
May-2001	5410	2993	2029
Jun-2001	5109	2878	2015
Jul-2001	5244	2947	2038
Aug-2001	5223	2928	2011
Sep-2001	4954	2703	2107
Oct-2001	5078	2795	2319
Nov-2001	4914	2560	2255
Dec-2001	4829	2559	1922
Jan-2002	4855	2845	1907
Feb-2002	4801	2572	1978
Mar-2002	4706	2493	1883
Apr-2002	4928	2624	1956
May-2002	4857	2537	1967
Jun-2002	4869	2522	2015
Jul-2002	4946	2561	2102
Aug-2002	4871	2561	1923
Sep-2002	4879	2521	2022
Oct-2002	4798	2423	1935
Nov-2002	4792	2403	1944
Dec-2002	4893	2501	2007
Jan-2003	5058	2429	2109
Feb-2003	4714	2490	2015
Mar-2003	4470	2394	1949
Apr-2003	4600	2279	1998
May-2003	4678	2291	2072
Jun-2003	4682	2315	2076
Jul-2003	4639	2271	2062
Aug-2003	4666	2195	2162
Sep-2003	4799	2354	1932
Oct-2003	4902	2415	1969
Nov-2003	4767	2411	1951
Dec-2003	4984	2444	2007
Jan-2004	4900	2354	2037
Feb-2004	4788	2448	1985
Mar-2004	5227	2582	2065
Apr-2004	5152	2534	2010
May-2004	4976	2428	1914
Jun-2004	5009	2659	1887
Jul-2004	4891	2609	1885
Aug-2004	5013	2586	1974
Sep-2004	5062	2531	2027
Oct-2004	5149	2550	1903
Nov-2004	5181	2789	2037
Dec-2004	5153	2695	1951
Jan-2005	5201	2732	2008
Feb-2005	5276	2651	2068
Mar-2005	5273	2747	2188
Apr-2005	5362	2741	1957
May-2005	5271	2763	2021
Jun-2005	5376	2754	2015
Jul-2005	5328	2735	1898
Aug-2005	5409	2957	1905
Sep-2005	5493	3046	2032
Oct-2005	5124	2863	1873
Nov-2005	5344	2895	1769
Dec-2005	5294	2849	1923
Jan-2006	5271	2945	1784
Feb-2006	5474	2965	1882
Mar-2006	5524	2956	1888
Apr-2006	5215	2778	1853
May-2006	5498	3002	1991
Jun-2006	5455	3042	1817
Jul-2006	5573	3047	1860
Aug-2006	5373	3056	1775
Sep-2006	5288	2888	1831
Oct-2006	5375	2983	1898
Nov-2006	5495	3043	1926
Dec-2006	5214	2999	1772
Jan-2007	5426	2956	1922
Feb-2007	5160	2933	1850
Mar-2007	5479	2997	1882
Apr-2007	5353	2911	2000
May-2007	5469	3010	1967
Jun-2007	5267	2910	1845
Jul-2007	5217	2951	1896
Aug-2007	5358	3014	2033
Sep-2007	5344	2691	2188
Oct-2007	5398	2926	1998
Nov-2007	5176	2784	1966
Dec-2007	5119	2773	1915
Jan-2008	5071	2847	1989
Feb-2008	5077	2881	1995
Mar-2008	4924	2661	1918
Apr-2008	4948	2837	1958
May-2008	4691	2607	1950
Jun-2008	4893	2595	2172
Jul-2008	4637	2489	2071
Aug-2008	4682	2445	2190
Sep-2008	4499	2468	2088
Oct-2008	4548	2347	2250
Nov-2008	4104	2157	2290
Dec-2008	4348	2084	2482
Jan-2009	4095	1976	2581
Feb-2009	4061	1952	2599
Mar-2009	3858	1834	2575
Apr-2009	3888	1712	2654
May-2009	3758	1683	2231
Jun-2009	3639	1685	2261
Jul-2009	3857	1685	2267
Aug-2009	3810	1555	2119
Sep-2009	3944	1627	2195
Oct-2009	3838	1660	2028
Nov-2009	4024	1810	1913
Dec-2009	4004	1766	2033
Jan-2010	3904	1742	1880
Feb-2010	3864	1844	1825
Mar-2010	4302	1856	1924
Apr-2010	4159	1897	1749
May-2010	4420	1813	1762
Jun-2010	4111	1911	2075
Jul-2010	4163	1785	2166
Aug-2010	4046	1842	1890
Sep-2010	4034	1895	1832
Oct-2010	4173	1846	1745
Nov-2010	4182	1887	1849
Dec-2010	4299	1977	1854
Jan-2011	4000	1832	1827
Feb-2011	4231	1958	1755
Mar-2011	4430	2033	1794
Apr-2011	4296	1882	1792
May-2011	4261	1965	1904
Jun-2011	4366	1923	1942
Jul-2011	4261	1986	1845
Aug-2011	4298	2031	1845
Sep-2011	4429	2041	1872
Oct-2011	4370	1997	1794
Nov-2011	4365	2039	1912
Dec-2011	4356	1981	1801
Jan-2012	4457	2030	1797
Feb-2012	4560	2130	1903
Mar-2012	4575	2167	1784
Apr-2012	4389	2134	1880
May-2012	4533	2138	1969
Jun-2012	4440	2152	1892
Jul-2012	4327	2072	1722
Aug-2012	4450	2069	1894
Sep-2012	4302	1950	1805
Oct-2012	4389	2035	1891
Nov-2012	4489	2078	1921
Dec-2012	4452	2051	1700
Jan-2013	4487	2280	1678
Feb-2013	4571	2298	1664
Mar-2013	4369	2124	1787
Apr-2013	4572	2296	1793
May-2013	4663	2234	1836
Jun-2013	4440	2203	1761
Jul-2013	4561	2363	1713
Aug-2013	4730	2316	1816
Sep-2013	4726	2302	1892
Oct-2013	4518	2372	1675
Nov-2013	4622	2391	1630
Dec-2013	4614	2287	1770
Jan-2014	4626	2311	1806
Feb-2014	4696	2411	1767
Mar-2014	4763	2449	1703
Apr-2014	4880	2474	1764
May-2014	4808	2483	1710
Jun-2014	4925	2507	1761
Jul-2014	5008	2633	1781
Aug-2014	4810	2549	1699
Sep-2014	5149	2732	1718
Oct-2014	5111	2718	1835
Nov-2014	4978	2600	1726
Dec-2014	5192	2552	1857
Jan-2015	5061	2764	1789
Feb-2015	5127	2741	1757
Mar-2015	5126	2754	1973
Apr-2015	5196	2705	1856
May-2015	5142	2743	1711
Jun-2015	5125	2756	1821
Jul-2015	5150	2764	1703
Aug-2015	5163	2879	1773
Sep-2015	5287	2778	1964
Oct-2015	5338	2810	1845
Nov-2015	5358	2897	1779
Dec-2015	5540	3056	1803
Jan-2016	5220	2875	1805
Feb-2016	5470	2994	1894
Mar-2016	5359	2917	1850
Apr-2016	5294	2955	1771
May-2016	5197	3009	1825
Jun-2016	5281	3018	1750
Jul-2016	5426	2967	1759
Aug-2016	5327	2998	1860
Sep-2016	5306	3047	1588
Oct-2016	5210	3074	1664
Nov-2016	5308	3026	1751
Dec-2016	5343	2989	1708
Jan-2017	5499	3188	1745
Feb-2017	5350	3089	1711
Mar-2017	5395	3150	1762
Apr-2017	5272	3028	1710
May-2017	5477	3111	1794
Jun-2017	5635	3154	1970
Jul-2017	5497	3097	1910
Aug-2017	5519	3103	1868
Sep-2017	5450	3190	1787
Oct-2017	5581	3219	1837
Nov-2017	5494	3186	1747
Dec-2017	5421	3222	1732
Jan-2018	5512	3019	1932
Feb-2018	5624	3222	1771
Mar-2018	5623	3323	1795
Apr-2018	5590	3370	1727
May-2018	5859	3382	1775
Jun-2018	5760	3382	1822
Jul-2018	5649	3426	1806
Aug-2018	5815	3423	1803
Sep-2018	5625	3391	1764
Oct-2018	5907	3458	1813
Nov-2018	5826	3511	1938
Dec-2018	5768	3407	1839
Jan-2019	5786	3517	1705
Feb-2019	5704	3547	1763
Mar-2019	5689	3529	1690
Apr-2019	6016	3501	1963
May-2019	5686	3472	1775
Jun-2019	5801	3474	1780
Jul-2019	5871	3654	1833
Aug-2019	5900	3540	1808
Sep-2019	5963	3447	1970
Oct-2019	5781	3452	1819
Nov-2019	5847	3541	1782
Dec-2019	5951	3487	1931
Jan-2020	5981	3563	1808
Feb-2020	5990	3497	1954
Mar-2020	5171	2933	12985
Apr-2020	4029	1991	9170
May-2020	8133	2259	2139
Jun-2020	7477	2594	2245
Jul-2020	6320	3020	1827
Aug-2020	6004	2931	1560
Sep-2020	5966	3185	1567
Oct-2020	6091	3311	1697
Nov-2020	5894	3209	2097
Dec-2020	5577	3369	1906
Jan-2021	5594	3285	1657
Feb-2021	5772	3429	1625
Mar-2021	6148	3661	1488
Apr-2021	6216	3909	1430
May-2021	6013	3836	1352
Jun-2021	6606	3985	1299
Jul-2021	6732	4031	1390
Aug-2021	6390	4122	1338
Sep-2021	6653	4320	1428
Oct-2021	6652	4131	1285
Nov-2021	6811	4491	1368
Dec-2021	6596	4387	1376
Jan-2022	6400	4404	1434
Feb-2022	6806	4321	1420
Mar-2022	6607	4499	1383
Apr-2022	6614	4457	1353
May-2022	6461	4259	1509
Jun-2022	6510	4139	1497
Jul-2022	6470	4005	1459
Aug-2022	6443	4200	1609
Sep-2022	6206	4111	1443
Oct-2022	6104	3945	1539
Nov-2022	6134	4080	1461
Dec-2022	6113	4173	1520
Jan-2023	6347	3833	1904
Feb-2023	6020	3926	1539
Mar-2023	5932	3820	1814
Apr-2023	5954	3619	1686
May-2023	6128	4013	1519
Jun-2023	5930	3689	1637
Jul-2023	5646	3562	1675
Aug-2023	5824	3618	1691
Sep-2023	5772	3638	1561
Oct-2023	5700	3558	1621
Nov-2023	5501	3549	1526
Dec-2023	5614	3370	1648
Jan-2024	5572	3353	1692
Feb-2024	5664	3468	1681
Mar-2024	5472	3329	1614
Apr-2024	5584	3414	1587
May-2024	5573	3355	1665
Jun-2024	5088	3284	1467
Jul-2024	5451	3390	1745
Aug-2024	5230	3177	1697
Sep-2024	5519	3085	1844
Oct-2024	5350	3217	1788
Nov-2024	5307	3032	1739
Dec-2024	5374	3095	1669
Jan-2025	5371	3256	1674
Feb-2025	5370	3250	1780
Mar-2025	5404	3344	1590
Apr-2025	5615	3215	1789
May-2025	5465	3270	1611
Jun-2025	5267	3209	1796
Jul-2025	5240	3166	1787
Aug-2025	5126	3091	1725

 

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The data underlying the figure.

Note: Shaded areas denote recessions.

Source: EPI analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

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On the flip side, workers are quitting their jobs at much lower rates than in the pre-pandemic economy: quits dropped by 20% in March, from 3.4 million to 2.8 million. This is not a good sign—a large number of quits signifies a healthy labor market in which people can leave their job to find one that is better for them. One likely reason quits didn’t drop even further is because people had to, for example, leave a job to take care of a child whose school closed as a result of the virus.

Job openings fell precipitously from 7.0 million on the last business day of February down to 6.2 million on the last business day of March. While this drop of -813,000 was the largest one-month drop in the history of the survey, it’s a bit surprising it didn’t fall further given other labor market indicators. Hires also fell in March from 5.9 million to 5.2 million, again the largest drop on record. Nearly all sectors experienced a drop in hires, with the exception of construction.