Modification to August/September 2011 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) Estimates to Account for a Strike in the Telecommunications Industry

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The preliminary JOLTS estimates for August (released on October 12, 2011) did not reflect a necessary adjustment to account for a strike in the telecommunications industry—a part of the information sector. The final estimates for August, as well as the preliminary estimates for September (released on November 8, 2011) reflect the adjustment.

Each month, JOLTS estimates are aligned to the over-the-month change in employment as measured by the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. In the alignment process, the JOLTS implied employment change (hires minus separations) is compared to the CES over-the-month change. If JOLTS is higher than CES, hires are removed and separations are added to the JOLTS data to bring them into alignment with CES. If JOLTS is lower than CES, hires are added and separations are removed. Once the hires and separations are consistent with CES, the seasonal adjustment is backed out by applying the seasonal factors in reverse, to arrive at an unadjusted JOLTS series.

The alignment process ensures that over the long term, JOLTS hires and separations are consistent with changes in employment levels as measured by the CES. However, JOLTS measures the forming and breaking of employment relationships through hires and separations. As such, JOLTS does not consider employees who are on strike to be separated, and JOLTS does not count employees returning to work after a strike to be hires. This means that a strike should not show up in the JOLTS series. However, striking workers are not counted as employed in the CES. The drop in CES information employment in August caused by a telecommunications strike created a divergence with the JOLTS series. The alignment process then adjusted the JOLTS hires and separations to reflect this employment drop and eliminate the divergence. Hires, job openings, and separations were unnecessarily added and removed to account for workers going out on strike in August.

With the release of September preliminary estimates, CES employment levels used in the alignment process have been modified. Striking telecommunications workers were added back into the August CES employment level used in alignment. This eliminated the large adjustments that had been introduced by the alignment process. For future JOLTS estimation, the process will be modified to include a procedure that can be used whenever there is a large movement in the CES that should not be reflected in JOLTS.

JOLTS releases estimates for each month twice. The first release of a given month is considered "preliminary" and the second month is considered "final." JOLTS estimates usually change between the first and second release, due to the collection of additional data and to updated concurrent seasonal adjustment factors. The modifications to the alignment process were introduced simultaneously with the regular revisions of the August estimates from "preliminary" to "final." Therefore, it is not possible to accurately quantify how much of the change from the preliminary estimates to final estimates is due to the adjustment in the alignment process. While many of the August estimates changed from the first release to the second release, only a subset of these estimates are impacted by the adjustment to the Information sector. A list of the series codes impacted by this adjustment appears below. For additional information about this change, please contact the JOLTS information line at (202) 691-5870.

Seasonally Adjusted

Series Name	Area	Series ID
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Total U.S.	JTS00000000JOL
Total Private, Job Openings	Total U.S.	JTS10000000JOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Northeast	JTS000000NEJOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	South	JTS000000SOJOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Midwest	JTS000000MWJOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	West	JTS000000WEJOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Northeast	JTS000000NEJOR
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	South	JTS000000SOJOR
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Midwest	JTS000000MWJOR
Total Nonfarm, Hires	Total U.S.	JTS00000000HIL
Total Private, Hires	Total U.S.	JTS10000000HIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	Northeast	JTS000000NEHIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	South	JTS000000SOHIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	Midwest	JTS000000MWHIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	West	JTS000000WEHIL
Total Private, Hires	Total U.S.	JTS10000000HIR
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Total U.S.	JTS00000000TSL
Total Private, Total Separations	Total US	JTS10000000TSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Northeast	JTS000000NETSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	South	JTS000000SOTSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Midwest	JTS000000MWTSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	West	JTS000000WETSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Midwest	JTS000000MWTSR
Total Nonfarm, Quits	Total U.S.	JTS00000000QUL
Total Private, Quits	Total U.S.	JTS10000000QUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	Northeast	JTS000000NEQUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	South	JTS000000SOQUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	Midwest	JTS000000MWQUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	West	JTS000000WEQUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	Northeast	JTS000000NEQUR
Total Nonfarm, Quits	West	JTS000000WEQUR
Total Nonfarm, Layoffs and Discharges	Total U.S.	JTS00000000LDL
Total Private, Layoffs and Discharges	Total U.S.	JTS10000000LDL
Total Private, Layoffs and Discharges	Total U.S.	JTS10000000LDR

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Series Name	Area	Series ID
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Total U.S.	JTU00000000JOL
Total Private, Job Openings	Total U.S.	JTU10000000JOL
Information, Job Openings	Total U.S.	JTU51000000JOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Northeast	JTU000000NEJOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	South	JTU000000SOJOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Midwest	JTU000000MWJOL
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	West	JTU000000WEJOL
Information, Job Openings	Total U.S.	JTU51000000JOR
Total Nonfarm, Job Openings	Midwest	JTU000000MWJOR
Total Nonfarm, Hires	Total U.S.	JTU00000000HIL
Total Private, Hires	Total U.S.	JTU10000000HIL
Information, Hires	Total U.S.	JTU51000000HIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	Northeast	JTU000000NEHIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	South	JTU000000SOHIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	Midwest	JTU000000MWHIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	West	JTU000000WEHIL
Total Nonfarm, Hires	Total U.S.	JTU00000000HIR
Information, Hires	Total U.S.	JTU51000000HIR
Total Nonfarm, Hires	West	JTU000000WEHIR
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Total U.S.	JTU00000000TSL
Total Private, Total Separations	Total U.S.	JTU10000000TSL
Information, Total Separations	Total U.S.	JTU51000000TSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Northeast	JTU000000NETSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	South	JTU000000SOTSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Midwest	JTU000000MWTSL
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	West	JTU000000WETSL
Information, Total Separations	Total U.S.	JTU51000000TSR
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	Midwest	JTU000000MWTSR
Total Nonfarm, Total Separations	West	JTU000000WETSR
Total Nonfarm, Quits	Total U.S.	JTU00000000QUL
Total Private, Quits	Total U.S.	JTU10000000QUL
Information, Quits	Total U.S.	JTU51000000QUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	Northeast	JTU000000NEQUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	South	JTU000000SOQUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	Midwest	JTU000000MWQUL
Total Nonfarm, Quits	West	JTU000000WEQUL
Information, Quits	Total U.S.	JTU51000000QUR
Total Nonfarm, Layoffs and Discharges	Total U.S.	JTU00000000LDL
Total Private, Layoffs and Discharges	Total U.S.	JTU10000000LDL
Information, Layoffs and Discharges	Total U.S.	JTU51000000LDL
Total Nonfarm, Layoffs and Discharges	Northeast	JTU000000NELDL
Total Nonfarm, Layoffs and Discharges	South	JTU000000SOLDL
Total Nonfarm, Layoffs and Discharges	Midwest	JTU000000MWLDL
Total Nonfarm, Layoffs and Discharges	West	JTU000000WELDL
Information, Layoffs and Discharges	Total U.S.	JTU51000000LDR
Total Nonfarm, Other Separations	Total U.S.	JTU00000000OSL
Total Private, Other Separations	Total U.S.	JTU10000000OSL
Information, Other Separations	Total U.S.	JTU51000000OSL
Total Nonfarm, Other Separations	Northeast	JTU000000NEOSL
Total Nonfarm, Other Separations	South	JTU000000SOOSL
Total Nonfarm, Other Separations	West	JTU000000WEOSL

 

Last Modified Date: November 8, 2011