Three measures of US job postings

A stock, a stock and a flow

JOLTS and the Indeed index both measure a STOCK: how many positions stand open at a moment. The Opportunity Insights series measures a FLOW: how many new vacancies appeared that week. In a slowdown the flow falls first, because firms stop opening new roles before they withdraw existing ones.

Coverage differs sharply. JOLTS counts a job that was filled by word of mouth and never advertised; the online trackers cannot see it. Conversely, an employer who leaves a stale posting up inflates the online count while JOLTS records nothing, because JOLTS asks whether the firm is actively recruiting.

Which one to use

Use JOLTS for levels and for ratios — the openings-to-unemployed ratio the Federal Reserve cites comes from here, and nothing else is measured on a comparable base.

Use Indeed for timeliness: it is available within days, while JOLTS arrives six weeks after the month it describes and is then revised.

Use the Opportunity Insights series when you want the earliest turning point, or when you need the split by how much preparation a job requires — that breakdown exists nowhere else and is what shows whether weakness is concentrated in lower-skill or higher-skill hiring.