Forecasting JOLTS Data with LinkUp's Jobs Data

The value of job listings goes far beyond employers filling vacancies and workers finding jobs. Job data provides useful insights into companies, sectors, occupations, economies, and so much more.

In the past we’ve found correlation between LinkUp’s job listing data and common economic measures such as unemployment, the performance of the S&P 500 index, and nonfarm payroll (which we predicted with pinpoint accuracy this month.) Recently we explored LinkUp’s data and another key economic measure, JOLTS.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is a monthly measure of job openings, hires, and separations (including worker deaths) conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers answer quantitative and qualitative survey questions about their businesses’ employment to create the measure, which is used to understand unmet labor demand.

We've created a new process leveraging LinkUp data in forecasting JOLTS monthly vacancy numbers. We found that LinkUp’s JOLTS job openings forecast demonstrated an accuracy rate of 93.8% over the past 9 months. Additionally, we are predicting a JOLTS vacancy number of 6,554,056 for January 2020.

It’s also worth mentioning JOLTS has limitations in its ability to inform workforce planners, educators, and others about the future labor markets. Adding a layer of real-time labor market information (RT-LMI) can be more helpful. The University of Washington's research paper shows the importance of monitoring real-time labor market information instead of just traditional job market data.

Interested in the data behind this post? Contact us to learn more about LinkUp jobs data.