The U.S. jobs environment has picked up steam this year, and data details to be released Tuesday will paint a picture of the labor market’s strengths and weaknesses.
Specifically, markets will learn from the government’s report on its monthly job openings and labor turnover survey, or JOLTS:
how many jobs were open in June
how many workers were hired
how many workers were fired or were laid off
how many workers quit their jobs
Taken together, these data “describe the underlying dynamics of the labor market,” Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen remarked last year.
The good news is that job openings have trended higher in 2014, reaching above pre-recession levels. The most recent data showed that monthly job openings hit 4.6 million, compared with 4.3 million when the recession started at the end of 2007. Here’s another positive trend: monthly quits recently hit the highest level in six years.
However, monthly hires have yet to surpass pre-recession levels and there are still more than three million long-term unemployed workers.