Nonsense on Job Openings: Preemptive Strike

The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its April report for the Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) today. It shows a big drop in job openings.

While some folks will no doubt make a big deal out of this report, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, there is a considerable lag in the data. We already knew that employment growth was weak in April and May, so it should not be very surprising that job openings were down in April.

The second point to keep in mind is that most of...