Unemployment Rate Volatility

Question

Is there a statistic that describes the “churn” in the unemployment rate i.e. how many became unemployed compared to how many found work?

I’ve heard of unemployment volatility (https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03068291211224937) but never could find any stat for it in the U.S.

For a better idea of what I’m talking about, here is an article written about it in India: https://www.cmie.com/kommon/bin/sr.php?kall=warticle&dt=2017-10-31%2009:43:08&msec=273

Does the BoLS track this metric?

Answer 1

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS rather than BoLS) publishes the results of its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)

For example, its summary news release for May 2018, published on July 10, started with:

The number of job openings edged down to 6.6 million on the last business day of May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed at 5.8 million and 5.5 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits rate and the layoffs and discharges rate were little changed at 2.4 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by four geographic regions.