The U.S. labor market churns with hirings and firings. The graph above represents this dynamic situation: In red (in negative territory) are all the job separations and in blue (in positive territory) are all the new hires. The end result is the net creation of jobs, shown in white. The series used here are not seasonally adjusted, so one can easily see strong patterns—both throughout individual years and during recessions and booms.

How this graph was created: Search for “Hires: Total Nonfarm” (level in thousands, not seasonally adjusted) and graph that series. Add the series “Total Separations: Total Nonfarm” (level in thousands, not seasonally adjusted). Transform the latter series by applying the formula -a. Create a third series, again using “Hires: Total Nonfarm” (level in thousands, not seasonally adjusted). Choose white for the third series. Add “Total Separations: Total Nonfarm” (level in thousands, not seasonally adjusted) to the third series. Transform the third series using the formula a-b. Then choose graph type “Area.”

A previous post also covered this topic.

Suggested by John Chilton