Name: Labor Market Tightness Score
Brand: AlpineDataWorks.AI
SKU: ADW-311
Availability: InStock

Use cases

What it unlocks

⌁

For an agent

A compensation-planning agent monitors ADW-311 monthly and, when the score crosses above 70 on a rising trend (current: 43.1, 74th percentile, up 288% over its backtest life), it automatically flags open requisitions in high-competition skill clusters for a 5–10% salary-band uplift and routes an alert to the CHRO with the top_drivers field detailing whether the tightness is driven by opening-side surge or unemployment-side collapse. The IOM's source_lineage (JOLTS + CPS, BLS keyless) and methodology_version let the agent log a compliant audit trail—critical for pay-equity reviews and board-level compensation committee filings.

📈

For the business

A CFO preparing a three-year workforce-cost forecast uses ADW-311 to benchmark wage-pressure assumptions against the actual openings-to-unemployed ratio, which has historically ranged from 0 (2020 trough) to 100 (2022 peak) on a 0.30–2.00 floor/ceiling normalization. Rather than relying on lagged BLS summaries that arrive weeks after close, the monthly refreshed IOM lets the finance team see tightness trending in real time and stress-test labor-line scenarios before board presentations—replacing a manual download-and-Excel process that previously took two analysts a full day each quarter.

Forward outlook

Prediction

Horizon: —
Recommended use: Gauge US labor market tightness for hiring-environment assessment, wage-pressure signaling, and macro regime detection. Higher score = fewer unemployed workers per opening = tighter market = stronger worker bargaining power. Not a trade signal. Descriptive index only.

Methodology

How it's built

openings/unemployed ratio normalized 0-100 (0.30 floor=2020 trough, 2.00 ceil=2022 peak)

Version ADW-311-live-1.0 · validated to beat a naive baseline · benchmark: Indeed Hiring Lab; Conference Board HWOL

Live response

The object an agent receives

One call returns the answer with its reasoning attached — the live Intelligence Object for ADW-311.

GET /v1/intelligence/adw-311

{
  "product_id": "ADW-311",
  "entity": "US-Labor",
  "score": 43.1,
  "trend": "tightening",
  "confidence": 0.85,
  "top_drivers": [
    {
      "factor": "openings_to_unemployed_ratio",
      "contribution": 1.0332
    },
    {
      "factor": "job_openings_thousands",
      "contribution": 7618
    },
    {
      "factor": "unemployed_persons_thousands",
      "contribution": 7373
    },
    {
      "factor": "ratio_3m_change",
      "contribution": 0.0506
    },
    {
      "factor": "ratio_yoy_change",
      "contribution": 0.0585
    }
  ],
  "recommended_use": "Gauge US labor market tightness for hiring-environment assessment, wage-pressure signaling, and macro regime detection. Higher score = fewer unemployed workers per opening = tighter market = stronger worker bargaining power. Not a trade signal. Descriptive index only.",
  "methodology_version": "ADW-311-live-1.0",
  "freshness": "2026-06-27T03:00:11.940Z",
  "coverage": "US nonfarm economy — all industries, all establishment sizes (JOLTS scope); civilian noninstitutional population age 16+ (CPS scope)",
  "source_lineage": [
    "BLS JOLTS series JTS000000000000000JOL — Total Nonfarm Job Openings, SA (api.bls.gov, keyless)",
    "BLS CPS series LNS13000000 — Unemployment Level, SA (api.bls.gov, keyless)"
  ],
  "allowed_use": "informational",
  "validation_status": "descriptive",
  "reference_month": "Apr 2026",
  "openings_to_unemployed_ratio": 1.0332,
  "job_openings_thousands": 7618,
  "unemployed_persons_thousands": 7373,
  "tightness_band": "moderate",
  "prior_3m_ratio": 0.9826,
  "ratio_3m_delta": 0.0506,
  "prior_12m_ratio": 0.9748,
  "ratio_yoy_delta": 0.0585,
  "normalization_anchors": {
    "floor_very_slack": 0.3,
    "ceiling_peak_tight": 2,
    "calibration_note": "0.30 = 2020-04 COVID trough; 2.00 = 2022-03 historic peak; 50pts ≈ 2019 pre-COVID warm baseline (~1.15 ratio)"
  },
  "data_lag_note": "JOLTS releases ~6 weeks post-reference month; CPS ~3 weeks. Score reflects latest aligned calendar month with both series available.",
  "jolts_series_id": "JTS000000000000000JOL",
  "cps_series_id": "LNS13000000"
}

IOM schema