The diagram shows seven possible movements:
- Employed to Employed - an employed person moves directly from one job to another job.
- Employed to Unemployed - an employed person moves to unemployed status either as a job loser leaving against one's will or as a job quitter who leaves voluntarily with the intention to search for another job.
- Employed to Not in the Labor Force - an employed person quits a job with no intention of immediately finding another job, for example, to return to school, to raise a family, or to retire.
- Unemployed to Employed - an unemployed person finds and accepts a job.
- Unemployed to Not in the Labor Force - an unemployed person ends the job search and leaves the labor force, often because of lack of success in finding a job after an extended period of time (discouraged workers).
- Not in the Labor Force to Unemployed - a person who is not in the labor force begins a job search, for example, a student who seeks a job after graduation.
- Not in the Labor Force to Employed - a person not in the labor force moves directly into a job, for example, a student with a job waiting upon graduation.
From this model, we see that a worker may end up in the grouping of "unemployed" from one of two possible paths: 1) by job separation, either as a job loser or a job quitter, and 2) by moving into the labor force, either as a new entrant or as a re-entrant.
