A chart making the rounds on social media has sparked intense debate about the state of the American economy. Since November 2022, when ChatGPT launched, the S&P 500 has surged more than 70% while job openings have plummeted roughly 30%. The juxtaposition has earned the graphic a foreboding nickname: the “scariest chart in the world.”
At first glance, the divergence appears to tell a simple story: that artificial intelligence has fractured the economy, enriching investors while devastating workers. But journalist Derek Thompson, who wrote about this chart in his Substack last Thursday, argues the reality is far more complex.
The data itself is accurate. Job openings peaked at 11.5 million in March 2022, the highest level since the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey began in 2000. By August 2025, that figure had fallen to 7.18 million. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has climbed from around 3,840 in November 2022 to approximately 6,688 by September 2025, representing a gain of roughly 74% over that period.
As Thompson points out, nothing like this has happened in the history of the JOLTS data, which dates back more than two decades. Job openings have typically tracked with stock market performance, making the current split unprecedented.
