The stock market is up, and job openings are down

Has ChatGPT irreversibly altered the American economy?

A graph deemed “ The Scariest Chart in the World ” by journalist Derek Thompson shows job openings falling and the stock market taking off in the wake of the rise of artificial intelligence.

The graph has garnered the attention of many, including those who believe the story has more to do with current Trump administration policies and federal reserve regulations than with AI stealing jobs.

Either way, the story the graph tells is more complicated than it first appears.

For the past two decades, job openings and the S&P 500 moved in tandem. However, beginning at the end of 2022, the two lines significantly diverged. Graphs tracking this divergence, circulating in finance circles on Facebook , LinkedIn and X, claimed ChatGPT’