The economy sputters as job losses mount and unemployment assistance comes to an end…and Facebook goes to Court.

To understand the American economy right now, don’t just look at the Stock Market. While stocks are rising to some of the highest levels in history, there is growing concern the entire world of work is showing signs of such radical change that it could be years before some stabilization comes to the labor market.

On Wednesday of this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the JOLTS report. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey or JOLTS - shows the number of job openings each month, how many workers were hired, how many quit their job, how many were laid off, and other research including the number of worker deaths.

JOLTS showed there was a rise in the number of jobs available which is good news. Currently, there are approximately 6.7 million open jobs. Yet roughly 10.9 million people are considered unemployed and actively looking for work. If we analyze this data correctly, this results in a ratio of about 1.6 unemployed workers for every job opening in the United States. There is another way to think about this reality. For every 16 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only 10 jobs available. That means that for more than 4.2 million unemployed workers, no jobs are available.

This is especially true for workers in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors. This area only has 0.2 job openings per unemployed person. This sector of the economy is all but dead.

Whenever 46 states get behind anything, it is usually an indication something important is transpiring. On Wednesday of this week, the Federal Trade Commission and a group of 46 states in separate antitrust lawsuits charged that Facebook engaged in a long campaign to acquire or stop technology companies it feared could rival their dominance.

Both lawsuits target two of Facebook’s major acquisitions: Instagram and WhatsApp. Both lawsuits could result in requiring Facebook to release their ownership of the two very popular apps. The FTC complaint also alleges Facebook now holds the power of a monopoly in the U.S. personal social networking market.