Job openings rise to 5.5 million in January; annual hires and quits increase in 2015

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic News Release

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary USDL-16-0519

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, March 17, 2016

Technical information: [phone] • [e-mail] • www.bls.gov/jlt
Media contact: [phone] • [e-mail]

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – JANUARY 2016

The number of job openings rose to 5.5 million on the last business day of January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires declined to 5.0 million while separations edged down to 4.9 million. Within separations, the quits rate was 2.0 percent, and the layoffs and discharges rate was 1.2 percent. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by four geographic regions. The release also includes 2015 annual estimates for hires and separations. The annual number of hires and quits increased in 2015, while the annual number of layoffs and discharges edged up, and the annual number of other separations was essentially unchanged.

Job Openings

Job openings remain at historically high levels, rising to 5.5 million (+260,000) in January. The job openings rate was 3.7 percent. The number of job openings increased in January for total private (+289,000) and was little changed for government. Job openings increased in wholesale trade (+74,000) and construction (+61,000) but decreased in educational services (-40,000) and state and local government education (-16,000). In the regions, job openings increased in the Midwest over the month. (See table 1.)

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Revisions to the JOLTS Data
Job openings, hires, and separations data have been revised from December 2000 forward to incorporate annual updates to the Current Employment Statistics employment estimates and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) seasonal adjustment factors. In addition, all data series are now available on a seasonally adjusted basis. See the revision section at the end of this release for more information.
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Hires

The number of hires decreased to 5.0 million (-372,000) in January. The hires rate was 3.5 percent. The number of hires decreased for total private (-333,000) and government (-38,000) in January. The decline in hires was widespread across industries. There was a decline in hires in health care and social assistance (-49,000), educational services (-42,000), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-34,000), and state and local government (-32,000). Hires also edged down in professional and business services (-101,000), accommodation and food services (-67,000), state and local government, excluding education (-16,000), and federal government (-6,000). In the regions, hires decreased in the South. (See table 2.)

Separations

Total separations includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Total separations is referred to as turnover. Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Therefore, the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Other separations includes separations due to retirement, death, and disability, as well as transfers to other locations of the same firm.
....

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The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey results for February 2016 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

Read more: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

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[DavidDvorkin]

1. Good news

I'm surprised we haven't seen replies telling us that this bad news.

[whatthehey]

2. Give 'em time, doomers always find some little crumb of gloom

Then that particular datum will be the most important thing until it recovers next month and they scrabble through that report looking for the downbeat wiggle which will then be what's really important, ad infinitum. Doesn't matter if the overall news is great, good, meh (this one's a bit meh really), poor or terrible; only the worst part ever matters here.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Fewer Americans Got Hired or Quit Their Jobs in January

Fewer Americans Got Hired or Quit Their Jobs in January

By Josh Zumbrun
[e-mail]
@JoshZumbrun

Mar 17, 2016 11:57 am ET

The number of people hired into a new job or quitting an old job both declined in January, a sign that despite the overall 4.9% unemployment rate, the labor market has yet to regain its full vitality.

Five million people were hired in January, down from 5.4 million in December. The number of people quitting declined to 2.8 million from 3.1 million. The number laid off was little changed at 1.6 million.

The Labor Department had previously reported the economy added 172,000 jobs in January. Today’s report, known as the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey or Jolts, shows the churn going on behind that number—the millions of Americans losing or quitting one job and starting another that, on net, leads to the monthly change.



The decline in hiring and quitting was a retrenchment from the progress the labor market seemed to be making. The monthly pace of both hiring and quitting declined sharply during the recession (layoffs, by contrast, skyrocketed during the recession). They had since regained all their lost ground and were about 10% above their levels at the end of 2007. Today’s report showed them losing a piece of that progress.