Job openings little changed at 5.8 million in April; hires edge down to 5.1 million

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic News Release USDL-16-1149

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, June 8, 2016

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

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – APRIL 2016

The number of job openings was little changed at 5.8 million on the last business day of April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires edged down to 5.1 million while separations were little changed at 5.0 million. Within separations, the quits rate was 2.0 percent, and the layoffs and discharges rate was 1.1 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.

Job Openings

Job openings were little changed at 5.8 million in April. The job openings rate was 3.9 percent. The number of job openings was little changed in April for total private and for government. Job openings increased in a number of industries, with the largest changes occurring in wholesale trade (+65,000), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+58,000), durable goods manufacturing (+46,000), and real estate and rental and leasing (+41,000). Job openings decreased in professional and business services (-274,000). The number of job openings was little changed in all four regions. (See table 1.)

Hires

The number of hires edged down to 5.1 million in April. The hires rate was 3.5 percent. The number of hires was little changed in April for total private and edged down for government (-31,000). Hires were little changed in all industries in April and decreased in the Midwest region. (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.

There were 5.0 million total separations in April, little changed from March. The total separations rate in April was 3.5 percent. The number of total separations was little changed over the month for total private and for government. All industries experienced little change in total separations over the month. In the regions, the number of total separations declined in the Midwest. (See table 3.)
....

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The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey results for May 2016 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

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

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I know: all the jobs were at McDonald's, they were all part-time, and they all paid below minimum wage.

Now please read this:

Job openings increased in a number of industries, with the largest changes occurring in wholesale trade (+65,000), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+58,000), durable goods manufacturing (+46,000), and real estate and rental and leasing (+41,000). Job openings decreased in professional and business services (-274,000). The number of job openings was little changed in all four regions. (See table 1.)

[progree]

1. Job openings decreased in professional and business services (-274,000)

Seems like an astonishingly humongous number for just 1 month, but I don't follow JOLTS hardly at all, so I don't know. (I know I should, since I follow and report on other aspects of the jobs picture like payroll jobs, unemployment rate, labor force participation rate, U-6, and all that. ).

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. A Hiring Decline in April Points to Broader Labor Market Woes

Real Time Economics | Employment

A Hiring Decline in April Points to Broader Labor Market Woes

Fewer people are getting hired despite a high number of job openings and few layoffs

By Josh Zumbrun
[e-mail]
@JoshZumbrun

Jun 8, 2016 11:21 am ET

A new report from the Labor Department confirms troubling trends underlying the labor market, with a decline in the number of people hired to start a new job in April.

The headline report from the Labor Department on the health of the U.S. economy showed deterioration in April and May, with the monthly pace of job growth slowing to just 123,000 in April and 38,000 last month. Those figures are the net change in the total number of jobs. Today, the Labor Department follows up that report with a look at the labor market’s churn — the millions of people each month that quit or lose one job, or start a new one, each month. In general, during times of economic health, the labor market is characterized by rising levels of job turnover, as many people quit jobs to take better jobs.

The number of people hired in April fell to 5.1 million, down from 5.3 million in March and 5.5 million in February. That works out to a hiring rate of 3.5%, the slowest pace since August of 2014. While the hiring rate has improved since the worst periods of 2009 and 2010, employers have yet to return to hiring at the pace they did a decade ago.
....

In recent years, the report, known as the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or Jolts, has portrayed a hiring market that never fully regained its vigor after the economic downturn of 2007-2009. ... A persistent puzzle in the data: employers report having a record number of job openings available but the hiring rate shows people are not actually being hired into those jobs. That puzzle remained in today’s report. The pace of hiring declined, while the number of jobs available at the end of April climbed to 5.8 million from 5.7 million.