BLS Report: Job openings rise to 7.0 million in January; hires and separations little changed

[mahatmakanejeeves]

People come; people go.

This is JOLTS, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. It comes out a few days after the monthly payroll employment report.

The number of quits indicates how confident people are of finding another job if they leave the one they have.

Tuesday, February , 2020: BLS Report: Job openings fall to 6.4 million in December; hires and separations little changed

Tuesday, January 21, 2020 (a late release last month):

BLS Report: Job openings fall to 6.8 million in November; hires and separations little changed

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Job openings rise to 7.0 million in January; hires and separations little changed

Economic News Release USDL-20-0450

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, March 17, 2020

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

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – JANUARY 2020

The number of job openings rose to 7.0 million (+411,000) on the last business day of January, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed at
5.8 million and 5.6 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits rate was unchanged at 2.3 percent
and the layoffs and discharges rate was little changed at 1.1 percent. This release includes estimates of
the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and
by four geographic regions. The release also includes 2019 annual estimates for hires and separations.
The annual number of hires at 69.9 million and the annual number of quits at 42.1 million increased in
2019. The annual number of layoffs and discharges at 21.7 million edged down in 2019.

Job Openings

On the last business day of January, the job openings level rose to 7.0 million (+411,000), and the job
openings rate increased to 4.4 percent. Over the month, the number of job openings increased for total
private (+370,000) and edged up for government (+40,000). Job openings increased in finance and
insurance (+65,000), federal government (+38,000), and mining and logging (+8,000). The number of
job openings rose in the South region. (See table 1.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Revisions to the JOLTS Estimates
Job openings, hires, and separations have been revised to incorporate the annual updates to the
Current Employment Statistics employment estimates and the JOLTS seasonal adjustment factors.
See the revision section at the end of this release for more information.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hires

In January, the number and rate of hires was little changed at 5.8 million and 3.8 percent, respectively.
The hires level was little changed in all industries. The number of hires 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, disability, and transfers to other locations of the same firm.

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The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey estimates for February 2020 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

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[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

1. January?

This means nothing looking backwards.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. That's how JOLTS works. It always goes back two months. NT