Job openings rose to 5.6 million in December; quits rose to 3.1 million

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Tue Feb 9, 2016, 11:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic News Release

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary USDL-16-0271

For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, February 9, 2016

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

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – DECEMBER 2015

The number of job openings increased to 5.6 million on the last business day of December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires and separations were little changed at 5.4 million and 5.1 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits rate was 2.1 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 rose to 5.6 million in December. The job openings rate was 3.8 percent. The number of job openings increased in December for total private and was little changed for government. Job openings increased in construction (+69,000), nondurable goods manufacturing (+60,000), and durable goods manufacturing (+26,000). In the regions, job openings increased in the West over the month. (See table 1.)

The number of job openings (not seasonally adjusted) increased over the 12 months ending in December for total nonfarm and total private, and edged up for government. Job openings rose in several industries over the year with the largest changes in health care and social assistance (+172,000) and finance and insurance (+99,000). The number of job openings increased over the year in the Northeast, Midwest, and West regions. (See table 7.)

Hires

The number of hires was 5.4 million in December, little changed from November. The number of hires is now higher than in December 2007 (5.0 million), the first month of the recession. The hires rate was 3.7 percent in December 2015. The number of hires was little changed for total private and government in December. The number of hires edged up in professional and business services and was little changed in all other industries and in the regions. (See table 2.)

Over the 12 months ending in December, the number of hires (not seasonally adjusted) was little changed for total nonfarm and total private and edged up for government. At the industry level, hires increased in accommodation and food services (+93,000); transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+43,000); and federal government (+11,000). Hires edged down in construction. The number of hires was little changed in all four regions over the year. (See table 8.)

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 5.1 million total separations in December, little changed from November. The total separations rate was 3.5 percent. The number of total separations was little changed for total private and government. In December, total separations edged up in accommodation and food services and in state and local government. The number of total separations was little changed in all four regions. (See table 3.)
....

____________
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey results for January 2016 are scheduled to be released on Thursday, March 17, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Revisions to the JOLTS Data

With the release of January 2016 data on March 17, the BLS will revise the job openings, hires,
and separations data to incorporate the annual updates to the Current Employment Statistics
employment estimates and the JOLTS seasonal adjustment factors. Unadjusted data and seasonally
adjusted data from December 2000 forward are subject to revision. Also effective with the release
of January data, all data series will be available on a seasonally adjusted basis.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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Today, I managed to remember this. I went over four paragraphs, as this is a gummint report. You're already paying for it.

Last month's report:

Job openings little changed at 5.4 million in November

I'll link to the article in TWSJ. when it goes up.

[whatthehey]

1. While the changes are not dramatic they are encouraging

If you look at the difference between quits and hires that's a nice number, as is the uptick in job openings. More nice steady incrementalism in the labor markets for doomers to ignore simply because the factory at the end of their road isn't hiring mechanics today. No doubt they are as I type feverishly scanning the release trying to find some negative facet of there being millions of open jobs right now and far more hires than separations.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Voluntary Job-Quitting Hits Highest Level in Nine Years

11:48 am ET
Feb 9, 2016
2016

Voluntary Job-Quitting Hits Highest Level in Nine Years

By Jeffrey Sparshott
[e-mail]
@jeffsparshott

The number of Americans who voluntarily quit their jobs climbed to a post-recession high in December, suggesting workers are confident about their employment prospects despite financial-market turmoil and a slowdown overseas.

The Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed the number of voluntary quits rose to nearly 3.1 million, the highest level since December 2006. Hires, meanwhile, increased to nearly 5.4 million workers, also a post-recession best.



Taken together, the figures signal a strong finish to the year for the U.S. labor market. Americans are more likely to voluntarily leave one job if they think they can do better elsewhere, and companies appeared ready to absorb them.

The more closely watched Labor Department jobs report last week showed the U.S. economy added 280,000 jobs in November, 262,000 in December and 151,000 in January. The unemployment rate hit an eight-year low and wage growth accelerated last month.

[whatthehey]

3. Quits are often overlooked, and yes this is a good datum

Thanks once again for the assiduous metric posts.

Looking at that chart indicates it's actually a mild leading indicator perhaps. I'll have to do some digging to see if there are data on that but at an eyeball it looks like quits may drop off before downturns and start to rise before recoveries (well labor market recoveries at least, which always lag GDP recoveries). That one figure at the end isn't by definition a trend yet, but here's hoping it becomes one.