Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary for October 2014

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Rats. They released it yesterday. Hence, not LBN.

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, December 9, 2014 USDL-14-2206

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

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – OCTOBER 2014

There were 4.8 million job openings on the last business day of October, little changed from 4.7 million in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires (5.1 million) and separations (4.8 million) were steady in October. Within separations, the quits rate (1.9 percent) was little changed and the layoffs and discharges rate (1.2 percent) was unchanged. 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

There were 4.8 million job openings on the last business day of October. The job openings rate was 3.3 percent. The number of job openings was little changed for total private and declined for government in October. (See table 1.) The level of job openings decreased for state and local government. The job openings level was little changed in all four regions.

The number of job openings (not seasonally adjusted) increased over the 12 months ending in October for total nonfarm and total private, and was little changed for government. The job openings level increased over the year for many industries, including both professional and business services and accommodation and food services. The number of openings also increased over the year in all four regions. (See table 7.)

Hires

The hires level was unchanged at 5.1 million in October, maintaining the prior month’s increase. The hires rate in October was 3.6 percent. The number of hires was little changed for total private and government. Hires increased over the month in retail trade and was little changed in all four regions. (See table 2.)

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Wait: another one of these things? Yep. This is JOLTS - the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. I especially welcome our good friends from across the aisle. You're paying for this information too, so you ought to see this as much as anyone. Please, everyone, put aside your differences long enough to digest the information. After that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.

Depending on where you look, you can find something to like or something not to like in the data. Every table tells a story.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Hat tip to elleng for linking to the JOLTS blog in The Wall Street Journal. last month.

Job Turnover Climbs While Hiring Remains Near Fastest Pace Since 2007

10:36 am ET
Dec 9, 2014
Economy

by Josh Zumbrun

The number of people leaving jobs climbed to the highest in more than five years in October, according to the Labor Department, another sign of a labor market gradually returning toward normal more than five years after the official end of the recession.

The number of people hired to new jobs was little changed from the previous month. ... Some 4.8 million people left a job in October–including 1.7 million layoffs and 2.7 million voluntary separations–while 5.1 million began a new job. Along with last month, that’s the highest hiring level recorded since 2007, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS.

“Overall, the report is consistent with a gradually tightening labor market,” said Ian Shepherdson, the chief U.S. economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a research note. The report comes on the heels of the Labor Department’s November jobs report, showing the economy added 321,000 jobs last month, putting 2014 on pace to be the best year for job growth since 1999.

The JOLTS report provides another perspective on the nature of the labor market’s recovery.

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What is important about these statistics is not so much this month’s number, but the trend. So let’s look at some earlier numbers.

JOLTS, for September 2014:

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey News Release, September 2014

JOLTS, for August 2014:

Job openings increase to 4.8 million in August; hires decrease and separations steady

JOLTS, for May 2014 (hat tip, IronLionZion):

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey News Release