The reading came out to 4.673 million job openings, which fell short of the Bloomberg estimate of 4.705 million. The numbers for July came in barely below the revision from the previous month, which read at 4.675 million.
Total separations totaled 4.559 million in July, with a rate of 3.3%. There was little change from the previous month.
Total hires in July totaled 4.9 million. Over the 12 months that ended in July, the number of hires increased for total nonfarm and total private but were little changed for government.
The hiring rate remained unchanged at 3.5%, while the quits rate remained unchanged for the sixth month in a row at 1.8%. This is not exactly the dynamic that the Fed wants to see in the U.S. labor market. However it does not mean that overall conditions have not improved, with jobless claims and the unemployment rate on the decline.
The hires level increased over the year for construction, which increased by 6.1% in July, and retail trade at 5.1%, but decreased for educational services.
The so-called JOLTS report does not really move the markets when it is released. Still, it offers a snapshot of what is happening under the formal hiring and jobless claims trends that we see. As a reminder, the job market requires people quitting their job to move up the ladder or into something else they prefer for there to be a truly strong jobs market.
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