While the biggest number from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the U.S. Department of Labor is the monthly payrolls and unemployment report, its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) report is used as a confirming tool for the state of the job market. Quite simply, this measures job openings versus employees being fired or laid off and quitting.
Before getting too deep into the report, it is important to understand that the job openings and the rate of quits matter very much here. The job openings figure speaks for itself, but a higher quits rate means that another job is opening up and that employees have enough confidence to pursue other jobs or careers.
The number of job openings was 5.534 million on the last business day of October, compared with 5.631 million on that day of September. Hires and separations were also little changed at 5.099 million and 4.875 million, respectively. The BLS release showed the following:
Within separations, the quits rate was unchanged at 2.1 percent and the layoffs and discharges rate was also unchanged at 1.0 percent.
The job openings rate was 3.7 percent in October.
The number of job openings was little changed for total private and for government.
The hires rate was 3.5 percent.
The total separations rate in October was 3.4 percent.
The quits rate was 2.1 percent.
Other data were shown as follows:
Job openings increased in health care and social assistance (+139,000).
Job openings decreased in professional and business services (-187,000), federal government (-13,000), and mining and logging (-8,000).
The number of hires was little changed for total private and for government.
Hires decreased in state and local government education (-26,000) and was little changed in all other industries.
The number of total separations was little changed for total private and decreased for government (-39,000).
Total separations decreased in state and local government education (-26,000), information (-20,000), and federal government (-7,000).
The number of quits was little changed for total private, and decreased for government (-26,000).
Quits decreased in information (-18,000) and state and local government, excluding education (-16,000).
There were 1.5 million layoffs and discharges in October.
The BLS represents that the so-called quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. They say:
The quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs.
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