Job Openings Ticked Up in June

The U.S. Labor Department said in its latest Job Openings and Turnover Survey that job openings at U.S. workplaces rose to 3.76 million in June from 3.66 million in May. Year over year, job openings increased 16%. Specifically, private openings increased 17% to 3.4 million, and government openings rose 10% to 363,000.

More than 4 million jobs were open when the recession began in December 2007. Given the 12.75 million unemployed people in June, there were about 3.4 potential job seekers for each opening. But that was down from 3.5 in May. In June of 2011, about 14.02 million people were unemployed, or each opening had about 4.3 potential seekers.

The Labor Department also said the number of separations, such as quits and layoffs, fell to 4.28 million in June from 4.46 million in May. The total number of hires, though, fell to 4.36 million from 4.46 million. The level of hires was approximately 5 million when the recession began.

This follows last Friday’s report from the Labor Department indicating that 163,000 jobs were added in the U.S. in the month of July, topping expectations for a 100,000 gain. While the unemployment rate technically rose to 8.3% from 8.2%, the difference was statistically insignificant.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey results for July 2012 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, September 11, 2012