Recent Updates
- US: Wholesale Trade (Feb), Producer Prices (Mar)
- US: Producer Price Indexes by Commodity Detail (Mar)
- US: Producer Price Indexes by Industry Detail (Mar)
- Canada: Investment in Building Construction (Feb), Labor Force Survey (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Total PMIs Gain Traction in March
The PMI readings for March show improvement again...
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Bounces Back in February
Consumer credit outstanding surged $27.6 billion during February...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to Record during February
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $71.1 during February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller October 16, 2015
The job openings rate declined to 3.6% during August from July's cycle-high of 3.8%. It nevertheless remained up versus 3.4% one year earlier. The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month as a percent of total employment plus job openings. The hires rate remained stable at 3.6%, up from 3.4% in August 2014. The hires rate is the number of hires during the month divided by employment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports these figures in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
The actual number of job openings pulled back m/m to 5.370 million but still was 9.0% higher versus last year. An 8.9% y/y rise in private sector openings was led by a 20.1% y/y gain in professional & business services. That was followed by 12.5% y/y increase in health care & social assistance jobs. Factory sector openings increased 8.8% y/y but leisure & hospitality jobs improved just 1.7% y/y. In the government sector, job openings jumped 10.3% y/y.
The number of hires improved slightly m/m to 5.078 million (6.0% y/y). Private sector hiring increased 5.0% y/y reflecting a 16.8% y/y rise in health care & social assistance as well as a 13.6% increase in leisure & hospitality jobs. Factory sector employment increased 9.5% y/y, but professional & business services employment eased 2.3% y/y. Government hiring rose by roughly one-quarter y/y.
The total job separations rate remained stable m/m at 3.4% as separations increased 6.1% y/y. Factory sector separations increased 16.7% y/y but professional & business services separations fell 1.2% y/y. Leisure & hospitality separations rose 11.7% y/y and they increased 8.3% y/y in retail trade. Separations include quits, layoffs, discharges, and other separations as well as retirements. The layoff & discharge rate held steady at 1.2% m/m and y/y. The private sector rate of 1.3% compared to 0.5% in the public sector. Layoffs overall rose 1.5% y/y.
The JOLTS survey dates to December 2000 and the figures are available in Haver's USECON database.
JOLTS (Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey, SA) | Aug | Jul | Jun | Aug '14 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Job Openings, Total | |||||||
Rate (%) | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
Total (000s) | 5,370 | 5,668 | 5,323 | 9.0% | 22.6% | 9.3% | 3.2% |
Hires, Total | |||||||
Rate (%) | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 42.2 | 39.8 | 38.8 |
Total (000s) | 5,078 | 5,065 | 5,182 | 6.0% | 8.4% | 3.4% | 4.2% |
Layoffs & Discharges, Total | |||||||
Rate (%) | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 14.5 | 14.6 | 15.5 |
Total (000s) | 1,688 | 1,646 | 1,779 | 1.5% | 2.4% | -4.9% | 1.1% |