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Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 13, 2018
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate declined to 3.9% in February. January's 4.0% rate was revised down from the record 4.1% reported last month. (The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent of total employment plus the job openings level.) The hiring rate also slipped to 3.7% from its expansion high of 3.8%. The layoff rate eased and returned to the record low of 1.1%.
The private sector job openings rate fell m/m to 4.2%, but remained up from December's 3.9% low. The rate fell sharply in construction (2.7%) and leisure hospitality (4.6%), but was little-changed elsewhere; manufacturing (3.3%), trade, transportation & utilities (4.0%), professional & business services (4.5%) and education & health (4.8%). The job openings rate in the government sector strengthened to 2.5%, its highest point since July 2016.
The level of job openings eased moderately m/m, but remained up 7.7% y/y. Private sector openings declined 3.5% (+7.0% y/y) to 5.5 million. Openings in trade and transportation & utilities rose 23.6% y/y and factory sector openings increased 21.0% y/y. Elsewhere, job openings declined by 1.9% y/y in leisure & hospitality and by 4.5% in education & health services. Openings in government increased 15.0% y/y.
The private sector hiring rate eased to 4.1% from 4.2% in January. Construction (5.0%), manufacturing (3.0%), trade, transportation & utilities (3.9%) and professional, leisure & hospitality (6.3%) & business services (5.6%) each remained firm. The hires rate in business & professional services fell to 5.6%. The government sector hiring rate held steady at 1.5%.
Hiring in the private sector increased 5.0% y/y led by a 27.9% y/y jump in factory sector hiring. Professional & business services hiring gained 12.4% y/y while education & health services hiring rose 3.2% y/y. Hiring in leisure & hospitality increased 3.3% y/y, but it fell 1.4% y/y in the construction sector.
The overall job separations rate declined to 3.5%, its lowest level since April 2017. It eased to 3.9% in the private sector and was steady at 1.5% in government. The level of overall separations rose 3.2 y/y.
The level of layoffs eased 0.6% y/y leaving the layoff rate at 1.1%. It was 1.2% in the private sector and 0.5% in the public sector.
The Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) survey dates to December 2000 and the figures are available in Haver's USECON database.
JOLTS (Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey, SA) | Feb | Jan | Dec | Feb'17 | Feb '16 | Feb'15 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Job Openings, Total | ||||||
Rate (%) | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.5 |
Total (000s) | 6,052 | 6,228 | 5,667 | 5,618 | 5,600 | 5,160 |
Hires, Total | ||||||
Rate (%) | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
Total (000s) | 5,507 | 5,574 | 5,524 | 5,264 | 5,473 | 5,028 |
Layoffs & Discharges, Total | ||||||
Rate (%) | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.3x | 1.2 |
Total (000s) | 1,647 | 1,784 | 1,655 | 1,657 | 1,859 | 1,685 |