JOLTS: Job Openings & Hiring Decline in June
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
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The number of job openings fall for third consecutive month.
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New hires are off for fourth straight month.
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Separations decline with fewer quits.
Job openings fell 5.4% to 10.698 million (+8.6% y/y) during June from 11.303 million in May, revised from 11.254 million according the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover report. This was the third consecutive monthly decline, down 9.8% during that period. The job openings rate (job openings as a percentage of the sum of establishment employment plus openings) fell to 6.6% in June from 6.9% in May. The series high was 7.3% in March.
New hires retreated 2.0% (-0.6% y/y) to 6.374 million from 6.507 million in May, revised from 6.489 million. It was the fourth straight month of decline for new hires and the hiring rate, which eased to 4.2% from 4.3%. The hiring rate hit a peak of 4.5% in February.
The total number of job separations fell 1.4% (+2.4% y/y) to 5.931 million from 6.017 million in May, revised from 5.983 million. Quits dipped 1.2% (+5.0% y/y) to 4.237 million from 4.274 million in May. It was their lowest level since October of last year. Fewer quits indicate that jobs are becoming less readily available. The quit rate held steady at 2.8%, down from 3.0% six months earlier. Layoffs and discharges, involuntary separations, declined 6.3% in June (-2.5% y/y) to 1.327 (-2.5% y/y) from 1.416 million in May. They have been trending sideways since April 2021.
Private-sector job openings fell 5.0% (+9.0% y/y) to 9.766 million, down for the third straight month. The private-sector job openings rate declined to 7.0%, the lowest level in 12 months. The largest monthly drops in job openings occurred in trade, transportation & utilities (+10.9% y/y) as well as construction (+4.0% y/y) & manufacturing (-11.5% y/y).
Total hires in the private sector fell 2.3% (-0.9% y/y) to 5.957 million in June while total private-sector separations weakened 1.8% (+1.2% y/y) to 5.547 million.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) are available in Haver's USECON database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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