U.S. Job Openings Fell in January
by:Sandy Batten
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- The number of job openings declined to 10.8 million but still exceed unemployment by 5.130 million.
- New hires rose, on slight uptrend.
- Layoffs and discharges post largest monthly increase since November 2020.
Job openings fell 3.6% m/m (-5.8% y/y) to 10.824 million in January, a little less than expected, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The 11.012 million openings previously reported was revised up to 11.234 million. The series high number of openings was reached in March 2022 at 12.027 million. In the twelve months prior to the pandemic lockdown in March 2020, the number of openings averaged 7.227 million. In January, there were 5.130 million more openings than the number of unemployed compared to 1.287 million in the month prior to the pandemic lockdown. So, current demand for workers is clearly stronger than it was just prior to the pandemic though the separations data point to some recent softening of labor-market conditions. The job openings rate (job openings as a percentage of the sum of establishment employment plus openings) fell to 6.5% in January from an upwardly revised 6.8% in December (originally 6.7%). The series high was 7.4% in March 2022.
New hires rose 1.9% m/m (-1.9% y/y) to 6.372 million in January from an upwardly revised 6.251 million in December (previously 6.165 million). Since last October, hires have increased 3.4%. Private sector hires increased 2.5% m/m in January, led by a 6.9% m/m jump in hires in the leisure and hospitality sector. Hiring in construction rose 2.9% m/m in January on top of an upwardly revised 12.8% monthly surge in December. Hiring was weakest in other services and in finance and insurance, both experiencing small monthly declines.
The total number of job separations was essentially unchanged in January at 5.902 million versus 5.906 million in December. Total separations include quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Therefore, the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Quits fell 5.1% m/m (-11.5% y/y) in January, their fourth monthly decline in the past five months. Their general downtrend over the past year is likely an indication that jobs are becoming less readily available. Layoffs and discharges jumped 16.3% m/m (+20.4% y/y) in January after having declined in three of the four previous months. This was the largest monthly gain since November 2020 and pushed the level of layoffs and discharges up to its highest level since December 2020.
Private-sector job openings fell 3.5% m/m in January to 9.770 million. New private-sector hires increased 2.5% m/m to 5.952 million, their highest level since last August. Private-sector separations edged up 0.4% m/m to 5.523 million. They have been relatively flat over the past four months.
The data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) are available in Haver’s USECON database.
Sandy Batten
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Sandy Batten has more than 30 years of experience analyzing industrial economies and financial markets and a wide range of experience across the financial services sector, government, and academia. Before joining Haver Analytics, Sandy was a Vice President and Senior Economist at Citibank; Senior Credit Market Analyst at CDC Investment Management, Managing Director at Bear Stearns, and Executive Director at JPMorgan. In 2008, Sandy was named the most accurate US forecaster by the National Association for Business Economics. He is a member of the New York Forecasters Club, NABE, and the American Economic Association. Prior to his time in the financial services sector, Sandy was a Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Senior Staff Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Treasury, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Sandy has taught economics at St. Louis University, Denison University, and Muskingun College. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in a wide range of academic publications. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Richmond and a M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from The Ohio State University.
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