Quartz: U.S. job openings drop to 7.36M

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said on August 4 that job openings fell to 7.359 million in June from a revised 7.537 million in May, extending a labor-market pattern of modest hiring and limited layoffs. The June openings rate was 4.4%, unchanged from the prior month, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS. Hires were little changed at 5.3 million, and total separations were also little changed at 5.3 million. The report, released a day before fresh private-payroll data and ahead of the next monthly employment report, added another snapshot of labor demand as employers continue to fill jobs more selectively. ### How big was the drop in openings? June openings fell by 178,000 from May’s revised level, based on the BLS tally of 7,359,000 available positions versus 7,537,000 a month earlier. The agency described the overall level of openings as “little changed” in June, reflecting that the decline was modest in the context of monthly labor-market swings. (bls.gov) Quartz reported that the June figure missed forecasts and followed a downward revision to May, citing pullbacks in several sectors. Its account matched the BLS release showing a month-over-month decline from the revised May level. ### Which parts of the economy saw the biggest moves? The Bureau of Labor Statistics said openings increased in transportation, warehousing and utilities by 97,000 and in federal government by 39,000. (bls.gov) Those gains were offset by declines in wholesale trade, down 74,000, nondurable goods manufacturing, down 55,000, and mining and logging, down 9,000. (qz.com) June’s industry detail matters because the headline number alone does not show where employers were still adding demand. The BLS did not report broad-based deterioration across every major category; instead, the changes were concentrated in a smaller set of industries. ### Did hiring or layoffs change much? Hires were unchanged at 5.3 million in June, and the hires rate held at 3.4%, the BLS said. (bls.gov) Total separations were also unchanged at 5.3 million, with the separations rate at 3.4%. The layoffs-and-discharges rate stayed at 1.1%, while the quits rate was unchanged at 2.0%. Those figures suggest employers were not cutting staff more aggressively even as openings eased from May. (bls.gov) ### Why does JOLTS get so much attention? The JOLTS report tracks openings, hires, quits and layoffs, making it one of the Labor Department’s main measures of labor demand and worker confidence. (bls.gov) Economists and Federal Reserve officials watch it for signs of whether the job market is cooling through fewer openings, weaker hiring, rising layoffs, or some combination of all three. That inference is based on how the series is typically used in policy and market analysis; the BLS itself publishes the data rather than policy conclusions. (bls.gov) The latest BLS “latest numbers” page lists June job openings at 7,359,000 on a preliminary basis. The agency’s archived and current release pages also note that JOLTS figures can be revised in later releases. ### What comes next after this release? August 4 was the release date for the June JOLTS report, according to the BLS news page. The next labor-market milestones are the July employment figures and subsequent monthly JOLTS updates published by the agency on its economic news release calendar. (bls.gov 1) (bls.gov 2) (bls.gov 3)