Job openings little changed at 5.1 million in February; hires and separations hold steady

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Apr 8, 2015, 11:28 AM - Edit history (3)

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic News Release

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, April 7, 2015 USDL-15-0562

Technical information: [phone] • [e-mail] • www.bls.gov/jlt
Media contact: [phone] • [e-mail]

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – FEBRUARY 2015

There were 5.1 million job openings on the last business day of February, little changed from 5.0 million in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires were little changed at 4.9 million in February and separations were little changed at 4.7 million. Within separations, the quits rate was 1.9 percent and the layoffs and discharges rate was 1.1 percent; both rates were little different from the previous month. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by four geographic regions.

Job Openings

There were 5.1 million job openings on the last business day of February, little changed from January. This was the highest level of job openings since January 2001. The job openings rate for February was 3.5 percent. The number of job openings was little changed for total private and government and no industries posted significant changes from January. Job openings increased in the Midwest region. (See table 1.)

The number of job openings (not seasonally adjusted) increased over the 12 months ending in February for total nonfarm, total private, and government. Job openings increased over the year for many industries including professional and business services, health care and social assistance, and accommodation and food services. Job openings decreased over the year in mining and logging. The number of openings increased over the year in all four regions. (See table 7.)

Hires

There were 4.9 million hires in February, about the same as in January. The hires rate in February was 3.5 percent. The number of hires was little changed for total private and government in February. There was little to no change in the number of hires in all industries over the month. In the regions, the number of hires increased in the Northeast and decreased in the South. (See table 2.)

Over the 12 months ending in February, the number of hires (not seasonally adjusted) was little changed for total nonfarm, total private, and government. The number of hires was little changed in all industries and increased in the Northeast region. (See table 8.)

Read more: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

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Didn't we do this last week? Nope. This is JOLTS.

I quoted five paragraphs. It's a Federal press release, and they want the report out there.

ETA, on Wednesday, 04-08: I added the charts to the linked article below.

Job Openings Climb to Highest Level in 14 Years, But Hiring Declines

Economy

10:29 am ET Apr 7, 2015
By Josh Zumbrun
[e-mail]

The number of job openings in the U.S. climbed to the highest level in 14 years, surpassing five million for the first time since January 2001. But the number of Americans actually getting hired for jobs fell for the second consecutive month, as did the number of people who voluntarily quit.

Job openings climbed to 5.13 million in February, up from 4.97 million in January and from 4.88 million in December. But the number of Americans actually hired to fill jobs declined—falling to 4.9 million in February, down from five million in January and 5.2 million in December, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as Jolts.



The primary jobs report shows the net change in jobs—that measure slowed in March to a gain of 126,000, the weakest hiring in 15 months. The Jolts report, which is only available through February, tracks the millions of Americans each month who quit a job, are laid off, or start a new job. The softness in the Jolts report’s measures of hiring and quitting bolsters the case that the labor market has lost some of its momentum in the first quarter of 2015.

The report is closely followed by officials at the Federal Reserve, with Chairwoman Janet Yellen citing the rate of voluntary quitting as a key gauge of worker’s confidence in the economy. When the economy is stronger, workers are more likely to quit their job due to the greater ease of finding something different. The number of voluntary quits declined in February to 2.7 million from 2.8 million in January.

[onehandle]

1. I am associated with a lot of hiring managers right now. Executives are telling them to slow hires.

Not to not hire, if absolutely necessary, but to stretch out the hiring process to make job seekers hungrier and take less of a salary.

And the 1% smile.