Job openings increase to 5.4 million in April; hires and separations hold steady

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic News Release

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, June 9, 2015 USDL-15-1131

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

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – APRIL 2015

The number of job openings rose to 5.4 million on the last business day of April, the highest since the series began in December 2000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of hires was little changed at 5.0 million in April and the number of separations was little changed at 4.9 million. Within separations, the quits rate was 1.9 percent and the layoffs and discharges rate was 1.3 percent, both 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

Job openings rose to 5.4 million on the last business day of April, the highest point since the series began in December 2000. The job openings rate for April 2015 was 3.7 percent. The number of job openings increased for total private and was essentially unchanged for government. At the industry level, job openings rose over the month in health care and social assistance but fell in arts, entertainment, and recreation. In the regions, job openings increased in the West. (See table 1.)

The number of job openings (not seasonally adjusted) increased over the 12 months ending in April for total nonfarm, total private, and government. Job openings increased over the year for many industries with the largest changes occurring in professional and business services and in health care and social assistance. Job openings decreased over the year in mining and logging and in arts, entertainment, and recreation. The number of job openings increased over the year in all four regions. (See table 7.)

Hires

The number of hires was 5.0 million in April, little changed from March. The hires rate was 3.5 percent. The number of hires was little changed for total private and government in April. There was little change in the number of hires in all industries and regions over the month. (See table 2.)
....

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The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey results for May 2015 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

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

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I will link to the blog at The Wall Street Journal. when they put it online.

[cascadiance]

1. It would be nice to see a breakdown on how many of these were temporary or contract jobs...

I suddenly was getting a lot of pressure while unemployed for tons of contract jobs about that time. I've taken one of those. Many who take these jobs aren't necessarily taking them as they might in a decent economy because they are offered a permanent job that is better than the one they had, but they are being offered a job when they've been unemployed, etc. that may not be in many respects what they would leave another permanent job for in normal times, salary-wise, the kind of work being done, and how much it pays in salary and benefits.

Sometimes statistics on hiring like this can distort a bit what is actually happening.

[niyad]

2. I did not see any figures on how many are still unemployed, underemployed, or given up.

Net Change in Employment

Large numbers of hires and separations occur every month throughout the business cycle. Net
employment change results from the relationship between hires and separations. When the number of
hires exceeds the number of separations, employment rises, even if the hires level is steady or declining.
Conversely, when the number of hires is less than the number of separations, employment declines, even if the hires level is steady or rising. Over the 12 months ending in April 2015, hires totaled 60.0 million and separations totaled 57.2 million, yielding a net employment gain of 2.8 million. These totals
include workers who may have been hired and separated more than once during the year.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. That information should be in last Friday's unemployment report.

Payroll employment rises by 280,000 in May; unemployment rate essentially unchanged (5.5%)


[center]The Large Print Giveth, and the Fine Print Taketh Away.[/center]

Long ago, a DU'er pointed out that, if I'm going to post the link to the press release, I should include the link to all the tables that provide additional ways of examining the data. Specifically, I should post a link to Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization. Table A-15 includes those who are not considered unemployed, on the grounds that they have become discouraged about the prospects of finding a job and have given up looking. Here is that link:

Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

Also, hat tip, Recursion: How the Government Measures Unemployment

[niyad]

4. thank you.