JOLTs job openings decline
- Prior report 9.582M revised down to 9.165M
Job Openings:
- Job openings 8.827M versus 9.465M estimate. This is the smallest since March 2021.
- Professional and business services -198K
- Healthcare and social assistance -130K
- State and local government excluding education -67K
- State and local government education -62K
- Federal government -27K
- information +101K
- transportation, warehousing, and utilities +70 5K
Hires:
- Hires 5.773M vs 5.940M last month
Separations including quits, layoffs, and discharges, and other separations:
- Total separations 5.483M versus 5.691M last month
- Quits decreased to 3.549 million (-253K) versus 3.802M last month
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. Other separations include separations due to retirement, death, disability, and transfers to other locations of the same firm.
The data suggests some softening. Not only was the job openings the lowest since March 2021, the number of hires decreased, and the quits rate decreased as well (-253K). If workers are less willing to quit their jobs, it means they are less confident about getting another job sooner rather than later.
The data is relatively old (July data), and chatter is that it is less reliable. The US nonfarm payroll data will be released on Friday with expectations of a gain of 169K (versus 187K last month). The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 3.5% which is near historic lows.