by Calculated Risk on 9/10/2019 10:10:00 AM

Notes: In July there were 7.217 million job openings, and, according to the July Employment report, there were 6,063 million unemployed. So, for the seventeenth consecutive month, there were more job openings than people unemployed. Also note that the number of job openings has exceeded the number of hires since January 2015 (4+ years).

From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

The number of job openings was little changed at 7.2 million on the last business day of July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires edged up to 6.0 million and separations increased to 5.8 million. Within separations, the quits rate and the layoffs and discharges rate were little changed at 2.4 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. ...

The number of quits edged up to a series high in July of 3.6 million (+130,000). The quits rate was 2.4 percent. The quits level edged up for total private (+127,000) and was little changed for government. Quits increased in health care and social assistance (+54,000) and in federal government (+3,000).
emphasis added

The following graph shows job openings (yellow line), hires (dark blue), Layoff, Discharges and other (red column), and Quits (light blue column) from the JOLTS.

This series started in December 2000.

Note: The difference between JOLTS hires and separations is similar to the CES (payroll survey) net jobs headline numbers. This report is for July, the most recent employment report was for August.

Click on graph for larger image.


Note that hires (dark blue) and total separations (red and light blue columns stacked) are pretty close each month. This is a measure of labor market turnover.  When the blue line is above the two stacked columns, the economy is adding net jobs - when it is below the columns, the economy is losing jobs.

Jobs openings decreased in July to 7.217 million from 7.248 million in June.

The number of job openings (yellow) are down 3% year-over-year.

Quits are up 3% year-over-year to a new series high. These are voluntary separations. (see light blue columns at bottom of graph for trend for "quits").

Job openings remain at a high level, and quits are still increasing year-over-year. This was a solid report.