by Calculated Risk on 8/09/2021 10:07:00 AM
Monday, August 09, 2021
BLS: Job Openings Increase to Series High 10.1 Million in June
From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary
The number of job openings increased to a series high of 10.1 million on the last business day of June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires rose to 6.7 million and total separations edged up to 5.6 million. Within separations, the quits rate increased to 2.7 percent. The layoffs and discharges rate was unchanged at 0.9 percent, matching the series low reached last month.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.
emphasis added
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 June, the most recent employment report was for July.
Click on graph for larger image.
Note that hires (dark blue) and total separations (red and light blue columns stacked) are usually 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.
The huge spikes in layoffs and discharges in March 2020 are labeled, but off the chart to better show the usual data.
Jobs openings increased in June to 10.073 million from 9.483 million in May. This is a new record high for this series.
The number of job openings (yellow) were up 65% year-over-year.
Quits were up 46% year-over-year. These are voluntary separations. (see light blue columns at bottom of graph for trend for "quits").