The Job
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released by the Labor Department on Wednesday
showed a 3.7 per cent m-o-m decline in the U.S. job openings in March after a
revised 0.7 per cent m-o-m advance (from +0.1 per cent m-o-m) in February.
According to
the report, employers posted 8.488 million job openings in March compared to
the February reading of 8.813 million (revised from 8.756 million in last month’s
report) and economists’ prediction of 8.690 million. This was the lowest figure
since February 2021 (7.818 million). The job openings rate came in at 5.1 per
cent in March, down from an unrevised 5.3 per cent in the previous month. The report
revealed that the largest declines in job openings occurred in construction (-182,000)
and in finance and insurance (-158,000). Meanwhile, the biggest gain took place
in state and local government education (+68,000).
At the same
time, the number of hires plunged
by 4.9 per cent m-o-m to 5.500 million in March compared to a downwardly
revised 5.781 million (from 5.818 million) in February. This marked the lowest
print since April 2020 (4.016 million). The hiring rate came in at 3.5 per cent, down from an unrevised 3.7 per cent in February.
Hires decreased noticeably in trade, transportation, and utilities (-103,000),
construction (-59,000) and leisure and hospitality (-51,000).
The separation
rate was 5.200 million (or 3.3 per cent) in March, down 6.1 per cent from a
downwardly revised January reading of 5.539 million (or 3.5 per cent). This represented
the lowest reading since September 2020 (5.097 million). Within separations, the
number of quits reached 3.329 million (-5.6 per cent m-o-m) and the number of layoffs reached 1.526 million (-9.2 per
cent m-o-m). The quits rate was 2.1 per cent (-0.1 p.p.
m-o-m), and the layoffs rate was 1.0 per cent (-0.1 p.p. m-o-m).