The Job
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released by the Labor Department on Tuesday
showed a 4.3 per cent m-o-m jump in the U.S. job openings in August after an upwardly
revised 2.5 per cent m-o-m decline (from -3.0 per cent m-o-m) in July.
According to
the report, employers posted 8.040 million job openings in August compared to
the July reading of 7.711 million (revised from 7.673 million in last month’s
report) and economists’ forecast of 7.655 million. This marked the first increase
in three months. The job openings rate came in at 4.8 per cent in July,
up from an unrevised 4.6 per cent in the previous month. The report
showed that the largest gains in job openings occurred in construction
(+138,000) and in state and local government, excluding education (+78,000). Meanwhile,
the biggest drop was observed in other services (-93,000).
At the same
time, the number of hires fell
by 1.8 per cent m-o-m to 5.317 million in August compared to an upwardly
revised 5.416 million (from 5.521 million) in July. The
hiring rate came in at 3.3 per cent, down
from a downwardly revised July reading of 3.4 per cent (from 3.5 per cent).
The separation
rate was 4.997 million (or 3.1 per cent) in August, down 6.0 per cent from a
downwardly revised July reading of 5.314 million (or 3.4 per cent). This represented
the lowest reading since August 2020 (4.815million). Within separations, the
number of quits reached 3.084 million (-4.9 per cent m-o-m) and the number of layoffs reached 1.608 million (-6.1 per
cent m-o-m). The quits rate was 1.9 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).