The Job
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) published by the Labor Department on Tuesday showed a 5.3 per cent
m-o-m plunge in the U.S. job openings in September after an upwardly revised 1.9
per cent m-o-m jump (from +4.3 per cent m-o-m) in August.
According to
the report, employers posted 7.443 million job openings in September compared
to the August reading of 7.861 million (revised from 8.040 million in last
month’s report) and economists’ forecast of 7.990 million. This represented
the lowest figure since January 2021 (7.185 million). The job openings rate
came in at 4.5 per cent in September, down from a downwardly revised 4.7 per cent (from 4.8 per
cent) in the previous month. The report revealed that the largest declines in
job openings occurred in health care and social assistance (-178,000), state
and local government, excluding education (-79,000), and federal government
(-28,000). Meanwhile, the biggest gain was observed in finance and insurance
(+85,000).
At the same
time, the number of hires surged
by 2.3 per cent m-o-m to 5.558 million in September compared to an upwardly
revised 5.435 million (from 5.317 million) in August. This was the highest
print in four months. The hiring rate came in at 3.5 per
cent, slightly up from an upwardly revised August reading of 3.4 per cent
(from 3.3 per cent).
The separation
rate was 5.196 million (or 3.3 per cent) in September, up 0.5 per cent from an upwardly
revised August reading of 5.168 million (or 3.3 per cent).
Within separations, the number of quits reached 3.071 million (-3.4 per
cent m-o-m) and the number of layoffs reached 1.833 million (+9.9 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 1.2 per cent (+0.2 p.p. m-o-m).