The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the number of job openings in July was 7.67 million. This was reported to be down 237,000 openings month-over-month. However, the openings figure for June was also revised lower by 274,000 openings, so the July openings figure is 511,000 lower than the initial level reported for June last month. Job openings are down 1,132,000 openings from the year-ago level.
Hiring was reported to be up from last month’s revised (-93,000) figure for the economy as a whole, rising 273,000 to a level of 5.52 million hires. Total separations rose 336,000 from last month’s revised (-11,000) figure to a level of 5.42 million. Within total separations, quits were reported to rise 2.0 percent while layoffs rose 13.0 percent. Quits represented 60.5 percent of total separations for the month, the lowest percentage since the summer of 2020.
Overall employment grows slows
The July job openings figure represents 4.6 percent of total employment plus job openings. For comparison, the unemployment rate in July was reported to be 4.3 percent and 7.16 million people were unemployed. Another 5.60 million people said that they would like a job but were not counted as being in the labor force since they were not actively seeking employment.
For a discussion of the JOLT report and how it relates to the Employment Situation Report, please see the paragraph at the end of this article.
The excess of hiring over separations in the July JOLT report implies an employment increase of 101,000 jobs for the month. Last month’s employment increase was revised to 164,000 jobs, down by 82,000 jobs from the gain reported last month.
Of those leaving their jobs in July, 3.28 million quit voluntarily, while 1.76 million people were involuntarily separated from their jobs. The remainder of people leaving their jobs left for other reasons, such as retirements or transfers. The portion of people quitting their jobs was unchanged from last month’s figure at 2.1 percent of the labor force. The involuntary separations rate was also unchanged from last month’s figure at 0.9 percent.
Total non-farm JOLT data since January 2016 is shown in the first chart, below.
Construction hiring up despite lower openings
The next chart, below, shows the employment situation for the construction jobs market over the last 49 months. It shows that July saw a net gain of 43,000 construction jobs. This is up from last month’s revised gain of 41,000 jobs but down from the gain of 54,000 jobs for June in last month’s report.
The preliminary job openings figure for July was reported to be down 51,000 openings from last month’s revised (+4,000) figure at 248,000 openings. Openings were reported to be down 29.3 percent from last year’s level and were reported to represent 2.9 percent of construction employment plus job openings.
Hiring was reported to be up by 48,000 jobs in July from the prior month’s revised (-5,000) jobs figure at 371,000 new hires. The number of construction jobs that were filled in July was reported to be down 2.1 percent year-over-year.
Construction jobs total separations were reported to rise by 46,000 jobs from the prior month’s revised (+8,000) figure to 328,000 jobs.
Quits were reported to rise by 16,000 jobs from June’s revised (-5,000) figure to a level of 135,000 jobs. Quits represented 56.1 percent of separations for the month, up by 4.7 percentage points from the revised level of last month.
Layoffs were reported to rise by 39,000 from June’s revised (+12,000) figure to 184,000 jobs. “Other separations” which includes retirements and transfers, were reported to be down 9,000 at 9,000 jobs.
RERL job openings rise
The last chart, below, shows the employment situation for the real estate and rental and leasing (RERL) jobs category. Employment in this jobs category was reported to be up 3,000 jobs for the month.
The number of job openings in the RERL category was reported to be 131,000 jobs at the end of July. This was up 9,000 job openings from the revised (+11,000) level of the month before. RERL job openings are down 5.1 percent year-over-year. Job openings in the RERL category represent 5.0 percent of total employment plus job openings.
Hiring in July was reported to be down by 4,000 jobs from June’s unchanged figure at 72,000 jobs. The hiring figure was down 10.0 percent from the level of the year before.
Total separations in the RERL jobs category in July were down by 1,000 from June’s revised (+5,000) figure at 69,000 jobs.
Quits were down by 6,000 from June’s revised (+4,000) figure at 38,000 jobs. Quits represented 55.1 percent of total separations in July. Layoffs were reported to rise by 2,000 from June’s revised (+1,000) figure to 25,000 jobs.
The numbers given in the JOLT report are seasonally adjusted and are subject to revision. It is common for adjustments to be made in subsequent reports, particularly to the data for the most recent month. The full current JOLT report can be found here.
Comparing the reports
The US labor market is very dynamic with many people changing jobs in any given month. The JOLT report documents this dynamism by providing details about job openings, hiring and separations. However, it does not break down the jobs market into as fine categories as does the Employment Situation Report, which provides data on total employment and unemployment. For example, while the Employment Situation Report separates residential construction from other construction employment, the JOLT report does not. The Employment Situation Report separates residential property managers from other types of real estate and rental and leasing professionals, but the JOLT report does not. However, the JOLT report provides a look at what is driving the employment gains (or losses) in broad employment categories.
