The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the number of job openings in October was 7.74 million. This was reported to be up 372,000 openings month-over-month. However, the openings figure for September was revised lower by 71,000 openings, so the October openings figure is 301,000 higher than the initial level reported for September last month. Job openings are down 941,000 from the year-ago level.
Hiring was reported to be down from last month’s revised (+24,000) figure for the economy as a whole, falling 269,000 to a level of 5.31 million hires. Total separations rose 65,000 from last month’s unchanged figure to a level of 5.26 million. Within total separations, quits were reported to rise 7.4 percent while layoffs fell 9.4 percent. Quits represented 63.2 percent of total separations for the month, in line with the trailing 12-month average.
Overall employment growth falls sharply
The October job openings figure represents 4.6 percent of total employment plus job openings. For comparison, the unemployment rate in October was reported to be 4.1 percent and 6.98 million people were unemployed. Another 5.70 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 October JOLT report implies an employment increase of only 52,000 jobs for the month. Last month’s employment increase was revised to 386,000 jobs, up by 24,000 jobs from the gain reported last month.
Of those leaving their jobs in October, 3.33 million quit voluntarily, while 1.63 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 rose 0.2 percentage points from last month’s figure to 2.1 percent of the labor force. The involuntary separations rate was down from last month’s figure at 1.0 percent.
Total non-farm JOLT data since January 2016 is shown in the first chart, below.
Construction job openings fall
The next chart, below, shows the employment situation for the construction jobs market over the last 49 months. It shows that October saw a net gain of 35,000 construction jobs, up from last month’s revised gain of 25,000 jobs.
The preliminary job openings figure for October was reported to be down by 9,000 openings from last month’s revised (-30,000) figure at 249,000 openings. Openings were reported to be down 39.7 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 down by 42,000 jobs in October from the prior month’s revised (-1,000) jobs figure at 293,000 new hires. The number of construction jobs that were filled in October was reported to be down 23.1 percent year-over-year.
Construction jobs total separations were reported to fall by 52,000 jobs from the prior month’s revised (-2,000) figure to 258,000 jobs.
Quits were reported to rise by 24,000 jobs from September’s revised (+5,000) figure to a level of 149,000 jobs. Quits represented 57.8 percent of separations for the month, the highest portion since May 2023.
Layoffs were reported to fall by 73,000 from September’s revised (-8,000) figure to 97,000 jobs. This is the lowest number of layoffs in over 20 years. “Other separations” which includes retirements and transfers, were reported to be down 1,000 at 13,000 jobs.
RERL quits rise again
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 130,000 jobs at the end of October. This was up 11,000 job openings from the revised (+1,000) level reported for the month before. RERL job openings are up 4.8 percent from the year-ago level. Job openings in the RERL category represent 4.9 percent of total employment plus job openings.
Hiring in October was reported to be up by 6,000 jobs from September’s figure at 73,000 jobs. The hiring figure was down 6.4 percent from the level of the year before.
Total separations in the RERL jobs category in October were up by 3,000 from September’s revised (-4,000) figure at 70,000 jobs.
Quits were up by 4,000 from September’s revised (+1,000) figure at 44,000 jobs. Quits represented 62.9 percent of total separations. Layoffs were reported to fall by 8,000 from September’s revised (-4,000) figure to 16,000 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.
