The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the number of job openings in November was 7.74 million. This was reported to be up 259,000 openings month-over-month. In addition, the openings figure for October was revised higher by 95,000 openings, so the November openings figure is 354,000 higher than the initial level reported for October last month. It is also 726,000 openings higher than its recent low in September. However, job openings are down 833,000 openings from their year-ago level.
Hiring was reported to be down from last month’s revised (+81,000) figure for the economy as a whole, falling 125,000 to a level of 5.27 million hires. Total separations fell 180,000 from last month’s revised (+45,000) figure to a level of 5.13 million. Within total separations, quits were reported to fall 6.6 percent while layoffs rose 0.1 percent. Quits represented 59.8 percent of total separations for the month, slightly below the trailing 12-month average of 62.9 percent.
Overall employment growth rises
The November job openings figure represents 4.8 percent of total employment plus job openings. For comparison, the unemployment rate in November was reported to be 4.2 percent and 7.15 million people were unemployed. Another 5.49 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 November JOLT report implies an employment increase of 143,000 jobs for the month. Last month’s employment increase was revised to 88,000 jobs, up by 36,000 jobs from the gain reported last month.
Of those leaving their jobs in November, 3.07 million quit voluntarily, while 1.77 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 fell 0.2 percentage points from last month’s figure to 1.9 percent of the labor force. The involuntary separations rate was up from last month’s figure at 1.1 percent.
Total non-farm JOLT data since January 2016 is shown in the first chart, below.
October construction layoffs revised sharply higher
The next chart, below, shows the employment situation for the construction jobs market over the last 49 months. It shows that November saw a net gain of 16,000 construction jobs, up from last month’s revised gain of 8,000 jobs.
The preliminary construction job openings figure for November was reported to be up by 17,000 openings from last month’s revised (+10,000) figure at 276,000 openings. Openings were reported to be down 39.2 percent from last year’s level and were reported to represent 3.2 percent of construction employment plus job openings.
Hiring was reported to be down by 3,000 jobs in November from the prior month’s revised (+27,000) jobs figure at 317,000 new hires. The number of construction jobs that were filled in November was reported to be down 13.6 percent year-over-year.
Construction jobs total separations were reported to fall by 11,000 jobs from the prior month’s revised (+54,000) figure to 301,000 jobs.
Quits were reported to fall by 5,000 jobs from October’s revised (-6,000) figure to a level of 138,000 jobs. Quits represented 45.8 percent of separations for the month.
Layoffs were reported to fall by 14,000 from last month’s revised figure to 142,000 jobs. However, layoffs were 45,000 higher than the preliminary level reported for last month because last month’s layoffs figure was revised 59,000 layoffs (61 percent) higher.
“Other separations” which includes retirements and transfers, were reported to be up 8,000 at 21,000 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 5,000 jobs for the month.
The number of job openings in the RERL category was reported to be 159,000 jobs at the end of November. This was up 10,000 job openings from the revised (+19,000) level reported for the month before. RERL job openings are up 15.9 percent from year-ago level. Job openings in the RERL category represent 5.9 percent of total employment plus job openings, up a full percentage point from the level in last month’s report.
Hiring in November was reported to be down by 5,000 jobs from last month’s revised (-4,000) figure at 64,000 jobs. The hiring figure was down 15.8 percent from the level of the year before.
Total separations in the RERL jobs category in November were down by 6,000 from October’s revised (-5,000) figure at 70,000 jobs.
Quits were down by 10,000 from October’s revised (+1,000) figure at 35,000 jobs. Quits represented 59.3 percent of total separations. Layoffs were reported to rise by 13,000 from October’s revised (-5,000) figure to 24,000 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.
