The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the number of job openings in December was 7.60 million. This was reported to be down 556,000 openings month-over-month. However, the openings figure for November was revised higher by 412,000 openings, so the December openings figure is only 144,000 lower than the initial level reported for November last month. Job openings are down 1,289,000 openings from their year-ago level.
Hiring was reported to be up from last month’s revised (+60,000) figure for the economy as a whole, rising 89,000 to a level of 5.46 million hires. Total separations rose 38,000 from last month’s revised (-30,000) figure to a level of 5.27 million. Within total separations, quits were reported to rise 2.1 percent while layoffs fell 1.6 percent. Quits represented 60.7 percent of total separations for the month, slightly below the trailing 12-month average of 62.4 percent.
Overall employment growth rises
The December job openings figure represents 4.5 percent of total employment plus job openings. For comparison, the unemployment rate in December was reported to be 4.1 percent and 6.89 million people were unemployed. Another 5.51 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 December JOLT report implies an employment increase of 193,000 jobs for the month. Last month’s employment increase was revised to 142,000 jobs, down by 1,000 jobs from the gain reported last month.
Of those leaving their jobs in December, 3.20 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 rose 0.1 percentage point from last month’s figure to 2.0 percent of the labor force. The involuntary separations rate was unchanged from last month’s figure at 1.1 percent.
Total non-farm JOLT data since January 2016 is shown in the first chart, below.
Construction job openings and hires lower
The next chart, below, shows the employment situation for the construction jobs market over the last 49 months. It shows that December saw a net gain of 22,000 construction jobs, up from last month’s revised gain of 10,000 jobs.
The preliminary job openings figure for December was reported to be down by 55,000 openings from last month’s revised (-4,000) figure at 217,000 openings. This is the lowest construction job openings figure since April 2020. Openings were reported to be down 50.0 percent from last year’s level and were reported to represent 2.5 percent of construction employment plus job openings.
Hiring was reported to be down by 24,000 jobs in December from the prior month’s revised (+8,000) jobs figure at 301,000 new hires. The number of construction jobs that were filled in December was reported to be down 15.7 percent year-over-year.
Construction jobs total separations were reported to fall by 36,000 jobs from the prior month’s revised (+14,000) figure to 297,000 jobs.
Quits were reported to fall by 26,000 jobs from November’s revised (+5,000) figure to a level of 117,000 jobs. Quits represented 41.9 percent of separations for the month.
Layoffs were reported to rise by 3,000 from last month’s revised (+2,000) figure to 147,000 jobs.
“Other separations” which includes retirements and transfers, were reported to be up 12,000 at 22,000 jobs.
RERL job openings fall as hiring remains steady
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 2,000 jobs for the month.
The number of job openings in the RERL category was reported to be 128,000 jobs at the end of December. This was down 30,000 job openings from the revised (+28,000) level reported for the month before. RERL job openings are up 22.4 percent from year-ago level. Job openings in the RERL category represent 4.8 percent of total employment plus job openings, down 1.1 percentage points from the level in last month’s report.
Hiring in December was reported to be up by 2,000 jobs from last month’s revised (-3,000) figure at 72,000 jobs. The hiring figure was down 16.3 percent from the level of the year before.
Total separations in the RERL jobs category in December were up by 1,000 from November’s revised (-1,000) figure at 70,000 jobs.
Quits were up by 4,000 from November’s revised (-8,000) figure at 40,000 jobs. Quits represented 57.1 percent of total separations. Layoffs were reported to fall by 5,000 from November’s revised (+16,000) figure to 27,000 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.
