If you thought last week’s February payrolls and unemployment report was too strong, the fresh Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for the month of January explains a lot of that strength. The so-called JOLTS report from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that there were roughly 5 million job openings on the last business day of January.
The strength in the number of job openings would seem to add support for an ongoing strong series of payrolls reports for the months ahead. That being said, economists and those in the workforce know that many open jobs never get filled. Also, those job openings can be closed or removed without ever being filled, if the employers decide to tighten their belts.
There were more than 4.6 million open jobs on a non-seasonally adjust basis in the private sector in January 2015. Also, the number of quits is now less than 1% below the prerecession level in November 2007.
Another move that is garnering strength for the jobs market is that the number of unemployed people per job opening is now under 2.0 again — down from a peak of more than six in 2009.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also showed that the hires decreased to 5.0 million in January, while separations were little changed at 4.8 million. Within separations, the quits rate was basically flat at 2.0%, while the layoffs and discharges rate was unchanged at 1.2%. There were 1.7 million layoffs and discharges in January 2015.
This was said to be the highest level of job openings since January 2001. The job openings rate for January was 3.4%. The number of job openings was little changed for total private and government in January.
The full table shows the non-seasonally adjusted breakdown of each sector for job openings.
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