U.S. JOLTS: Job Openings Rate Increases to Highest Level Since 2007

Further indication of labor market improvement came today. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the job openings rate increased to 3.1% during April from a revised 2.9% in March. The latest  level was the highest since September 2007. The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month as a percent of total employment plus job openings. The actual number of job openings rose 16.5% y/y to 4.455 million.

The private-sector job openings rate surged to 3.4%, its highest level since September 2007 and up from the recession low of 1.7%. The rate in leisure & hospitality businesses jumped to a new high of 4.6%. The rate in professional & business services surged to 4.2%, near the recovery high of 4.3%. In the health care & social assistance sector, the job openings rate held at 3.5%. The rate in construction slipped to 1.5%, down from the 2.7% in November. In manufacturing it nudged up to 2.2%. Still lagging was the job openings rate in the government sector where it held m/m at a low 1.8%.

The hires rate held at the recovery high of 3.4%. The hires rate is the number of hires during the month divided by employment. The private sector hires rate remained at 3.8%. Amongst leisure & hospitality firms, it recovered to 5.8%. The hires rate in retail trade gained to 5.0% and in construction it improved to 4.6%, though it remained below the 6.9% rates in early-2011. In education & health services, the rate slipped to 2.7%. In the factory sector, the hires rate edged down to 2.0% and remained below the 2.5% high in late 2010. The government sector hires rate slipped to a low 1.3%.

The number of hires was stable for the second month, but they were up 5.6% y/y. Private sector hires gained 6.5% y/y as new retail trade jobs surged by more-than one-quarter y/y and hiring in professional & business services increased 8.0% y/y. Factory sector employment gained 3.8% y/y. Education & health services jobs declined 1.1% y/y but new hires in construction were off by 2.1% y/y. Government sector hiring declined 6.2% y/y.

The job separations rate held at 3.3% but the actual number of separations increased 5.1% y/y. Separations include quits, layoffs, discharges, and other separations as well as retirements. The private sector separations rate held at 3.6% for the fifth straight month and the government sector's rate ticked slipped to 1.3%. The layoff & discharge rate held at a low of 1.2% for the fifth straight month. The private sector layoff rate held m/m at 1.3% and the government's rate slipped to 0.4%.

The JOLTS survey dates to December 2000 and the figures are available in Haver's USECON database.