U.S. JOLTS: Job Openings Rebound in May

Job openings increased 221,000 (-12.6% y/y) during May to 8.140 million after falling 436,000 during April, revised from down 296,000, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The number of job openings have been trending lower since early-2022. The latest reading is well below the recent peak of 12.182 million reached in March 2022. The job openings rate edged higher to 4.9% from an unrevised 4.8% in March. It remains well below a high of 7.4% in March 2022 and is near the lowest since January 2021. This rate is calculated as the ratio of job openings to total nonfarm employment plus openings.

Private sector openings rose 42,000 (-14.4% y/y) to 7.055 million after falling 384,000 in April, revised from down 223,000. The private sector job openings rate rose to 5.0% from 4.9% in April. It was 5.8% twelve months earlier. The level of leisure & hospitality openings declined 13.7% (-29.1% y/y) while information openings increased 21.8% (-17.3% y/y). Private educational & health service openings improved 2.5% (-2.6% y/y) and financial sector openings fell 5.6% (+4.0% y/y). Transportation & utilities openings held steady (-33.9% y/y) while openings in professional & business services rose 3.1% (-7.0% y/y). Manufacturing job openings increased 23.6% (1.9% y/y) and construction openings edged 0.6% higher (-10.1% y/y). Mining & logging openings rose 12.5% (-10.0% y/y). Government sector openings increased 19.8% (1.4% y/y).

Private sector hiring increased 2.6% in May (-6.7% y/y) to 5.379 million after improving 0.2% in April. The private sector hiring rate edged up to 4.0% from 3.9%, both down from 4.3% twelve months earlier. It has been trending lower from its 5.0% high in February 2022. Financial sector hiring rose 17.3 (5.5% y/y) and professional & business services jobs gained 11.3% (4.5% y/y). Working lower, trade, transportation & utilities hiring declined 4.1% (-16.9% y/y) while educational & health services jobs eased 0.2% (-6.2% y/y). Information sector hiring weakened 2.5% (+14.7% y/y) and leisure and hospitality hiring declined 1.1% (-10.2% y/y). Construction sector hiring strengthened 12.3% (2.7% y/y) but factory sector hiring fell 4.2% (-17.0% y/y). Government hiring rose 1.6% (-7.2% y/y) in May, reflecting a 2.4% increase (-4.2% y/y) in state & local government hiring.

Total separations rose 1.6% (-7.3% y/y) to 5.422 million in May after a 0.1% April gain. The separation rate held steady at 3.4%. Private separations increased 1.8% (-7.6% y/y) in May after a 0.3% April decline. Manufacturing sector separations declined 6.8% (-18.1% y/y) but trade, transportation & utilities separations rose 2.0% (-18.5% y/y). Government sector separations fell 2.0% (-1.1% y/y).

Private sector quits increased 0.4% (-14.6% y/y) following a 0.2% April rise. Government quits fell 2.8% (+3.0% y/y). The private sector quits rate was steady at a reduced 2.4% for the third consecutive month. Private sector layoffs increased 7.5% (8.9% y/y) in May led by a 9.1% increase (9.6% y/y) in the leisure & hospitality sector. Government layoffs rose 2.5%, off 6.7% y/y. The private sector layoff rate overall rose to 1.2% after two months at 1.1%. The government sector layoff rate was 0.4%.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data are available in Haver’s USECON database.