The Job
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) published by the Labor Department on Tuesday showed a 2.7 per cent
m-o-m jump in the U.S. job openings in April after an upwardly revised 3.7 per
cent m-o-m drop (from -3.9 per cent m-o-m) in March.
According to
the report, employers posted 7.391 million job openings in April compared to
the March reading of 7.200 million (revised from 7.192 million in last month’s
report) and economists’ forecast of 7.100 million. This marked the first
increase in three months. The job openings rate came in at 4.4 per cent in April, up marginally from an unrevised 4.3 per cent in the previous month. The report revealed that advances in job openings occurred in health care and
social assistance (+102,000), retail trade (+46,000), arts, entertainment, and recreation
(+43,000), and mining and logging (+10,000). These gains, however, were partly
offset by the decreases in accommodation and food services (-135,000), wholesale
trade (-11,000), and state and local government, education (-51,000).
At the same
time, the number of hires climbed
by 3.1 per cent m-o-m to 5.573 million in April compared to a downwardly
revised 5.404 million (from 5.411 million) in March. This was the highest reading
since May 2024 (5.573 million). The hiring rate came
in at 3.5 per cent, up slightly from an unrevised March reading of 3.4 per cent. The number of hires
was little changed in all industries in April.
The separation
rate was 5.288 million (or 3.3 per cent) in April, up 2.0 per cent from an upwardly
revised March reading of 5.183 million (or 3.3 per cent). Within separations, the number of quits reached 3.194
million (-4.5 per cent m-o-m) and the number of layoffs was 1.786 million (+12.3 per cent m-o-m). The quits
rate was 2.0 per cent (-0.1
p.p. m-o-m), and the layoffs rate was 1.1
per cent (+0.1 p.p. m-o-m).