Job openings fell by over 350,000 to 10.3 million in October, according to the monthly JOLTS report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The largest decreases were in government and manufacturing.
Job vacancies had never exceeded 8 million in a month before last year, but had topped 11 million every month since December 2021, until falling precipitously in August. The September data then surprisingly showed a surge in openings once again, as employers continued to scramble to find workers amid labor shortages across many sectors. Even though the labor gap is slowly contracting, openings are still historically high and outnumber unemployed workers by about 4.2 million.
About 4 million workers left their jobs in October, the same as the previous month. The number of people quitting is edging down, but workers continue to feel comfortable enough to switch jobs in pursuit of higher pay or better working conditions. Layoffs in October ticked up by about 50,000 to 1.3 million, amid reports of job cutting from the tech, finance and real estate sectors.
The ADP employment report released this morning showed that private sector employment rose by just 127,000 in November, coming in under expectations and indicating a softening labor market.
On Friday, the Department of Labor will report on how many jobs the U.S. economy added in November, the unemployment rate and wage gains for the month.
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