BLS Report: Total separations decrease in January; job openings and hires change little

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Related:

Wed Jan 27, 2021: BLS Report: Gross job losses 20.4 million and gross job gains 5.7 million in the 2nd quarter of 2020

People come; people go.

This is JOLTS, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. It comes out a few days after the monthly payroll employment report.

The number of quits indicates how confident people are of finding another job if they leave the one they have.

Previous reports:

Tue Feb 9, 2021: BLS Report: Job openings and total separations little changed in December; hires decrease

Tue Jan 12, 2021: BLS Report: Job openings and hires little changed in November; total separations increase

Wed Dec 9, 2020: BLS Report: Job openings (6.7 million) and hires little changed; separations increase in October

Thu Nov 12, 2020: BLS Report: Job openings (6.4 million), hires, and separations little changed in September

Tue Oct 6, 2020: BLS Report: Job openings and hires little changed in August; total separations decrease

Thu Sep 10, 2020: BLS Report: Job openings rise in July, hires decrease, and total separations little changed

Wed Aug 12, 2020: BLS Report: Hires decrease in June; job openings, quits, and total separations rise

Tue Jul 7, 2020: BLS Report: Hires increase 2.4 million in May; job openings rise while layoffs and discharges fall

Wed Jun 10, 2020: BLS Report: Total separations fall in April to 9.9 million; job openings and hires also fall

Tue May 19, 2020: BLS Report: Total separations increase to a series high; job openings and hires decrease in March

Tue Apr 7, 2020: BLS Report: Job openings at 6.9 million, hires, and separations little changed in February

Tue Mar 17, 2020: BLS Report: Job openings rise to 7.0 million in January; hires and separations little changed

Wed Feb 12, 2020: BLS Report: Job openings fall to 6.4 million in December; hires and separations little changed

Tuesday, January 21, 2020 (a late release): BLS Report: Job openings fall to 6.8 million in November; hires and separations little changed

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Total separations decrease in January; job openings and hires change little

Economic News Release USDL-21-0392

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary
For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, March 11, 2021

Technical information: [phone] • [email protected] • www.bls.gov/jlt
Media contact: [phone] • [email protected]

JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – JANUARY 2021

The number of job openings changed little at 6.9 million on the last business day of January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires were little changed at 5.3 million while total separations decreased to 5.3 million. Within separations, the quits rate and layoffs and discharges rate changed little at 2.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by four geographic regions. The release also includes 2020 annual estimates for hires and separations. The annual number of hires at 73.1 million and the annual number of layoffs and discharges at 41.0 million increased in 2020. The annual number of quits at 36.3 million decreased in 2020.

Job Openings

On the last business day of January, the number and rate of job openings were little changed at 6.9 million and 4.6 percent, respectively. Job openings increased in state and local government education (+56,000); educational services (+21,000); and mining and logging (+10,000). The number of job openings was little changed in all four regions. (See table 1.)

Over the year, the number of job openings (not seasonally adjusted) was little changed in January. Job openings decreased in a number of industries over the year with the largest decreases in accommodation and food services; state and local government, excluding education; and arts, entertainment, and recreation. The job openings level increased over the year in nondurable goods manufacturing; durable goods manufacturing; and mining and logging. The number of job openings decreased in the West region. (See table 7.)

{snip}

Hires

In January, the number and rate of hires were little changed at 5.3 million and 3.7 percent, respectively. Hires increased in arts, entertainment, and recreation (+59,000) and in educational services (+25,000). Hires decreased in federal government (-15,000). The number of hires decreased in the South region. (See table 2.)

The number of hires in January (not seasonally adjusted) decreased over the year (-696,000). Hires decreased in a number of industries with the largest decreases in accommodation and food services; professional and business services; and health care and social assistance. The number of hires decreased in the South and West regions. (See table 8.)

Separations

Total separations includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Therefore, the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Other separations includes separations due to retirement, death, disability, and transfers to other locations of the same firm.

In January, the number of total separations decreased to 5.3 million (-275,000), and the total separations rate was little changed at 3.7 percent. The total separations level decreased in accommodation and food services (-242,000); educational services (-38,000); and state and local government education (-27,000). Total separations increased in transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+87,000) and in federal government (+9,000). Total separations were little changed in all four regions. (See table 3.)

{snip}

Net Change in Employment

Large numbers of hires and separations occur every month throughout the business cycle. Net employment change results from the relationship between hires and separations. When the number of hires exceeds the number of separations, employment rises, even if the hires level is steady or declining. Conversely, when the number of hires is less than the number of separations, employment declines, even if the hires level is steady or rising.

Over the 12 months ending in January, hires totaled 72.4 million and separations totaled 81.2 million, yielding a net employment loss of 8.8 million. These totals include workers who may have been hired and separated more than once during the year.

{snip}

____________
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey estimates for February 2021 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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[PatrickforB]

1. One of the things we're noticing in my state is that the pandemic accelerated some

workforce trends that were already happening.

According to the Household Pulse Survey, over 46% of my state's total labor force was working from home in February. As of 2019, the OECD says that 15% of adults lack basic digital skills. In addition, many rural areas lack access to high-speed internet.

Then, when you look at the industries most heavily affected in the pandemic versus the ones that are still growing, we see that jobs that have traditionally required fewer skills and less education have been hit hardest, and many of those jobs will not come back. At the same time, we see massive need for jobs that have traditionally required higher education and high level skills.

The shorthand is that we must find ways to take someone who was a dishwasher prior to the pandemic, and help them increase skills so they can enter employment in information technology, healthcare, or the consumer supply infrastructure.

In my metro area, the top two jobs listed are software developers and registered nurses, while we have over 29,400 more unemployed people in the food prep and serving occupation group than there are jobs. We estimate this by putting unique job listings by occupational group side by side with known unemployment within that same occupation group.

Job training is a huge issue, because it can no longer be approached using the 'invisible hand' of the market. College is too expensive, and we are in the process of rethinking our whole approach to education anyway. What does it look like post-COVID? Virtual? Work-based? A hybrid of classroom, virtual and hands-on? And how quickly can it be done? Where are the training on-ramps to career pathways in high-demand occupations in high-growth industry sectors?

There are other issues as well - a sea-change in economic development, and commercial real estate. Managers and corporate officers everywhere are now questioning why they need so much office space. How much, they wonder, can be saved if they adapted operations to a more diffuse virtual workforce? And, how is such a workforce to be managed? Does this mean we can hire people out of state? Perhaps from rural areas (IF they have high speed broadband). And how do you engage a virtual labor force?

In addition, we are seeing more artificial intelligence taking away entry level information technology positions, for example. Indeed, many occupations are increasingly vulnerable to AI and robotic technologies.

So what is the power of place? How then can economic developers and urban planners tackle attraction, expansion and retention of businesses? Of skilled workers? Will quality of life (with high speed broadband) trump all else? Sorry...didn't mean to use the word 'trump.' But you know what I mean.

So many questions about what the future may hold for employment, education and job training.