After a few months of disrupted government reports relating to the economy we are starting to get back to a somewhat regular schedule. Today we got a Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey release, which covered some September and some October data. September experienced over a 430,000 increase in job openings, the biggest growth in a year, to about 7,660,000. October saw only a minor change to that number. The number of job openings now is basically equal to the number of unemployed persons, typically a good sign for the labor market, particularly since many of the unemployed don’t actually want to work. (JOLTS Release)
Manufacturing job openings have declined year-over-year, so whatever the chaotic trade policy is supposed to do for manufacturing isn’t working. Retail trade openings were up. Financial activities openings were lower and professional and business services which were up significantly in September, went down quite a bit in October, likely with some AI impact in each of those categories. Government job openings are down, that is very positive. Hires were relatively stable overall, non-durable goods manufacturing had a notable decline. Similarly, small changes in separations. So a pretty mild report that does not suggest severe distress.
