The Job Opernings and Labor Turnover report is released the first week of every month, covering the second month before the report, so June in this case. I would point out again that these are based on surveys with low response rates and that what appear to be big swings are actually statistically meaningless, so don’t pay much attention to a lot of the press around this report and the jobs report, which will be released on Friday. In any event, in terms of job openings, there was a decline month over month, with the prior month, May, being revised downward. Theoretically more openings is a sign of economic growth–employers are trying to hire more people, but it can also reflect people quitting, a decrease in openings could mean more hiring for the open positions. A lot of employers just routinely keep jobs posted.
By the numbers, the US had 7.36 million job openings in June, down from 7.54 million in May. As I said, basically a rounding error. Openings increased in warehousing and transportation and in the federal government. Openings decreased in wholesale trade and manufacturing. There are more job openings than unemployed workers, although a lot of the unemployed are slackers who have no intention of taking a job; that surplus of openings is a sign of tightening in the labor market which could mean higher wages. The number of people voluntarily quitting a job also increased, another positive sign of labor market strength, and hires were up as well. So at least on the surface, the job market remains healthy. And looking at various categories there are no signs of substantial impact of AI. (BLS Report)
