Job openings and quits both continued to edge down in October. Layoffs remain extremely low. #JOLTS
DATA: bls.gov/news.release/j…
There were 10.3 million job openings at the end of October, down from 10.7 million in September and a peak of close to 12 million early this year. Still very high by historical standards, but now clearly coming down.
There were 1.7 open jobs for every unemployed worker in October. The ratio had ticked up in September, but is now back to where it was at the end of the summer.
Fed officials have repeatedly cited the nearly 2:1 ratio as evidence of the very tight labor market.
Just over 4 million workers voluntarily quit their jobs in October, down a hair from September and continuing the gradual decline from the "Great Resignation" peak last year.
Note that while openings and quits are both still elevated, openings are *much* more so relative to their prepandemic averages.
As I wrote last month, the two measures tell subtly different stories about how hot the job market is.
nytimes.com/2022/11/03/bri…
Tech industry layoffs have gotten a lot of attention lately. But tech is a small part of the labor market. Overall layoffs remain extremely low. (Showing this chart two ways: headline, and truncated to remove the huge spike at the start of the pandemic.)
As @DanielBZhao notes, openings are above prepandemic levels in every major industry. But year-over-year, they're down substantially in several major industries, including some that saw the biggest increase last year.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.