Job Openings And Labor Turnover: December 2004 — 2005-02-09

The job openings rate, at 2.5 percent, was up slightly in December, while the hires rate decreased to 3.4 percent and the total separations rate was little changed at 3.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This release includes esti- mates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry and geographic region. On the last business day of December 2004, there were 3.4 million job openings in the United States, and the job openings rate was 2.5 percent. (See table 1.) The job openings rate has generally trended upward since August 2003. In December, the job openings rate increased for private industries overall, and for the professional and business services and leisure and hospitality industries. The job openings rate rose in the South region, but showed little or no change in the other regions of the country.