Job Openings And Labor Turnover: August 2004 — 2004-10-13

The job openings, hires, and total separations rates showed little or no change from July to August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The job openings rate was unchanged at 2.4 percent. The hires rate was essentially unchanged at 3.3 percent, and the total separations rate remained at 3.1 percent. This release includes estimates 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 August 2004, there were 3.2 million job openings in the United States, and the job openings rate was 2.4 percent. (See table 1.) The job openings rate has generally trended upward over the last 12 months. In August, the job openings rate showed little or no change for the major industry categories.