Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey News Release — 2018-02-06

The number of job openings was little changed at 5.8 million on the last business day of December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed at 5.5 million and 5.2 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits rate and the layoffs and discharges rate were little changed at 2.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by four geographic regions. On the last business day of December, there were 5.8 million job openings, little changed from November. The job openings rate was 3.8 percent in December. The number of job openings was little changed for total private and for government. Job openings increased in information (+33,000) and federal government (+13,000).