Job Openings And Labor Turnover: May 2004 — 2004-07-07

There were 4.2 million hires and 4.0 million separations in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number of hires outpaced the number of separations for the 13th straight month, and there were fewer hires and separations than in April. The job openings rate was unchanged at 2.3 percent in May. The series in this report include estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separa- tions for the total nonfarm sector by industry and geographic region. On the last business day of May 2004, there were 3.1 million job openings in the United States, and the job openings rate (the number of job openings on the last business day of the month divided by employment plus job openings) was 2.3 percent. (See table 1.) The job openings rate has ranged from 2.0 percent to 2.4 percent since October 2001.