Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey News Release — 2016-12-07

The number of job openings was little changed at 5.5 million on the last business day of October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and separations were also little changed at 5.1 million and 4.9 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits rate was unchanged at 2.1 percent and the layoffs and discharges rate was also unchanged at 1.0 percent. 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 October, there were 5.5 million job openings, little changed from September. The job openings rate was 3.7 percent in October. The number of job openings was little changed for total private and for government. Job openings increased in health care and social assistance (+139,000).