Job Openings And Labor Turnover: October 2004 — 2004-12-08

The job openings, hires, and total separations rates showed little or no change in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The job openings rate was little changed at 2.5 per- cent. The hires rate was essentially unchanged at 3.3 percent, and the total separations rate was unchanged at 3.2 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 October 2004, there were 3.3 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 October, the job openings rate dropped in the leisure and hospitality industry and edged up in government.