Job openings edged down in August after surprising rebound from pandemic shutdowns
Reported by Jay Heflin, Business Editor | October 06, 2020 10:14 AM
“After a few months of being surprisingly strong, job openings have slowed down,” said Nick Bunker, the director of research for the Indeed Hiring Lab. “This is a sign that while labor demand held up more than we may have expected early in the recovery, that pace is not guaranteed to continue.”
Job openings decreased in a number of industries in August, with the largest decreases in accommodation and food services and in transportation, warehousing, and utilities.
The Labor Department defines a job opening as a position that is available but not filled on the last business day of the month. Tuesday’s report, called the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, also showed that the economy continues to suffer from a net employment loss on the year. Over the 12 months ending in August, hires totaled 70.4 million, and separations totaled 77.4 million, yielding a net employment loss of 7.0 million.
The food services sector decreased its hiring by over 170,000 in August. Meanwhile, the federal government added 246,000 jobs, largely because of temporary census hiring. Total separations, including quits, layoffs, discharges, and other separations, were 4.6 million in August, which since July is lower by 394,000.