News & Insights

In August, the number of job openings rose to 8.0 million, an increase of 329,000 from the previous month but a decrease of 1,318,000 from the previous year. The job openings rate increased to 4.8%, up from 4.6% in July but down from 5.6% last year.

Job openings for manufacturing edged up slightly by 1,000 to 506,000 in August, with the increase of 12,000 job openings in nondurable goods making up for the decrease of 11,000 in durable goods. The manufacturing job openings rate stayed consistent at 3.8% from last month. The rate for durable goods manufacturing dropped from 4.0% to 3.9%, while it rose from 3.3% to 3.5% for nondurable goods.

The number of hires fell to 5.3 million from 5.4 million in August and are down 571,000 from the previous year. The hires rate dipped 0.1% to 3.3%. The hires rate for manufacturing declined 0.3% to 2.4%. The hires rate for durable and nondurable goods dropped to 2.2% and 2.7%, respectively.

Total separations, including quits, layoffs, discharges and other separations, fell 317,000 from July to right under 5.0 million and are down 612,000 from the previous year. The total separations rate declined to 3.1% and to 2.5% for manufacturing. The quit and layoff rates continue to remain lower for manufacturing than the total nonfarm sector.