Job Openings Increase as Hiring Ticks Up and Separations Ease
Job openings for manufacturing increased by 69,000 to 495,000 in January. On the other hand, the December job openings level of 426,000 was revised downward from 433,000 in the previous report. Nondurable goods job openings in January rose by 16,000 to 155,000, while durable goods job openings climbed by 53,000 to 340,000. The manufacturing job openings rate jumped to 3.8% from 3.3% in December and 3.4% the previous year. The rate for nondurable goods manufacturing advanced 0.3 percentage points to 3.1% and 0.7 percentage points to 4.2% for durable goods manufacturing.
In the larger economy, the number of job openings rose to 6.9 million, an increase of 396,000 from December but a decline of 485,000 from the previous year. The job openings rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.0% in December and edged down from 4.5% in January 2025. This data reflects an overall labor market that has eased back to pre-pandemic levels but remains relatively tight from a historical perspective.
The number of hires in the overall economy inched up 22,000 to 5.3 million in January and 56,000 from the previous year. The hires rate for the overall economy stayed the same in January at 3.3%. Meanwhile, the hires rate for manufacturing ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 2.3%, down from 2.5% in January 2025. The hires rate for durable goods increased 0.2 percentage points to 2.2%, while the hires rate for nondurable goods declined 0.1 percentage point to 2.6%.
In the larger economy, total separations, which include quits, layoffs, discharges and other separations, declined 98,000 from December to 5.1 million and 136,000 from the previous year. The total separations rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 3.2% for the overall economy and by the same amount for manufacturing to 2.3%, down from 2.6% from the year prior. Within that rate, layoffs and discharges increased by 7,000 in January for manufacturing, while quits decreased by 18,000. The quit and layoff rates continue to remain lower for manufacturing than the total nonfarm sector.