Manufacturing Job Openings Rise as Hiring and Separations Hold Steady
Job openings for manufacturing increased by 34,000 to 433,000 in December. On the other hand, the November job openings level of 399,000 was revised downward from 403,000 in the previous report. Nondurable goods job openings in December rose by 11,000 to 139,000, while durable goods job openings climbed by 23,000 to 294,000. The manufacturing job openings rate ticked up to 3.3% from 3.0% in November but stayed the same from 3.3% the previous year. The rate for nondurable goods manufacturing advanced 0.2 percentage points to 2.8% and 0.3 percentage points to 3.6% for durable goods manufacturing.
In the larger economy, the number of job openings dropped to 6.5 million, a decline of 386,000 from November and 966,000 from the previous year. The job openings rate fell to 3.9% from 4.2% in November and from 4.5% in December 2024. 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 increased 172,000 to 5.3 million in December but decreased 81,000 from the previous year. The hires rate for the overall economy edged up 0.1 percentage point in December to 3.3%. Meanwhile, the hires rate for manufacturing similarly ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 2.3%, down from 2.4% in December 2024. The hires rate for durable goods stayed the same at 2.0%, while the hires rate for nondurable goods inched up 0.1 percentage point to 2.7%.
In the larger economy, total separations, which include quits, layoffs, discharges and other separations, rose 107,000 from November to 5.3 million and 169,000 from the previous year. The total separations rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 3.3% for the overall economy but stayed the same for manufacturing at 2.4%, down from 2.5% from the year prior. Within that rate, layoffs and discharges increased by 7,000 in December for manufacturing, while quits ticked up by 2,000. The quit and layoff rates continue to remain lower for manufacturing than the total nonfarm sector.