US Job Openings Unexpectedly Fall
The number of job openings fell by 418,000 to 7.443 million in September 2024 from a downwardly revised 7.861 million in August and below market expectations of 7.99 million.
The number of job openings decreased in health care and social assistance (-178,000); state and local government, excluding education (-79,000); and federal government (-28,000) but increased in finance and insurance (+85,000). Regarding regional distribution, job openings dropped in the South (-325,000), in the West (-63,000), in the Midwest (-24,000) and in the Northeast (-8,000).
Meanwhile, the number of hires and total separations changed little at 5.6 million and 5.2 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (3.1 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.8 million) changed little.
Source: Trading Economics