In America

Job openings up 45% since the end of recession

Job openings up 45% since the end of the recession

Job openings held steady with 3.5 million job openings at the end of January, essentially unchanged from December, 2011 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week. The hires rate (3.1%) and separations rate (3.0%) changed little over the month. And although the number of job openings was still below the 4.3 million openings available when the recession began in December 2007, the number of job openings continues to trend upward and has increased 45% since the end of the recession in June 2009.

Snapshot of Annual Job Openings and Labor Turnover – January 2011 to January 2012

  • Job Openings Level: 3,459,000 in Jan. 2012 up from 2,860,000 in Jan. 2011
  • Job Openings Rate: 2.5% in Jan. 2012 up from 2.1% in Jan. 2011
  • Hires Rate: 3.1% in Jan. 2012 up from 3.0% in Jan. 2011
  • Turnover Rate: 3.0% in Jan. 2012 up from 2.9% in Jan. 2011
  • Layoffs/Discharges Rate: 1.2%in Jan. 2012 up from 1.3% in Jan. 2011

Industries – Monthly Openings, Hires and Turnover

The “hires” rate increased over the year in mining and logging; arts, entertainment, and recreation; and state and local government.

Some key industries:

  • Construction openings – while still lagging behind other industries – increased from 67,000 openings in 2011 to 82,000 in 2012 with new hires totaling 307,000 (5.5%) in Jan. 2012, down from 315,000 (5.7%) in December 2011. As of February, construction had added only 98,000 jobs from its post-recession low in January 2011. Turnover for January was 5.2% down from 5.5% in December 2011. The number of layoffs and discharges in construction rose slightly to 5.4% in January 2012 from 4.9% in December 2011, but was still a vast improvement over the 6.6% the construction segment registered in January 2010.
  • Healthcare and social assistance openings improved from 443,000 in 2011 to 554,000 in 2012 with new hires in January 2012 totaling 419,000 (2.5%) up slightly from 414,000 (2.5%) in December. Turnover for January remained at 2.4% the same as last month, but an increase from January 2011’s 2.2%.
  • Leisure and hospitality openings jumped from 294,000 in 2011 to 437,000 in 2012 with new hires totaling 768,000 (5.7%) up from 743,000 (5.5%) in December. Turnover in this sector increased from 4.7% in January 2011 to 5.2% in January 2012. The arts, entertainment and recreation segment of this industry registered a major increase with new hires steadily rising from 95,000 in January 2011 (5.0%) to 141,000 in December 2011 (7.0%) to 146,000 in January 2012 (7.6%).
  • Manufacturing openings continue to rebound from January 2011’s 212,000 openings to 252,000 in December 2011 and 285,000 in January 2012. However, new hires in January 2012 were 246,000 (2.3%) down from December 2011’s 269,000 (2.1%). Turnover in manufacturing decreased from 2.0% in December to 1.8% in January.
  • Professional and business services openings jumped from 478,999 in 2011 to 729,000 in 2012 with a slight decrease in new hires in January 729,000 (4.6%) from that of in December and 818,000 (4.8%) in January. Turnover decreased from 4.5% in December to 4.0% in January.

Source: BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.