Economic Jolt: Job Openings and Labor Turnover March 2011

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released their latest monthly read of job availability and labor turnover (JOLT) showing that private non-farm job “openings” increased 2.78% since February climbing 23.22% above the level seen in March 2010 while private non-farm job “hires” increased 1.39% from February and 0.48% above the level seen in March 2010

Job “layoffs and discharges” declined 0.13% from February while dropping 9.46% below the level seen last year while quitting activity continues to climb increasing 2.01% from February and 8.67% above the level seen in March 2010.

It’s important to understand that job “quits” are included as a component of the “separations” data series as “quitting” is a valid means of workers “separating” from employers but their inclusion tends to create an overall procyclical trend in what would otherwise be logically thought of as a countercyclical process (i.e. downturn leads to increase in separations not decrease).