Economic Jolt: Job Openings and Labor Turnover October 2010

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” jumped 13.88% since September rising 39.88% above the level seen in October 2009 while job “hires” declined 0.61% since September but remained 6.51% above the level seen in October 2009 and job “layoffs and discharges” dropped 0.25% since September and dropping 17.86% below the level seen last year.



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).