Economic Jolt: Job Openings and Labor Turnover November 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” declined 3.07% since October but rose 37.53% above the level seen in November 2009 while private non-farm job “hires” declined 1.19% since October remaining just 0.98% above the level seen in November 2009 and job “layoffs and discharges” increased 0.61% since October and dropping 10.58% 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).