Washington, DC, July 11, 2006--A Labor Department report showed that fewer jobs opened in May than the month before, while the number of workers hired in May rose.
May job openings stood at 3.989 million, down from 4.070 million in April, according to the Labor Department's latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). It was the second straight monthly decline in job vacancies.
Declines in construction, manufacturing, professional and business services; education and health services; and government outpaced gains in trade, transportation and utilities, and leisure and hospitality.
The monthly survey lags many job market gauges, but it has become a more effective measure since the department began to adjust the numbers for seasonal variations in 2004.
The job openings rate, which measures demand for labor, stayed at 2.9 percent in May and has been unchanged for five straight months, the department said.
The number of hires during May rose to 4.962 million from 4.649 million in April, while the rate of hires stood at 3.7 percent, compared with 3.4 percent in the prior month.
The number of separations--terminations of employment that occurred during the month--rose to 4.654 million from 4.495 million in April, while the rate of turnovers stood at 3.4 percent in May from 3.3 percent the prior month.
Included in the separations total is the quits rate, which can serve as a barometer of workers' ability to change jobs.
The rate of quits in May rose to 2 percent from 1.9 percent in April, while the number of workers quitting their jobs rose to 2.737 million from 2.541 million in April.
Regionally, the Northeast saw fewer vacancies in May than in April and fewer people were hired, but more people quit their jobs, the department said.
The South had more jobs open in May and hired more people, but also saw more workers quit their jobs during the month. The Midwest had fewer openings, but hired more people and had more workers quit their jobs.
The West had fewer jobs available but had more people quit, while fewer people were hired to fill the open jobs compared with the previous month.
U.S. employers added a fewer-than-expected 121,000 workers to their payrolls in June, according to government data released last week by the Labor Department. This was a modest improvement over May's revised gain of 92,000 jobs and pointed to a cooling of U.S. economic growth.
