U.S. Job Openings Hit Lowest Since Feb 2021 Amid Economic Tightening
04 Jun 2024
04 Jun 2024 by Luke Puplett - Founder
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of available job openings remained unchanged at 8.1 million at the end of April 2024. This is the lowest figure since February 2021, marking a significant drop of 1.8 million over the year. The job openings rate stayed steady at 4.8%. Health care and social assistance sectors saw notable decreases, shedding 204,000 job openings, while private educational services saw an increase of 50,000.
Both hires and total separations showed little change from the previous month, with hires at 5.6 million and total separations at 5.4 million. Durable goods manufacturing experienced an uptick with 52,000 additional hires, but arts, entertainment, and recreation saw a decline of 45,000 in hires.
Quits, often seen as a gauge of employee confidence in the job market, remained steady at 3.5 million, holding a rate of 2.2% for the sixth consecutive month. Professional and business services reported a significant drop in quits, decreasing by 131,000. In contrast, durable goods manufacturing saw an increase of 39,000 quits.
Layoffs and discharges remained constant at 1.5 million, with notable industry-specific declines such as 37,000 fewer in arts, entertainment, and recreation. For establishments with 5,000 or more employees, hiring rates increased while job openings and total separations rates stayed the same.
Revisions for March 2024 indicated a slight reduction in job openings to 8.4 million and a minor correction in the number of hires and separations. These adjustments are part of the monthly recalibrations based on additional data.
For staffing agencies and recruiters, this data suggests a tightening job market where the pool of available positions is shrinking amid efforts to curb inflation through higher interest rates. Strategically navigating this landscape will be crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in talent acquisition.
Read the full report on the BLS website, here:
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm
That's lovely and everything but what is Zipwire?
Zipwire Collect simplifies document collection for a variety of needs, including KYC, KYB, and AML compliance, plus RTW and RTR. It's versatile, serving recruiters, agencies, people ops, landlords, letting agencies, accountants, solicitors, and anyone needing to efficiently gather, verify, and retain documented evidence and ID.
Zipwire Approve is tailored for recruiters, agencies, and people ops. It manages contractors' timesheets and ensures everyone gets paid. With features like WhatsApp time tracking, approval workflows, data warehousing and reporting, it cuts paperwork, not corners.
For contractors & temps, Zipwire Approve handles time journalling via WhatsApp, and techies can even use the command line. It pings your boss for approval, reducing friction and speeding up payday. Imagine just speaking what you worked on into your phone or car, and a few days later, money arrives. We've done the first part and now we're working on instant pay.
Both solutions aim to streamline workflows and ensure compliance, making work life easier for all parties involved. It's free for small teams, and you pay only for what you use.