For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, February 11, 2020	USDL-20-0243

Technical information:	(202) 691-5870  •  JoltsInfo@bls.gov  •  www.bls.gov/jlt
Media contact:		(202) 691-5902  •  PressOffice@bls.gov

			 JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – DECEMBER 2019

The number of job openings fell to 6.4 million (-364,000) on the last business day of December, the U.S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed at 
5.9 million and 5.7 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits rate and layoffs and discharges 
rate were unchanged at 2.3 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. This release includes estimates of the 
number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by 
four geographic regions.

Job Openings
 
On the last business day of December, the job openings level fell to 6.4 million (-364,000), and the job 
openings rate decreased to 4.0 percent. Over the year, the job openings level declined by 14.9 percent. 
Over the month, the number of job openings decreased for total private (-332,000) and was little 
changed for government. The largest decreases for job openings were in transportation, warehousing, 
and utilities (-88,000), real estate and rental and leasing (-34,000), and educational services (-34,000). 
The number of job openings fell in the South region. (See tables 1 and 7.)

Hires

The number of hires was little changed at 5.9 million in December. The hires rate was little changed at 
3.9 percent. The hires level increased in accommodation and food services (+69,000). The number of 
hires increased in the West region. (See table 2.)

Separations
 
Total separations includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Total separations is 
referred to as turnover. Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Therefore, 
the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs. Layoffs and 
discharges are involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Other separations includes separations 
due to retirement, death, disability, and transfers to other locations of the same firm.

In December, the number of total separations was little changed at 5.7 million and the rate was little 
changed at 3.8 percent. The number of total separations decreased in retail trade (-118,000) but 
increased in other services (+57,000). The total separations level increased in the South region. (See 
table 3.)

The number of quits was little changed in December at 3.5 million and the rate was unchanged at 2.3 
percent. Quits decreased in retail trade (-111,000) and arts, entertainment, and recreation (-20,000). The 
number of quits was little changed in all four regions. (See table 4.)

The number of layoffs and discharges was little changed in December at 1.9 million and the rate was 
unchanged at 1.2 percent. Layoffs and discharges increased in other services (+61,000) and arts, 
entertainment, and recreation (+47,000). The number of layoffs and discharges decreased in state and 
local government, excluding education (-15,000) and federal government (-3,000). The layoffs and 
discharges level increased in the South region. (See table 5.)

The number of other separations was little changed in December. Other separations decreased in other 
services (-18,000). The number of other separations was little changed in all four regions. (See table 6.)

Net Change in Employment

Large numbers of hires and separations occur every month throughout the business cycle. Net 
employment change results from the relationship between hires and separations. When the number of 
hires exceeds the number of separations, employment rises, even if the hires level is steady or declining. 
Conversely, when the number of hires is less than the number of separations, employment declines, even 
if the hires level is steady or rising.

Over the 12 months ending in December, hires totaled 70.0 million and separations totaled 67.8 million, 
yielding a net employment gain of 2.2 million. These totals include workers who may have been hired 
and separated more than once during the year.
____________	
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey estimates for January 2020 are scheduled to be 
released on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
|			  Upcoming Revisions to the JOLTS Estimates				  |
|												  |
|As part of an annual process, the January 2020 release on March 17, 2020, will incorporate the   |
|annual updates to the Current Employment Statistics employment estimates and the JOLTS           |
|seasonal adjustment factors. Unadjusted data and seasonally adjusted data from January 2015      |
|forward are subject to revision.								  |
|_________________________________________________________________________________________________|

Table A. Job openings, hires, and total separations by industry, seasonally adjusted

Category	Job openings			Hires			Total separations
	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
LEVELS BY INDUSTRY (in thousands)
Total	7,479	6,787	6,423	5,717	5,827	5,907	5,469	5,709	5,730
Total private	6,860	6,071	5,739	5,353	5,460	5,563	5,122	5,361	5,393
Mining and logging(1)	29	22	14	39	24	26	34	30	30
Construction(1)	299	217	239	399	439	484	369	426	435
Manufacturing	435	381	360	351	339	330	342	333	340
Durable goods(1)	298	252	224	186	195	191	175	195	198
Nondurable goods(1)	137	129	136	165	143	139	167	138	143
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,482	1,244	1,121	1,176	1,166	1,148	1,134	1,231	1,101
Wholesale trade	178	190	190	151	157	128	143	149	121
Retail trade	986	733	698	802	769	767	765	847	729
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(1)	318	321	233	224	240	253	226	235	251
Information(1)	123	136	113	80	89	81	87	79	83
Financial activities	380	353	303	201	232	221	180	216	196
Finance and insurance	317	252	236	133	145	136	131	145	126
Real estate and rental and leasing(1)	63	102	68	67	87	85	49	70	70
Professional and business services	1,391	1,218	1,178	1,144	1,156	1,149	1,116	1,121	1,113
Education and health services	1,348	1,293	1,199	717	724	718	652	664	677
Educational services(1)	91	146	112	124	106	104	101	92	92
Health care and social assistance	1,258	1,147	1,087	593	618	614	551	572	585
Leisure and hospitality	1,102	982	969	1,037	1,081	1,147	1,007	1,073	1,174
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	154	124	147	154	184	182	153	177	203
Accommodation and food services	948	858	822	883	897	966	853	896	971
Other services	271	226	243	209	211	259	201	187	244
Government	619	716	684	364	367	344	347	348	336
Federal(1)	87	105	81	36	46	42	44	44	41
State and local	532	611	604	328	321	302	304	305	295
State and local education	229	223	225	176	162	147	163	150	158
State and local, excluding education(1)	304	388	379	152	159	156	141	155	138
RATES BY INDUSTRY (percent)
Total	4.7	4.3	4.0	3.8	3.8	3.9	3.6	3.7	3.8
Total private	5.1	4.5	4.2	4.2	4.2	4.3	4.0	4.1	4.2
Mining and logging(1)	3.8	2.8	1.8	5.1	3.3	3.6	4.5	4.0	4.1
Construction(1)	3.9	2.8	3.1	5.4	5.8	6.4	5.0	5.7	5.8
Manufacturing	3.3	2.9	2.7	2.7	2.6	2.6	2.7	2.6	2.6
Durable goods(1)	3.6	3.0	2.7	2.3	2.4	2.4	2.2	2.4	2.5
Nondurable goods(1)	2.8	2.6	2.8	3.5	3.0	2.9	3.5	2.9	3.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	5.1	4.3	3.9	4.2	4.2	4.1	4.1	4.4	3.9
Wholesale trade	2.9	3.1	3.1	2.6	2.6	2.1	2.4	2.5	2.0
Retail trade	5.9	4.4	4.2	5.1	4.9	4.8	4.8	5.4	4.6
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(1)	5.0	5.0	3.7	3.7	3.9	4.1	3.7	3.8	4.1
Information(1)	4.2	4.6	3.8	2.8	3.1	2.9	3.1	2.8	2.9
Financial activities	4.2	3.9	3.4	2.3	2.7	2.5	2.1	2.5	2.2
Finance and insurance	4.8	3.8	3.6	2.1	2.3	2.1	2.1	2.3	2.0
Real estate and rental and leasing(1)	2.7	4.2	2.8	2.9	3.7	3.6	2.1	3.0	3.0
Professional and business services	6.1	5.3	5.2	5.4	5.3	5.3	5.3	5.2	5.1
Education and health services	5.3	5.0	4.7	3.0	3.0	2.9	2.7	2.7	2.8
Educational services(1)	2.4	3.7	2.8	3.3	2.8	2.7	2.7	2.4	2.4
Health care and social assistance	5.9	5.3	5.0	2.9	3.0	3.0	2.7	2.8	2.8
Leisure and hospitality	6.2	5.5	5.4	6.3	6.4	6.8	6.1	6.3	6.9
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	5.9	4.7	5.5	6.3	7.3	7.2	6.3	7.1	8.0
Accommodation and food services	6.3	5.6	5.4	6.3	6.2	6.7	6.0	6.2	6.7
Other services	4.4	3.7	3.9	3.6	3.6	4.3	3.4	3.1	4.1
Government	2.7	3.1	2.9	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Federal(1)	3.0	3.6	2.8	1.3	1.6	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.5
State and local	2.6	3.0	3.0	1.7	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
State and local education	2.1	2.1	2.1	1.7	1.5	1.4	1.6	1.4	1.5
State and local, excluding education(1)	3.2	4.0	3.9	1.6	1.7	1.7	1.5	1.7	1.5
Footnotes (1) No regular seasonal movements could be identified in the job openings series, therefore, the seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted data are identical. (p) Preliminary

Technical Note


This news release presents statistics from the Job Openings and Labor
Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects
and compiles JOLTS data monthly from a sample of nonfarm
establishments. A more detailed discussion of JOLTS concepts and
methodology is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch18.pdf.

Coverage and collection

The JOLTS program covers all private nonfarm establishments, as well
as federal, state, and local government entities in the 50 states and
the District of Columbia. Data are collected for total employment, job
openings, hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, other separations, and
total separations.

Concepts

Industry classification.  The industry classifications in this release
are in accordance with the 2017 version of the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS).

Employment.  Employment includes persons on the payroll who worked or
received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th day of the
reference month. Full-time, part-time, permanent, short-term,
seasonal, salaried, and hourly employees are included, as are
employees on paid vacations or other paid leave. Proprietors or
partners of unincorporated businesses, unpaid family workers, or
persons on leave without pay or on strike for the entire pay period,
are not counted as employed. Employees of temporary help agencies,
employee leasing companies, outside contractors, and consultants are
counted by their employer of record, not by the establishment where
they are working.

Job openings.  Job openings information is collected for the last
business day of the reference month. A job opening requires that: 1) a
specific position exists and there is work available for that
position, 2) work could start within 30 days whether or not the
employer found a suitable candidate, and 3) the employer is actively
recruiting from outside the establishment to fill the position.
Included are full-time, part-time, permanent, short-term, and seasonal
openings. Active recruiting means that the establishment is taking
steps to fill a position by advertising in newspapers or on the
Internet, posting help-wanted signs, accepting applications, or using
other similar methods.

Jobs to be filled only by internal transfers, promotions, demotions,
or recall from layoffs are excluded. Also excluded are jobs with start
dates more than 30 days in the future, jobs for which employees have
been hired but have not yet reported for work, and jobs to be filled
by employees of temporary help agencies, employee leasing companies,
outside contractors, or consultants. The job openings rate is computed
by dividing the number of job openings by the sum of employment and
job openings and multiplying that quotient by 100.

Hires.  The hires level is the total number of additions to the
payroll occurring at any time during the reference month, including
both new and rehired employees, full-time and part-time, permanent,
short-term and seasonal employees, employees recalled to the location
after a layoff lasting more than 7 days, on-call or intermittent
employees who returned to work after having been formally separated,
and transfers from other locations. The hires count does not include
transfers or promotions within the reporting site, employees returning
from strike, employees of temporary help agencies or employee leasing
companies, outside contractors, or consultants. The hires rate is
computed by dividing the number of hires by employment and multiplying
that quotient by 100.

Separations.  The separations level is the total number of employment
terminations occurring at any time during the reference month, and is
reported by type of separation—quits, layoffs and discharges, and
other separations. (Some respondents are only able to report total
separations.) The quits count includes voluntary separations by
employees (except for retirements, which are reported as other
separations). The layoffs and discharges count is comprised of
involuntary separations initiated by the employer and includes layoffs
with no intent to rehire; formal layoffs lasting or expected to last
more than 7 days; discharges resulting from mergers, downsizing, or
closings; firings or other discharges for cause; terminations of
permanent or short-term employees; and terminations of seasonal
employees. The other separations count includes retirements, transfers
to other locations, deaths, and separations due to disability. The
separations count does not include transfers within the same location
or employees on strike. The separations rate is computed by dividing
the number of separations by employment and multiplying that quotient
by 100. The quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations rates
are computed similarly.

Annual estimates.  Annual levels for hires, quits, layoffs and
discharges, other separations, and total separations are the sum of
the 12 published monthly levels. Annual rates are computed by dividing
the annual level by the Current Employment Statistics (CES) annual
average employment level, and multiplying that quotient by 100. This
figure will be approximately equal to the sum of the 12 monthly rates.
Consistent with BLS practice, annual estimates are published only for
not seasonally adjusted data and are released with the January news
release each year. Annual estimates are not calculated for job
openings because job openings are a stock, or point-in-time,
measurement for the last business day of each month.

Sample and estimation methodology

The JOLTS survey design is a stratified random sample of 16,000
nonfarm business and government establishments. The sample is
stratified by ownership, region, industry sector, and establishment
size class. The establishments are drawn from a universe of over 9.1
million establishments compiled by the Quarterly Census of Employment
and Wages (QCEW) program which includes all employers subject to state
unemployment insurance laws and federal agencies subject to the
Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees program.

JOLTS total employment estimates are benchmarked, or ratio adjusted,
monthly to the strike-adjusted employment estimates of the CES survey.
A ratio of CES to JOLTS employment is used to adjust the levels for
all other JOLTS data elements.

JOLTS business birth/death model

As with any sample survey, the JOLTS sample can only be as current as
its sampling frame. The time lag from the birth of an establishment
until its appearance on the sampling frame is approximately one year.
In addition, many of these new units may fail within the first year.
Since these universe units cannot be reflected on the sampling frame
immediately, the JOLTS sample cannot capture job openings, hires, and
separations from these units during their early existence. To
compensate for the inability to capture data from these
establishments, BLS has developed a birth/death model that uses birth
and death activity from previous years. The estimates of job openings,
hires, and separations produced by the birth/death model are added to
the sample-based estimates produced from the survey to arrive at the
estimates for openings, hires, and separations.

Seasonal adjustment

BLS uses X-13 ARIMA to seasonally adjust several JOLTS series
utilizing moving averages as seasonal filters. A concurrent seasonal
adjustment methodology is used in which new seasonal adjustment
factors are calculated each month, using all relevant data, up to and
including current month data. JOLTS seasonal adjustment includes both
additive and multiplicative models and REGARIMA (regression with auto-
correlated errors) modeling to improve the seasonal adjustment factors
at the beginning and end of the series and to detect and adjust for
outliers in the series.

Alignment procedure

The JOLTS measures for hires minus separations can be used to derive a
measure of net employment change. This change should be comparable to
the net employment change from the much larger CES survey. However,
definitional differences as well as sampling and nonsampling errors
between the two surveys historically caused JOLTS to diverge from CES
over time. To limit the divergence, and improve the quality of the
JOLTS hires and separations series, BLS implemented the Monthly
Alignment Method.

This method applies the CES employment trends to the seasonally
adjusted JOLTS implied employment trend (hires minus separations)
forcing them to be approximately the same, while preserving the
seasonality of the JOLTS data. First, the two series are seasonally
adjusted and the difference between the JOLTS implied employment
change and the CES net employment change is calculated. Next, the
JOLTS implied employment change is adjusted to equal the CES net
employment change through a proportional adjustment. This procedure
adjusts the two components (hires, separations) proportionally to
their contribution to the total churn (hires plus separations). The
adjusted hires and separations are converted back to not seasonally
adjusted data by reversing the application of the original seasonal
factors. After the Monthly Alignment Method has been used to adjust
the level estimates, rate estimates are computed from the adjusted
levels.

Reliability of the estimates

JOLTS estimates are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error.
When a sample is surveyed rather than the entire population, there is
a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the "true"
population values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling
error, varies depending on the particular sample selected, and this
variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. BLS
analysis is generally conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence.
That means that there is a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence,
that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6
standard errors from the "true" population value because of sampling
error. Sampling error estimates are available at 
www.bls.gov/jlt/jolts_median_standard_errors.htm.

The JOLTS estimates also are affected by nonsampling error.
Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including the failure to
include a segment of the population, the inability to obtain data from
all units in the sample, the inability or unwillingness of respondents
to provide data on a timely basis, mistakes made by respondents,
errors made in the collection or processing of the data, and errors
from the employment benchmark data used in estimation.

Other information

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay
Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Job openings levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	7,479	7,301	7,032	7,361	6,787	6,423	4.7	4.6	4.4	4.6	4.3	4.0
INDUSTRY
Total private	6,860	6,562	6,314	6,600	6,071	5,739	5.1	4.8	4.7	4.9	4.5	4.2
Mining and logging(3)	29	33	34	23	22	14	3.8	4.3	4.4	3.0	2.8	1.8
Construction(3)	299	384	327	326	217	239	3.9	4.9	4.2	4.2	2.8	3.1
Manufacturing	435	470	462	447	381	360	3.3	3.5	3.5	3.4	2.9	2.7
Durable goods(3)	298	321	292	307	252	224	3.6	3.8	3.5	3.7	3.0	2.7
Nondurable goods(3)	137	149	170	140	129	136	2.8	3.0	3.4	2.8	2.6	2.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,482	1,337	1,285	1,487	1,244	1,121	5.1	4.6	4.4	5.1	4.3	3.9
Wholesale trade	178	193	202	260	190	190	2.9	3.2	3.3	4.2	3.1	3.1
Retail trade	986	816	741	884	733	698	5.9	4.9	4.5	5.3	4.4	4.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(3)	318	327	343	343	321	233	5.0	5.1	5.3	5.3	5.0	3.7
Information(3)	123	137	162	138	136	113	4.2	4.6	5.4	4.7	4.6	3.8
Financial activities	380	377	360	422	353	303	4.2	4.2	4.0	4.6	3.9	3.4
Finance and insurance	317	269	267	324	252	236	4.8	4.1	4.0	4.8	3.8	3.6
Real estate and rental and leasing(3)	63	107	92	98	102	68	2.7	4.4	3.8	4.0	4.2	2.8
Professional and business services	1,391	1,305	1,241	1,236	1,218	1,178	6.1	5.7	5.4	5.4	5.3	5.2
Education and health services	1,348	1,330	1,205	1,277	1,293	1,199	5.3	5.2	4.7	5.0	5.0	4.7
Educational services(3)	91	135	125	145	146	112	2.4	3.4	3.2	3.6	3.7	2.8
Health care and social assistance	1,258	1,195	1,080	1,133	1,147	1,087	5.9	5.5	5.0	5.2	5.3	5.0
Leisure and hospitality	1,102	929	992	996	982	969	6.2	5.3	5.6	5.6	5.5	5.4
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	154	120	154	138	124	147	5.9	4.7	5.9	5.3	4.7	5.5
Accommodation and food services	948	809	838	858	858	822	6.3	5.4	5.5	5.6	5.6	5.4
Other services	271	261	245	248	226	243	4.4	4.2	4.0	4.0	3.7	3.9
Government	619	739	719	761	716	684	2.7	3.2	3.1	3.3	3.1	2.9
Federal(3)	87	121	110	120	105	81	3.0	4.1	3.7	4.1	3.6	2.8
State and local	532	618	608	641	611	604	2.6	3.0	3.0	3.1	3.0	3.0
State and local education	229	218	222	231	223	225	2.1	2.0	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1
State and local, excluding education(3)	304	400	387	410	388	379	3.2	4.1	4.0	4.2	4.0	3.9
REGION(4)
Northeast	1,230	1,348	1,203	1,264	1,180	1,102	4.3	4.6	4.1	4.3	4.0	3.8
South	2,848	2,765	2,687	2,836	2,535	2,359	4.9	4.8	4.6	4.9	4.4	4.1
Midwest	1,767	1,569	1,563	1,675	1,500	1,422	5.1	4.5	4.5	4.8	4.3	4.1
West	1,634	1,620	1,580	1,586	1,572	1,540	4.5	4.4	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.2
Footnotes (1) Job openings are the number of job openings on the last business day of the month. (2) The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month as a percent of total employment plus job openings. (3) No regular seasonal movements could be identified in this series; therefore, identical numbers appear for the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted series. (4) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 2. Hires levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	5,717	5,884	5,951	5,782	5,827	5,907	3.8	3.9	3.9	3.8	3.8	3.9
INDUSTRY
Total private	5,353	5,489	5,596	5,426	5,460	5,563	4.2	4.3	4.3	4.2	4.2	4.3
Mining and logging	39	21	25	27	24	26	5.1	2.8	3.4	3.7	3.3	3.6
Construction	399	414	451	488	439	484	5.4	5.5	6.0	6.5	5.8	6.4
Manufacturing	351	337	338	321	339	330	2.7	2.6	2.6	2.5	2.6	2.6
Durable goods	186	192	194	184	195	191	2.3	2.4	2.4	2.3	2.4	2.4
Nondurable goods	165	145	144	137	143	139	3.5	3.0	3.0	2.9	3.0	2.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,176	1,173	1,197	1,114	1,166	1,148	4.2	4.2	4.3	4.0	4.2	4.1
Wholesale trade	151	145	165	146	157	128	2.6	2.4	2.8	2.4	2.6	2.1
Retail trade	802	782	788	712	769	767	5.1	5.0	5.0	4.5	4.9	4.8
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	224	245	244	257	240	253	3.7	4.0	4.0	4.2	3.9	4.1
Information	80	95	88	94	89	81	2.8	3.4	3.1	3.3	3.1	2.9
Financial activities	201	235	230	210	232	221	2.3	2.7	2.6	2.4	2.7	2.5
Finance and insurance	133	148	145	131	145	136	2.1	2.3	2.3	2.1	2.3	2.1
Real estate and rental and leasing	67	86	85	79	87	85	2.9	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.7	3.6
Professional and business services	1,144	1,163	1,209	1,143	1,156	1,149	5.4	5.4	5.6	5.3	5.3	5.3
Education and health services	717	686	719	712	724	718	3.0	2.8	2.9	2.9	3.0	2.9
Educational services	124	94	96	108	106	104	3.3	2.5	2.5	2.8	2.8	2.7
Health care and social assistance	593	593	623	604	618	614	2.9	2.9	3.0	2.9	3.0	3.0
Leisure and hospitality	1,037	1,135	1,150	1,098	1,081	1,147	6.3	6.8	6.9	6.5	6.4	6.8
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	154	161	167	161	184	182	6.3	6.6	6.7	6.5	7.3	7.2
Accommodation and food services	883	973	984	937	897	966	6.3	6.8	6.9	6.5	6.2	6.7
Other services	209	229	188	218	211	259	3.6	3.9	3.2	3.7	3.6	4.3
Government	364	396	355	356	367	344	1.6	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.5
Federal	36	70	41	40	46	42	1.3	2.5	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.5
State and local	328	325	314	316	321	302	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.5
State and local education	176	169	154	157	162	147	1.7	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.4
State and local, excluding education	152	156	160	158	159	156	1.6	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7
REGION(3)
Northeast	871	935	900	919	949	934	3.2	3.4	3.2	3.3	3.4	3.3
South	2,204	2,306	2,413	2,307	2,315	2,344	4.0	4.2	4.4	4.2	4.2	4.2
Midwest	1,324	1,285	1,295	1,266	1,324	1,269	4.0	3.9	3.9	3.8	4.0	3.8
West	1,318	1,358	1,343	1,290	1,239	1,360	3.8	3.9	3.8	3.7	3.5	3.9
Footnotes (1) Hires are the number of hires during the entire month. (2) The hires rate is the number of hires during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 3. Total separations levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	5,469	5,732	5,798	5,652	5,709	5,730	3.6	3.8	3.8	3.7	3.7	3.8
INDUSTRY
Total private	5,122	5,385	5,454	5,282	5,361	5,393	4.0	4.2	4.2	4.1	4.1	4.2
Mining and logging	34	28	24	27	30	30	4.5	3.7	3.2	3.6	4.0	4.1
Construction	369	415	428	456	426	435	5.0	5.5	5.7	6.1	5.7	5.8
Manufacturing	342	320	349	324	333	340	2.7	2.5	2.7	2.5	2.6	2.6
Durable goods	175	183	203	193	195	198	2.2	2.3	2.5	2.4	2.4	2.5
Nondurable goods	167	137	145	131	138	143	3.5	2.9	3.0	2.7	2.9	3.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,134	1,202	1,204	1,086	1,231	1,101	4.1	4.3	4.3	3.9	4.4	3.9
Wholesale trade	143	145	167	139	149	121	2.4	2.4	2.8	2.3	2.5	2.0
Retail trade	765	817	801	708	847	729	4.8	5.2	5.1	4.5	5.4	4.6
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	226	241	236	240	235	251	3.7	3.9	3.9	3.9	3.8	4.1
Information	87	94	84	90	79	83	3.1	3.3	3.0	3.2	2.8	2.9
Financial activities	180	240	215	201	216	196	2.1	2.8	2.5	2.3	2.5	2.2
Finance and insurance	131	151	132	125	145	126	2.1	2.4	2.1	2.0	2.3	2.0
Real estate and rental and leasing	49	89	83	76	70	70	2.1	3.8	3.6	3.3	3.0	3.0
Professional and business services	1,116	1,145	1,168	1,099	1,121	1,113	5.3	5.3	5.4	5.1	5.2	5.1
Education and health services	652	633	655	662	664	677	2.7	2.6	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.8
Educational services	101	98	87	99	92	92	2.7	2.6	2.3	2.6	2.4	2.4
Health care and social assistance	551	535	568	564	572	585	2.7	2.6	2.8	2.7	2.8	2.8
Leisure and hospitality	1,007	1,110	1,125	1,097	1,073	1,174	6.1	6.6	6.7	6.5	6.3	6.9
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	153	159	154	174	177	203	6.3	6.5	6.2	7.0	7.1	8.0
Accommodation and food services	853	951	972	923	896	971	6.0	6.7	6.8	6.4	6.2	6.7
Other services	201	199	201	239	187	244	3.4	3.3	3.4	4.0	3.1	4.1
Government	347	347	344	370	348	336	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.5
Federal	44	40	41	54	44	41	1.6	1.4	1.4	1.9	1.5	1.5
State and local	304	307	304	316	305	295	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.5
State and local education	163	153	153	159	150	158	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.4	1.5
State and local, excluding education	141	154	151	156	155	138	1.5	1.7	1.6	1.7	1.7	1.5
REGION(3)
Northeast	820	914	863	923	910	879	3.0	3.3	3.1	3.3	3.3	3.1
South	2,197	2,287	2,301	2,114	2,155	2,297	4.0	4.1	4.1	3.8	3.9	4.1
Midwest	1,231	1,195	1,272	1,225	1,283	1,209	3.7	3.6	3.8	3.7	3.8	3.6
West	1,221	1,336	1,363	1,390	1,361	1,345	3.5	3.8	3.9	4.0	3.9	3.8
Footnotes (1) Total separations are the number of total separations during the entire month. (2) The total separations rate is the number of total separations during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 4. Quits levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	3,391	3,601	3,471	3,497	3,568	3,488	2.3	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.3
INDUSTRY
Total private	3,205	3,419	3,288	3,317	3,384	3,300	2.5	2.7	2.5	2.6	2.6	2.5
Mining and logging	22	14	11	13	14	13	2.9	1.9	1.5	1.7	1.9	1.7
Construction	185	182	187	184	167	169	2.5	2.4	2.5	2.4	2.2	2.2
Manufacturing	211	197	214	198	211	204	1.7	1.5	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.6
Durable goods	111	114	126	115	115	112	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.4	1.4	1.4
Nondurable goods	100	83	88	83	96	92	2.1	1.7	1.8	1.7	2.0	1.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	715	777	731	663	842	731	2.6	2.8	2.6	2.4	3.0	2.6
Wholesale trade	89	87	80	64	91	74	1.5	1.5	1.3	1.1	1.5	1.2
Retail trade	493	554	522	465	616	505	3.1	3.5	3.3	2.9	3.9	3.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	133	136	129	134	135	153	2.2	2.2	2.1	2.2	2.2	2.5
Information	43	49	43	45	44	45	1.5	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.6
Financial activities	106	152	128	132	149	122	1.2	1.8	1.5	1.5	1.7	1.4
Finance and insurance	76	92	88	87	103	83	1.2	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.3
Real estate and rental and leasing(3)	31	61	41	45	46	40	1.3	2.6	1.7	1.9	1.9	1.7
Professional and business services	649	646	654	626	629	616	3.1	3.0	3.0	2.9	2.9	2.8
Education and health services	448	459	442	462	458	494	1.9	1.9	1.8	1.9	1.9	2.0
Educational services	52	56	50	63	55	64	1.4	1.5	1.3	1.6	1.4	1.7
Health care and social assistance	397	402	393	400	404	430	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.1
Leisure and hospitality	706	831	754	802	745	766	4.3	5.0	4.5	4.8	4.4	4.5
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	56	83	77	90	86	66	2.3	3.4	3.1	3.6	3.4	2.6
Accommodation and food services	650	748	677	712	659	700	4.6	5.3	4.7	5.0	4.6	4.9
Other services	120	113	124	192	126	141	2.0	1.9	2.1	3.2	2.1	2.4
Government	186	181	182	180	184	187	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8
Federal	20	18	18	18	17	18	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.7
State and local	166	164	165	162	167	169	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.9
State and local education	89	87	88	85	86	93	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.9
State and local, excluding education	77	77	76	78	81	76	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.8
REGION(4)
Northeast	464	546	468	507	479	464	1.7	2.0	1.7	1.8	1.7	1.7
South	1,423	1,440	1,369	1,349	1,444	1,446	2.6	2.6	2.5	2.4	2.6	2.6
Midwest	744	759	789	795	812	759	2.3	2.3	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.3
West	760	856	845	846	833	819	2.2	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.3
Footnotes (1) Quits are the number of quits during the entire month. (2) The quits rate is the number of quits during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) No regular seasonal movements could be identified in this series; therefore, identical numbers appear for the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted series. (4) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 5. Layoffs and discharges levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	1,751	1,812	1,971	1,795	1,768	1,895	1.2	1.2	1.3	1.2	1.2	1.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	1,653	1,709	1,871	1,674	1,669	1,819	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.3	1.3	1.4
Mining and logging	10	10	12	13	15	15	1.3	1.4	1.6	1.7	2.0	2.1
Construction	164	218	218	254	230	247	2.2	2.9	2.9	3.4	3.1	3.3
Manufacturing	111	104	112	106	100	111	0.9	0.8	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.9
Durable goods	51	57	65	64	65	69	0.6	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.9
Nondurable goods	60	48	48	43	35	43	1.3	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.7	0.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	360	368	400	355	305	304	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.3	1.1	1.1
Wholesale trade(3)	45	54	77	66	46	33	0.8	0.9	1.3	1.1	0.8	0.6
Retail trade	230	227	235	200	178	185	1.5	1.4	1.5	1.3	1.1	1.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	85	88	88	89	81	86	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.3	1.4
Information	38	38	36	38	33	31	1.3	1.4	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.1
Financial activities	58	59	62	43	45	48	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.5
Finance and insurance	44	33	25	18	21	23	0.7	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.4
Real estate and rental and leasing	14	26	37	25	24	25	0.6	1.1	1.6	1.1	1.0	1.1
Professional and business services	406	441	456	416	436	451	1.9	2.1	2.1	1.9	2.0	2.1
Education and health services	155	137	178	165	170	142	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.6
Educational services	42	36	33	29	32	23	1.1	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.6
Health care and social assistance	112	100	145	136	138	119	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.6
Leisure and hospitality	279	257	335	249	299	371	1.7	1.5	2.0	1.5	1.8	2.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	96	71	72	79	86	133	3.9	2.9	2.9	3.2	3.4	5.3
Accommodation and food services	183	186	263	170	212	238	1.3	1.3	1.8	1.2	1.5	1.7
Other services	73	76	62	35	37	98	1.2	1.3	1.0	0.6	0.6	1.6
Government	98	102	100	121	98	76	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.3
Federal	9	10	9	25	12	9	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.9	0.4	0.3
State and local	89	93	91	96	86	67	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.3
State and local education	51	43	41	46	39	36	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3
State and local, excluding education	38	49	50	50	47	32	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.3
REGION(4)
Northeast	303	314	330	352	363	348	1.1	1.1	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.2
South	649	717	788	641	578	729	1.2	1.3	1.4	1.2	1.0	1.3
Midwest	407	375	406	351	394	378	1.2	1.1	1.2	1.1	1.2	1.1
West	392	406	446	450	432	441	1.1	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.3
Footnotes (1) Layoffs and discharges are the number of layoffs and discharges during the entire month. (2) The layoffs and discharges rate is the number of layoffs and discharges during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) No regular seasonal movements could be identified in this series; therefore, identical numbers appear for the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted series. (4) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 6. Other separations levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Aug. 2019	Sept. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	327	320	356	360	373	347	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	263	256	295	291	307	274	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Mining and logging	2	3	1	1	1	2	0.3	0.4	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2
Construction(3)	21	16	22	17	29	19	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.4	0.3
Manufacturing	19	19	23	19	22	25	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Durable goods	13	12	13	14	15	17	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Nondurable goods(3)	6	6	10	5	7	9	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	59	58	73	69	85	66	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.2
Wholesale trade	8	4	10	9	12	14	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Retail trade	41	37	44	42	53	40	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(3)	9	17	19	17	19	12	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2
Information(3)	6	6	6	8	3	6	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.1	0.2
Financial activities	15	28	25	26	22	26	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Finance and insurance	11	26	19	20	21	21	0.2	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Real estate and rental and leasing(3)	4	2	6	6	1	5	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.2
Professional and business services	61	58	59	57	57	46	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2
Education and health services	49	37	35	35	36	41	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2
Educational services	7	5	5	7	5	5	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Health care and social assistance(3)	42	33	30	28	30	36	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2
Leisure and hospitality	22	22	37	46	29	36	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation(3)	1	5	5	6	5	3	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
Accommodation and food services(3)	21	16	32	40	25	33	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2
Other services(3)	9	10	15	13	24	6	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.4	0.1
Government	64	64	62	69	66	73	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Federal	15	12	14	12	14	14	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.5
State and local	49	51	48	57	52	59	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3
State and local education	23	23	23	29	25	29	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.3
State and local, excluding education	25	28	25	28	27	30	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
REGION(4)
Northeast	53	54	64	64	67	68	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
South	125	130	144	124	134	123	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
Midwest	80	61	76	79	77	71	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
West	70	74	72	93	95	85	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2
Footnotes (1) Other separations are the number of other separations during the entire month. (2) The other separations rate is the number of other separations during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) No regular seasonal movements could be identified in this series; therefore, identical numbers appear for the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted series. (4) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary
NOTE: Levels are rounded to the nearest thousand and rates are rounded to the nearest tenth. Levels and rates may round down to zero.

Table 7. Job openings levels and rates by industry and region, not seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)			Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	6,921	6,468	5,892	4.4	4.0	3.7
INDUSTRY
Total private	6,321	5,761	5,221	4.7	4.2	3.9
Mining and logging	29	22	14	3.8	2.8	1.8
Construction	299	217	239	3.9	2.8	3.1
Manufacturing	435	381	360	3.3	2.9	2.7
Durable goods	298	252	224	3.6	3.0	2.7
Nondurable goods	137	129	136	2.8	2.6	2.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,350	1,208	1,003	4.5	4.1	3.4
Wholesale trade	163	163	167	2.7	2.7	2.7
Retail trade	868	724	603	5.1	4.3	3.6
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	318	321	233	4.8	4.9	3.5
Information	123	136	113	4.1	4.5	3.8
Financial activities	373	343	298	4.1	3.8	3.3
Finance and insurance	310	241	231	4.7	3.6	3.5
Real estate and rental and leasing	63	102	68	2.7	4.2	2.8
Professional and business services	1,275	1,121	1,043	5.6	4.9	4.6
Education and health services	1,294	1,232	1,152	5.1	4.7	4.4
Educational services	91	146	112	2.3	3.5	2.8
Health care and social assistance	1,204	1,086	1,039	5.6	5.0	4.8
Leisure and hospitality	893	904	775	5.2	5.2	4.5
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	102	99	109	4.3	4.1	4.4
Accommodation and food services	791	805	666	5.4	5.3	4.5
Other services	250	197	225	4.1	3.2	3.7
Government	600	707	670	2.6	3.0	2.8
Federal	87	105	81	3.0	3.6	2.8
State and local	514	602	590	2.5	2.9	2.8
State and local education	210	214	211	1.9	1.9	1.9
State and local, excluding education	304	388	379	3.2	4.0	4.0
REGION(3)
Northeast	1,154	1,122	1,034	4.0	3.8	3.5
South	2,672	2,452	2,197	4.6	4.2	3.8
Midwest	1,619	1,445	1,276	4.6	4.1	3.6
West	1,476	1,449	1,385	4.1	3.9	3.8
Footnotes (1) Job openings are the number of job openings on the last business day of the month. (2) The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month as a percent of total employment plus job openings. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 8. Hires levels and rates by industry and region, not seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)			Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	4,210	5,401	4,367	2.8	3.5	2.8
INDUSTRY
Total private	3,991	5,108	4,159	3.1	3.9	3.2
Mining and logging	27	20	16	3.6	2.7	2.3
Construction	221	325	278	3.0	4.3	3.7
Manufacturing	233	281	218	1.8	2.2	1.7
Durable goods	123	166	126	1.5	2.1	1.6
Nondurable goods	110	115	92	2.3	2.4	1.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	953	1,480	931	3.3	5.2	3.3
Wholesale trade	113	125	94	1.9	2.1	1.6
Retail trade	612	972	578	3.8	6.0	3.5
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	228	382	260	3.6	6.1	4.1
Information	60	87	59	2.1	3.0	2.1
Financial activities	138	200	155	1.6	2.3	1.8
Finance and insurance	96	126	98	1.5	2.0	1.5
Real estate and rental and leasing	42	74	56	1.9	3.2	2.4
Professional and business services	938	1,050	938	4.4	4.8	4.3
Education and health services	515	610	522	2.1	2.5	2.1
Educational services	68	76	57	1.8	1.9	1.4
Health care and social assistance	447	534	465	2.2	2.6	2.2
Leisure and hospitality	770	894	867	4.8	5.4	5.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	101	136	125	4.5	5.9	5.3
Accommodation and food services	668	758	742	4.8	5.3	5.2
Other services	135	162	175	2.3	2.7	2.9
Government	219	294	208	1.0	1.3	0.9
Federal	27	55	32	1.0	2.0	1.1
State and local	192	238	176	1.0	1.2	0.9
State and local education	95	112	77	0.9	1.0	0.7
State and local, excluding education	97	126	99	1.1	1.4	1.1
REGION(3)
Northeast	640	861	666	2.3	3.1	2.4
South	1,650	2,131	1,780	3.0	3.8	3.2
Midwest	949	1,230	907	2.9	3.6	2.7
West	971	1,179	1,014	2.8	3.3	2.9
Footnotes (1) Hires are the number of hires during the entire month. (2) The hires rate is the number of hires during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 9. Total separations levels and rates by industry and region, not seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)			Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	5,139	5,032	5,394	3.4	3.3	3.5
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,842	4,779	5,110	3.8	3.7	3.9
Mining and logging	33	25	31	4.3	3.3	4.3
Construction	392	427	487	5.4	5.6	6.5
Manufacturing	287	280	289	2.2	2.2	2.2
Durable goods	143	159	166	1.8	2.0	2.1
Nondurable goods	144	121	123	3.0	2.5	2.6
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,195	1,102	1,131	4.2	3.9	3.9
Wholesale trade	124	129	106	2.1	2.2	1.8
Retail trade	807	759	730	5.0	4.7	4.5
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	263	214	295	4.2	3.4	4.6
Information	77	66	75	2.7	2.3	2.6
Financial activities	168	190	174	1.9	2.2	2.0
Finance and insurance	121	123	109	1.9	1.9	1.7
Real estate and rental and leasing	46	67	65	2.0	2.9	2.8
Professional and business services	1,111	1,018	1,109	5.2	4.7	5.1
Education and health services	557	531	579	2.3	2.1	2.3
Educational services	76	53	68	2.0	1.3	1.7
Health care and social assistance	481	478	511	2.4	2.3	2.5
Leisure and hospitality	858	978	1,019	5.3	5.9	6.1
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	118	190	169	5.2	8.2	7.2
Accommodation and food services	741	787	850	5.3	5.5	6.0
Other services	163	161	216	2.8	2.7	3.6
Government	297	253	284	1.3	1.1	1.2
Federal	45	43	45	1.6	1.5	1.6
State and local	253	210	238	1.3	1.0	1.2
State and local education	127	78	113	1.2	0.7	1.0
State and local, excluding education	126	133	125	1.4	1.4	1.4
REGION(3)
Northeast	801	820	863	2.9	2.9	3.1
South	1,956	1,832	2,068	3.5	3.3	3.7
Midwest	1,210	1,181	1,178	3.6	3.5	3.5
West	1,172	1,200	1,285	3.4	3.4	3.6
Footnotes (1) Total separations are the number of total separations during the entire month. (2) The total separations rate is the number of total separations during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 10. Quits levels and rates by industry and region, not seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)			Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	2,908	2,967	2,975	1.9	1.9	1.9
INDUSTRY
Total private	2,771	2,831	2,837	2.2	2.2	2.2
Mining and logging	18	10	10	2.4	1.4	1.3
Construction	157	131	138	2.1	1.7	1.9
Manufacturing	154	160	147	1.2	1.2	1.1
Durable goods	81	84	80	1.0	1.0	1.0
Nondurable goods	73	76	68	1.5	1.6	1.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities	657	738	662	2.3	2.6	2.3
Wholesale trade	72	73	57	1.2	1.2	1.0
Retail trade	448	535	442	2.7	3.3	2.7
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	138	129	163	2.2	2.1	2.6
Information	36	36	38	1.3	1.3	1.3
Financial activities	99	134	110	1.2	1.5	1.3
Finance and insurance	69	89	70	1.1	1.4	1.1
Real estate and rental and leasing	31	46	40	1.3	1.9	1.7
Professional and business services	583	548	547	2.7	2.5	2.5
Education and health services	377	368	423	1.6	1.5	1.7
Educational services	36	35	46	0.9	0.9	1.2
Health care and social assistance	341	332	378	1.7	1.6	1.8
Leisure and hospitality	597	603	644	3.7	3.6	3.9
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	40	62	47	1.8	2.7	2.0
Accommodation and food services	557	541	597	4.0	3.8	4.2
Other services	93	101	118	1.6	1.7	2.0
Government	137	136	138	0.6	0.6	0.6
Federal	18	18	18	0.6	0.6	0.6
State and local	119	118	120	0.6	0.6	0.6
State and local education	58	51	61	0.5	0.5	0.6
State and local, excluding education	61	67	60	0.7	0.7	0.6
REGION(3)
Northeast	404	395	391	1.5	1.4	1.4
South	1,182	1,173	1,206	2.1	2.1	2.2
Midwest	638	690	648	1.9	2.0	1.9
West	684	709	730	2.0	2.0	2.1
Footnotes (1) Quits are the number of quits during the entire month. (2) The quits rate is the number of quits during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 11. Layoffs and discharges levels and rates by industry and region, not seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)			Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	1,915	1,744	2,084	1.3	1.1	1.4
INDUSTRY
Total private	1,818	1,669	2,012	1.4	1.3	1.5
Mining and logging	12	13	20	1.7	1.8	2.7
Construction	214	267	329	2.9	3.5	4.4
Manufacturing	113	102	113	0.9	0.8	0.9
Durable goods	48	63	66	0.6	0.8	0.8
Nondurable goods	66	38	47	1.4	0.8	1.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	485	288	406	1.7	1.0	1.4
Wholesale trade	45	46	33	0.8	0.8	0.6
Retail trade	323	176	252	2.0	1.1	1.5
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	116	66	121	1.8	1.0	1.9
Information	35	27	31	1.2	0.9	1.1
Financial activities	54	38	43	0.6	0.4	0.5
Finance and insurance	42	17	23	0.7	0.3	0.4
Real estate and rental and leasing	12	21	20	0.5	0.9	0.9
Professional and business services	471	422	524	2.2	1.9	2.4
Education and health services	133	131	116	0.6	0.5	0.5
Educational services	35	16	18	0.9	0.4	0.5
Health care and social assistance	97	115	97	0.5	0.6	0.5
Leisure and hospitality	239	345	339	1.5	2.1	2.0
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	77	123	119	3.4	5.3	5.1
Accommodation and food services	163	221	220	1.2	1.6	1.5
Other services	61	36	92	1.0	0.6	1.5
Government	97	75	72	0.4	0.3	0.3
Federal	10	14	12	0.4	0.5	0.4
State and local	87	61	60	0.4	0.3	0.3
State and local education	53	17	33	0.5	0.2	0.3
State and local, excluding education	34	44	27	0.4	0.5	0.3
REGION(3)
Northeast	352	376	409	1.3	1.3	1.5
South	647	528	739	1.2	0.9	1.3
Midwest	490	428	457	1.5	1.3	1.4
West	426	412	478	1.2	1.2	1.3
Footnotes (1) Layoffs and discharges are the number of layoffs and discharges during the entire month. (2) The layoffs and discharges rate is the number of layoffs and discharges during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary

Table 12. Other separations levels and rates by industry and region, not seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)			Rates(2)
	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)	Dec. 2018	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019(p)
Total	316	321	335	0.2	0.2	0.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	253	279	261	0.2	0.2	0.2
Mining and logging	2	1	2	0.2	0.2	0.3
Construction	21	29	19	0.3	0.4	0.3
Manufacturing	21	18	29	0.2	0.1	0.2
Durable goods	14	11	21	0.2	0.1	0.3
Nondurable goods	6	7	9	0.1	0.1	0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	54	76	64	0.2	0.3	0.2
Wholesale trade	8	9	16	0.1	0.2	0.3
Retail trade	37	47	36	0.2	0.3	0.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	9	19	12	0.1	0.3	0.2
Information	6	3	6	0.2	0.1	0.2
Financial activities	14	19	22	0.2	0.2	0.3
Finance and insurance	10	18	17	0.2	0.3	0.3
Real estate and rental and leasing	4	1	5	0.2	0.0	0.2
Professional and business services	58	48	37	0.3	0.2	0.2
Education and health services	47	33	40	0.2	0.1	0.2
Educational services	5	2	4	0.1	0.1	0.1
Health care and social assistance	42	30	36	0.2	0.1	0.2
Leisure and hospitality	22	29	36	0.1	0.2	0.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	1	5	3	0.1	0.2	0.1
Accommodation and food services	21	25	33	0.1	0.2	0.2
Other services	9	24	6	0.2	0.4	0.1
Government	63	42	74	0.3	0.2	0.3
Federal	16	11	16	0.6	0.4	0.6
State and local	46	31	58	0.2	0.2	0.3
State and local education	16	10	20	0.1	0.1	0.2
State and local, excluding education	30	21	38	0.3	0.2	0.4
REGION(3)
Northeast	45	51	63	0.2	0.2	0.2
South	128	130	122	0.2	0.2	0.2
Midwest	81	63	74	0.2	0.2	0.2
West	62	78	77	0.2	0.2	0.2
Footnotes (1) Other separations are the number of other separations during the entire month. (2) The other separations rate is the number of other separations during the entire month as a percent of total employment. (3) The states (including the District of Columbia) that comprise the regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) Preliminary
NOTE: Levels are rounded to the nearest thousand and rates are rounded to the nearest tenth. Levels and rates may round down to zero.