For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, July 7, 2021	USDL-21-1266
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 – MAY 2021

The number of job openings was little changed at 9.2 million on the last business day of May, the U.S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires were little changed at 5.9 million. Total separations 
decreased to 5.3 million. Within separations, the quits rate decreased to 2.5 percent. The layoffs and 
discharges rate, while little changed over the month, hit a series low of 0.9 percent. This release includes 
estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by 
industry, by four geographic regions, and by establishment size class. 
   
Job Openings

On the last business day of May, the job openings level changed little at 9.2 million. The job openings 
rate was unchanged at 6.0 percent. Job openings increased in other services (+109,000), state and local 
government education (+46,000), and educational services (+35,000). The number of job openings 
decreased in arts, entertainment, and recreation (-80,000); state and local government, excluding 
education (-56,000); and federal government (-17,000). The number of job openings was little changed 
in all four regions. (See table 1.)

Hires

In May, the number and rate of hires changed little at 5.9 million and 4.1 percent, respectively. Hires 
decreased in state and local government, excluding education (-56,000) and in federal government
(-10,000). The number of hires decreased in the Northeast region. (See table 2.)

Separations

Total separations includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. 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 May, the number and rate of total separations decreased to 5.3 million (-485,000) and 3.7 percent, 
respectively. The total separations level decreased in four industries, with the largest decreases in 
professional and business services (-192,000); transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-53,000); and 
state and local government education (-42,000). Total separations decreased in the South and West 
regions. (See table 3.)

In May, the quits level and rate decreased to 3.6 million and 2.5 percent, respectively. Quits decreased 
in a number of industries with the largest decreases in professional and business services (-181,000); 
transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-46,000); and durable goods manufacturing (-25,000). The 
number of quits decreased in the Northeast and South regions. (See table 4.)

In May, the number of layoffs and discharges was little changed at 1.4 million. The rate was also little 
changed at 0.9 percent, a series low. The number of layoffs and discharges decreased in educational 
services (-21,000). Layoffs and discharges were little changed in all four regions. (See table 5.)

The number of other separations was little changed in May at 346,000. Other separations decreased in 
retail trade (-30,000), state and local government education (-12,000), and educational services
(-3,000). Other separations increased in health care and social assistance (+22,000). The other 
separations level 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 May, hires totaled 73.0 million and separations totaled 64.8 million, 
yielding a net employment gain of 8.2 million. These totals include workers who may have been hired 
and separated more than once during the year.

Establishment Size Class

In May, the quits rate decreased in medium establishments with 50-249 employees and large 
establishments with 250-999 employees. The total separations rate for large establishments with 250-
999 employees decreased in May. For a more in-depth description of the JOLTS establishment size class 
estimates, please visit www.bls.gov/jlt/sizeclassmethodology.htm.

_____________	
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey estimates for June 2021 are scheduled to be 
released on Monday, August 9, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|			Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on May 2021				|
|			   Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Data					|
|Data collection for the JOLTS survey was affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While 42 	|
|percent of data are usually collected by phone at the JOLTS data collection center, most phone 	|
|respondents were asked to report electronically. However, data collection was adversely impacted due to| 
|the inability to reach some respondents that normally respond by phone. The JOLTS response rate for 	|
|May was 44 percent, while response rates prior to the pandemic averaged 54 percent.			| 
|More information about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the JOLTS survey, including 		|
|information about the JOLTS estimation methodology, is available at 					|
|www.bls.gov/covid19/job-openings-and-labor-turnover-covid19-may-2021.htm.				|
|_______________________________________________________________________________________________________|
    

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

Category	Job openings			Hires			Total separations
	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
LEVELS BY INDUSTRY (in thousands)
Total	5,447	9,193	9,209	8,272	6,012	5,927	4,618	5,803	5,318
Total private	4,813	8,263	8,305	8,015	5,661	5,619	4,160	5,478	5,035
Mining and logging	11	23	23	19	21	22	30	20	21
Construction	281	351	299	724	328	311	301	349	333
Manufacturing	316	825	814	640	399	417	313	427	392
Durable goods	187	462	458	370	216	224	181	240	211
Nondurable goods	128	364	357	269	183	193	132	187	181
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,036	1,644	1,638	1,576	1,210	1,262	979	1,313	1,186
Wholesale trade	140	285	280	228	170	169	177	169	146
Retail trade	659	955	974	1,015	793	823	531	832	781
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	238	404	385	332	246	271	271	312	259
Information	81	114	132	65	101	95	93	84	70
Financial activities	309	416	372	219	211	211	169	200	204
Finance and insurance	233	292	271	110	141	134	113	139	139
Real estate and rental and leasing	76	124	101	109	70	77	56	61	65
Professional and business services	883	1,591	1,491	954	1,056	964	913	1,126	934
Education and health services	961	1,529	1,646	1,195	749	773	627	721	684
Educational services	80	130	165	97	88	102	67	92	67
Health care and social assistance	881	1,400	1,481	1,098	661	671	560	628	617
Leisure and hospitality	737	1,405	1,415	1,978	1,336	1,343	600	1,021	1,000
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	111	247	167	165	187	187	98	108	118
Accommodation and food services	627	1,159	1,248	1,813	1,150	1,156	501	913	882
Other services	198	364	473	646	249	220	135	218	210
Government	634	930	904	256	351	307	459	325	283
Federal	75	143	126	51	43	33	58	38	43
State and local	559	787	778	205	308	274	401	287	240
State and local education	206	288	334	124	159	182	261	143	101
State and local, excluding education	353	500	444	81	149	93	140	144	139
RATES BY INDUSTRY (percent)
Total	3.9	6.0	6.0	6.2	4.2	4.1	3.5	4.0	3.7
Total private	4.1	6.3	6.3	7.2	4.6	4.6	3.7	4.5	4.1
Mining and logging	1.8	3.6	3.7	3.2	3.5	3.6	5.0	3.3	3.5
Construction	3.9	4.5	3.9	10.3	4.4	4.2	4.3	4.7	4.5
Manufacturing	2.6	6.3	6.2	5.5	3.3	3.4	2.7	3.5	3.2
Durable goods	2.5	5.7	5.7	5.1	2.8	2.9	2.5	3.2	2.8
Nondurable goods	2.8	7.2	7.1	6.0	3.9	4.1	3.0	4.0	3.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	4.0	5.7	5.7	6.3	4.5	4.7	3.9	4.8	4.4
Wholesale trade	2.5	4.8	4.7	4.1	3.0	3.0	3.2	3.0	2.6
Retail trade	4.6	5.9	6.0	7.4	5.2	5.4	3.9	5.5	5.1
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	3.9	6.1	5.8	5.7	3.9	4.3	4.7	5.0	4.1
Information	3.0	4.0	4.6	2.5	3.7	3.5	3.6	3.1	2.6
Financial activities	3.5	4.5	4.1	2.5	2.4	2.4	2.0	2.3	2.3
Finance and insurance	3.5	4.3	4.0	1.7	2.1	2.0	1.8	2.1	2.1
Real estate and rental and leasing	3.4	5.2	4.3	5.1	3.1	3.4	2.6	2.7	2.9
Professional and business services	4.4	7.1	6.7	5.0	5.1	4.6	4.7	5.4	4.5
Education and health services	4.2	6.1	6.5	5.4	3.2	3.3	2.8	3.1	2.9
Educational services	2.4	3.6	4.5	3.0	2.5	2.9	2.1	2.7	1.9
Health care and social assistance	4.5	6.5	6.9	5.8	3.3	3.3	3.0	3.1	3.1
Leisure and hospitality	6.8	9.1	9.0	19.5	9.5	9.3	5.9	7.2	7.0
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	8.3	11.5	7.8	13.5	9.8	9.5	8.0	5.7	6.0
Accommodation and food services	6.6	8.7	9.1	20.3	9.4	9.3	5.6	7.5	7.1
Other services	4.0	6.1	7.8	13.5	4.5	3.9	2.8	3.9	3.8
Government	2.9	4.1	4.0	1.2	1.6	1.4	2.2	1.5	1.3
Federal	2.5	4.7	4.2	1.8	1.5	1.1	2.0	1.3	1.5
State and local	2.9	4.0	4.0	1.1	1.6	1.5	2.2	1.5	1.3
State and local education	2.1	2.9	3.3	1.3	1.6	1.9	2.7	1.5	1.0
State and local, excluding education	3.9	5.3	4.7	0.9	1.7	1.0	1.6	1.6	1.6
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

Technical Note

Special technical note:  This technical note describes the procedures regularly used on a monthly basis to develop 
estimates from JOLTS survey responses. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the procedures described in this technical 
note have been modified. The modifications are briefly described in the box note in the news release and are 
described in more detail at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-job-openings-and-labor-turnover-data.htm.

This news release presents statistics from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The JOLTS 
program provides information on labor demand and turnover. Additional information about the JOLTS program can 
be found at www.bls.gov/jlt/. Estimates are published for job openings, hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, 
other separations, and total separations. 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. Industries are classified in 
accordance with the North American Industry Classification System.

Definitions

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 vacation or other paid leave. Proprietors or partners of 
unincorporated businesses, unpaid family workers, or employees on strike for the entire pay period, and employees 
on leave without pay 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 include all positions that are open on the last business day of the reference month. 

A job is open only if it meets all three of these conditions: 
* A specific position exists and there is work available for that position. The position can be full-time or part-
time, and it can be permanent, short-term, or seasonal. 
* The job could start within 30 days, whether or not the employer can find a suitable candidate during that time. 
* The employer is actively recruiting workers from outside the establishment to fill the position. Active 
recruiting means that the establishment is taking steps to fill a position. It may include advertising in 
newspapers, on television, or on the radio; posting Internet notices, posting “help wanted” signs, 
networking or making “word-of-mouth” announcements; accepting applications; interviewing candidates; 
contacting employment agencies; or soliciting employees at job fairs, state or local employment offices, or 
similar sources.

Excluded are positions open only to internal transfers, promotions or demotions, or recall from layoffs. Also 
excluded are openings for positions with start dates more than 30 days in the future, positions for which employees 
have been hired but the employees have not yet reported for work, and positions 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.  Hires include all additions to the payroll during the entire reference month, including newly hired and 
rehired employees; full-time and part-time employees; permanent, short-term, and seasonal employees; employees 
who were recalled to a job at the location following a layoff (formal suspension from pay status) lasting more than 7 
days; on-call or intermittent employees who returned to work after having been formally separated; workers who 
were hired and separated during the month, and transfers from other locations. Excluded are transfers or promotions 
within the reporting location, employees returning from strike, employees of temporary help agencies, 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.  Separations include all separations from the payroll during the entire reference month and is 
reported by type of separation: quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Quits include employees who 
left voluntarily with the exception of retirements or transfers to other locations. Layoffs and discharges includes 
involuntary separations initiated by the employer including layoffs with no intent to rehire; layoffs (formal 
suspensions from pay status) 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 (whether or not they are expected to return the next season). Other 
separations include retirements, transfers to other locations, separations due to employee disability; and deaths. 
Excluded from separations are transfers within the same location; employees on strike; employees of temporary help 
agencies, employee leasing companies, outside contractors, or consultants. 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.

Estimation Method

The JOLTS survey design is a stratified random sample of 20,700 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 9.4 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.

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

Birth/death model.  The time lag from the start up, or birth, of an establishment until its appearance on the 
sampling frame is approximately one year. Also within the first year, new businesses may go out of business, 
referred to as a death. Because not all births and deaths of establishments can be reflected on the sampling frame 
immediately, the JOLTS sample cannot capture job openings, hires, and separations from them during their early 
existence. BLS has developed a birth/death model that uses establishment 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 job openings, hires, and separations.

Alignment.  The JOLTS figure 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 non- sampling 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. There are four steps to this method: 
seasonally adjust, align, back out the seasonal adjustment factors, and re-seasonally adjust.

Seasonal adjustment.  BLS uses X-13 ARIMA for seasonal adjustment. 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. The seasonally adjusted CES 
employment trends are applied to the seasonally adjusted JOLTS implied employment trends (hires minus 
separations) forcing them to be approximately the same, while preserving the seasonality of the JOLTS data. 

Annual estimates.  The JOLTS estimates are revised annually to reflect annual updates to the CES employment 
estimates and the JOLTS seasonal adjustment factors. The JOLTS employment levels (not published) are ratio-
adjusted to the CES employment levels, and the resulting ratios are applied to all JOLTS data elements. The 
seasonally adjusted data are recalculated for the most recent 5 years in order to reflect updated seasonal adjustment 
factors. These annual updates result in revisions to both the seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted JOLTS 
data series, for the period since the last benchmark was established.

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.

Reliability of the estimates

JOLTS estimates are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. Nonsampling error occurs 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 difference, or sampling error, varies depending on the particular sample 
selected. 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)
	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	5,447	7,099	7,526	8,288	9,193	9,209	3.9	4.7	5.0	5.4	6.0	6.0
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,813	6,380	6,868	7,446	8,263	8,305	4.1	5.0	5.3	5.7	6.3	6.3
Mining and logging	11	24	20	31	23	23	1.8	3.9	3.3	4.8	3.6	3.7
Construction	281	300	272	334	351	299	3.9	3.9	3.6	4.3	4.5	3.9
Manufacturing	316	537	572	749	825	814	2.6	4.2	4.5	5.7	6.3	6.2
Durable goods	187	308	298	393	462	458	2.5	3.9	3.8	4.9	5.7	5.7
Nondurable goods	128	228	273	356	364	357	2.8	4.7	5.6	7.1	7.2	7.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,036	1,308	1,396	1,562	1,644	1,638	4.0	4.6	4.9	5.4	5.7	5.7
Wholesale trade	140	192	216	256	285	280	2.5	3.3	3.7	4.3	4.8	4.7
Retail trade	659	793	819	899	955	974	4.6	5.0	5.1	5.6	5.9	6.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	238	323	361	406	404	385	3.9	5.0	5.5	6.1	6.1	5.8
Information	81	129	109	102	114	132	3.0	4.6	3.9	3.7	4.0	4.6
Financial activities	309	306	303	346	416	372	3.5	3.4	3.3	3.8	4.5	4.1
Finance and insurance	233	226	229	264	292	271	3.5	3.3	3.4	3.9	4.3	4.0
Real estate and rental and leasing	76	80	74	82	124	101	3.4	3.5	3.2	3.5	5.2	4.3
Professional and business services	883	1,404	1,373	1,421	1,591	1,491	4.4	6.4	6.2	6.4	7.1	6.7
Education and health services	961	1,368	1,592	1,431	1,529	1,646	4.2	5.6	6.4	5.8	6.1	6.5
Educational services	80	148	105	144	130	165	2.4	4.2	3.0	4.0	3.6	4.5
Health care and social assistance	881	1,220	1,486	1,287	1,400	1,481	4.5	5.8	7.0	6.1	6.5	6.9
Leisure and hospitality	737	738	942	1,195	1,405	1,415	6.8	5.3	6.5	8.0	9.1	9.0
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	111	81	134	206	247	167	8.3	4.5	7.2	10.3	11.5	7.8
Accommodation and food services	627	657	808	989	1,159	1,248	6.6	5.4	6.4	7.7	8.7	9.1
Other services	198	265	289	275	364	473	4.0	4.6	5.0	4.7	6.1	7.8
Government	634	719	658	843	930	904	2.9	3.2	3.0	3.8	4.1	4.0
Federal	75	79	88	126	143	126	2.5	2.7	3.0	4.2	4.7	4.2
State and local	559	641	570	717	787	778	2.9	3.3	3.0	3.7	4.0	4.0
State and local education	206	294	175	267	288	334	2.1	2.9	1.8	2.7	2.9	3.3
State and local, excluding education	353	347	395	450	500	444	3.9	3.7	4.2	4.8	5.3	4.7
REGION(3)
Northeast	951	1,165	1,294	1,524	1,645	1,661	3.8	4.3	4.7	5.5	5.9	5.9
South	2,106	2,831	2,972	3,163	3,509	3,543	4.1	5.1	5.3	5.6	6.2	6.2
Midwest	1,138	1,520	1,593	1,783	2,069	1,989	3.8	4.7	4.9	5.4	6.2	6.0
West	1,252	1,583	1,667	1,818	1,970	2,016	3.9	4.5	4.7	5.1	5.5	5.6
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 2. Hires levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	8,272	5,465	5,794	6,006	6,012	5,927	6.2	3.8	4.0	4.2	4.2	4.1
INDUSTRY
Total private	8,015	5,102	5,490	5,646	5,661	5,619	7.2	4.2	4.5	4.6	4.6	4.6
Mining and logging	19	17	19	31	21	22	3.2	2.9	3.2	5.0	3.5	3.6
Construction	724	346	399	442	328	311	10.3	4.7	5.4	5.9	4.4	4.2
Manufacturing	640	351	393	434	399	417	5.5	2.9	3.2	3.5	3.3	3.4
Durable goods	370	192	218	255	216	224	5.1	2.5	2.9	3.3	2.8	2.9
Nondurable goods	269	159	175	180	183	193	6.0	3.4	3.8	3.9	3.9	4.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,576	1,183	1,118	1,156	1,210	1,262	6.3	4.4	4.1	4.3	4.5	4.7
Wholesale trade	228	152	139	148	170	169	4.1	2.7	2.5	2.6	3.0	3.0
Retail trade	1,015	778	734	755	793	823	7.4	5.1	4.8	5.0	5.2	5.4
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	332	254	245	252	246	271	5.7	4.1	3.9	4.0	3.9	4.3
Information	65	77	88	94	101	95	2.5	2.9	3.3	3.5	3.7	3.5
Financial activities	219	202	199	209	211	211	2.5	2.3	2.3	2.4	2.4	2.4
Finance and insurance	110	126	131	132	141	134	1.7	1.9	2.0	2.0	2.1	2.0
Real estate and rental and leasing	109	76	68	77	70	77	5.1	3.4	3.0	3.4	3.1	3.4
Professional and business services	954	1,078	1,129	1,129	1,056	964	5.0	5.2	5.5	5.4	5.1	4.6
Education and health services	1,195	708	703	754	749	773	5.4	3.0	3.0	3.2	3.2	3.3
Educational services	97	110	86	114	88	102	3.0	3.3	2.5	3.3	2.5	2.9
Health care and social assistance	1,098	598	617	640	661	671	5.8	3.0	3.1	3.2	3.3	3.3
Leisure and hospitality	1,978	928	1,194	1,172	1,336	1,343	19.5	7.1	8.8	8.5	9.5	9.3
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	165	120	135	157	187	187	13.5	7.1	7.8	8.8	9.8	9.5
Accommodation and food services	1,813	808	1,059	1,015	1,150	1,156	20.3	7.1	9.0	8.5	9.4	9.3
Other services	646	212	248	226	249	220	13.5	3.9	4.5	4.1	4.5	3.9
Government	256	363	304	360	351	307	1.2	1.7	1.4	1.7	1.6	1.4
Federal	51	32	37	35	43	33	1.8	1.1	1.3	1.2	1.5	1.1
State and local	205	331	267	325	308	274	1.1	1.8	1.4	1.7	1.6	1.5
State and local education	124	193	121	162	159	182	1.3	2.0	1.3	1.7	1.6	1.9
State and local, excluding education	81	137	146	164	149	93	0.9	1.5	1.6	1.8	1.7	1.0
REGION(3)
Northeast	1,333	867	967	997	961	848	5.5	3.3	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.2
South	2,867	2,054	2,184	2,295	2,359	2,432	5.9	3.9	4.2	4.3	4.5	4.6
Midwest	1,857	1,241	1,322	1,295	1,290	1,245	6.5	4.0	4.3	4.2	4.1	4.0
West	2,214	1,303	1,321	1,419	1,401	1,402	7.1	3.9	3.9	4.2	4.1	4.1
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)
	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	4,618	5,323	5,429	5,436	5,803	5,318	3.5	3.7	3.8	3.8	4.0	3.7
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,160	5,007	5,078	5,100	5,478	5,035	3.7	4.1	4.2	4.2	4.5	4.1
Mining and logging	30	17	22	14	20	21	5.0	2.8	3.7	2.3	3.3	3.5
Construction	301	338	426	358	349	333	4.3	4.6	5.8	4.8	4.7	4.5
Manufacturing	313	362	369	402	427	392	2.7	3.0	3.0	3.3	3.5	3.2
Durable goods	181	205	200	229	240	211	2.5	2.7	2.6	3.0	3.2	2.8
Nondurable goods	132	158	169	172	187	181	3.0	3.4	3.7	3.7	4.0	3.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	979	1,197	1,118	1,120	1,313	1,186	3.9	4.4	4.1	4.1	4.8	4.4
Wholesale trade	177	136	139	141	169	146	3.2	2.4	2.5	2.5	3.0	2.6
Retail trade	531	718	746	726	832	781	3.9	4.7	4.9	4.8	5.5	5.1
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	271	343	233	253	312	259	4.7	5.5	3.7	4.0	5.0	4.1
Information	93	66	79	89	84	70	3.6	2.5	2.9	3.3	3.1	2.6
Financial activities	169	206	201	198	200	204	2.0	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.3
Finance and insurance	113	135	132	132	139	139	1.8	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.1	2.1
Real estate and rental and leasing	56	72	69	66	61	65	2.6	3.2	3.1	2.9	2.7	2.9
Professional and business services	913	1,003	1,062	1,058	1,126	934	4.7	4.9	5.1	5.1	5.4	4.5
Education and health services	627	681	670	678	721	684	2.8	2.9	2.9	2.9	3.1	2.9
Educational services	67	48	80	80	92	67	2.1	1.4	2.4	2.3	2.7	1.9
Health care and social assistance	560	632	590	598	628	617	3.0	3.2	3.0	3.0	3.1	3.1
Leisure and hospitality	600	933	904	981	1,021	1,000	5.9	7.1	6.7	7.1	7.2	7.0
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	98	136	126	116	108	118	8.0	8.0	7.3	6.4	5.7	6.0
Accommodation and food services	501	797	778	865	913	882	5.6	7.0	6.6	7.2	7.5	7.1
Other services	135	203	225	203	218	210	2.8	3.7	4.1	3.7	3.9	3.8
Government	459	316	351	335	325	283	2.2	1.5	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.3
Federal	58	59	40	36	38	43	2.0	2.0	1.4	1.3	1.3	1.5
State and local	401	257	311	299	287	240	2.2	1.4	1.7	1.6	1.5	1.3
State and local education	261	105	162	149	143	101	2.7	1.1	1.7	1.5	1.5	1.0
State and local, excluding education	140	152	149	150	144	139	1.6	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.6	1.6
REGION(3)
Northeast	800	794	836	815	838	782	3.3	3.1	3.2	3.1	3.2	3.0
South	1,793	2,128	2,154	2,197	2,350	2,144	3.7	4.1	4.1	4.2	4.4	4.0
Midwest	980	1,111	1,200	1,200	1,268	1,191	3.4	3.6	3.9	3.9	4.1	3.8
West	1,046	1,290	1,240	1,223	1,347	1,201	3.4	3.9	3.7	3.6	4.0	3.5
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)
	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	2,206	3,306	3,383	3,568	3,992	3,604	1.7	2.3	2.4	2.5	2.8	2.5
INDUSTRY
Total private	2,012	3,140	3,184	3,387	3,810	3,438	1.8	2.6	2.6	2.8	3.1	2.8
Mining and logging	6	8	12	9	11	11	1.1	1.3	2.1	1.5	1.9	1.8
Construction	95	139	168	198	176	160	1.4	1.9	2.3	2.7	2.4	2.1
Manufacturing	141	251	258	262	286	255	1.2	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.3	2.1
Durable goods	76	142	140	150	155	130	1.1	1.9	1.8	2.0	2.0	1.7
Nondurable goods	64	109	118	113	132	125	1.4	2.4	2.5	2.4	2.8	2.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	496	755	753	787	947	859	2.0	2.8	2.8	2.9	3.5	3.2
Wholesale trade	57	71	82	89	111	94	1.0	1.3	1.4	1.6	2.0	1.6
Retail trade	314	539	542	543	629	606	2.3	3.5	3.6	3.6	4.1	4.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	125	145	129	155	206	160	2.2	2.3	2.1	2.5	3.3	2.6
Information	51	37	40	57	52	39	2.0	1.4	1.5	2.1	1.9	1.4
Financial activities	88	148	132	122	141	126	1.0	1.7	1.5	1.4	1.6	1.4
Finance and insurance	74	106	85	80	102	87	1.1	1.6	1.3	1.2	1.6	1.3
Real estate and rental and leasing	15	42	47	42	40	39	0.7	1.9	2.1	1.9	1.8	1.7
Professional and business services	422	580	604	613	763	582	2.2	2.8	2.9	2.9	3.7	2.8
Education and health services	323	469	458	507	551	509	1.5	2.0	2.0	2.2	2.4	2.2
Educational services	24	25	44	46	52	50	0.7	0.7	1.3	1.3	1.5	1.4
Health care and social assistance	299	443	413	460	499	459	1.6	2.2	2.1	2.3	2.5	2.3
Leisure and hospitality	354	641	625	703	752	764	3.5	4.9	4.6	5.1	5.3	5.3
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	24	64	51	52	57	58	2.0	3.8	3.0	2.9	3.0	2.9
Accommodation and food services	330	577	574	650	695	706	3.7	5.1	4.9	5.4	5.7	5.7
Other services	36	114	134	129	131	133	0.7	2.1	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.4
Government	194	166	199	181	182	165	0.9	0.8	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.8
Federal	20	26	19	16	18	22	0.7	0.9	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.8
State and local	175	140	181	164	165	144	0.9	0.7	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.8
State and local education	129	62	98	84	84	69	1.3	0.6	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.7
State and local, excluding education	46	78	83	80	81	75	0.5	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8
REGION(3)
Northeast	294	432	456	491	507	441	1.2	1.7	1.7	1.9	1.9	1.7
South	966	1,427	1,406	1,505	1,696	1,494	2.0	2.7	2.7	2.8	3.2	2.8
Midwest	463	727	749	780	873	803	1.6	2.4	2.4	2.5	2.8	2.6
West	482	719	772	792	916	865	1.5	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.7	2.6
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 5. Layoffs and discharges levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	2,096	1,724	1,723	1,525	1,450	1,368	1.6	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.0	0.9
INDUSTRY
Total private	1,911	1,634	1,636	1,433	1,365	1,299	1.7	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.1	1.1
Mining and logging	21	7	8	4	7	9	3.5	1.2	1.4	0.6	1.2	1.4
Construction	193	187	243	149	158	157	2.8	2.5	3.3	2.0	2.1	2.1
Manufacturing	149	90	86	119	112	110	1.3	0.7	0.7	1.0	0.9	0.9
Durable goods	91	48	45	65	65	65	1.3	0.6	0.6	0.8	0.9	0.9
Nondurable goods	58	42	41	54	47	45	1.3	0.9	0.9	1.2	1.0	1.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	444	414	319	279	278	280	1.8	1.5	1.2	1.0	1.0	1.0
Wholesale trade	108	61	46	41	45	46	2.0	1.1	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.8
Retail trade	206	164	182	148	148	150	1.5	1.1	1.2	1.0	1.0	1.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	130	189	91	90	85	85	2.3	3.0	1.5	1.4	1.4	1.4
Information	38	22	27	27	24	25	1.4	0.8	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.9
Financial activities	62	32	53	63	38	43	0.7	0.4	0.6	0.7	0.4	0.5
Finance and insurance	28	13	32	40	21	23	0.4	0.2	0.5	0.6	0.3	0.3
Real estate and rental and leasing	34	19	21	23	17	20	1.6	0.9	1.0	1.0	0.7	0.9
Professional and business services	433	372	398	357	292	276	2.3	1.8	1.9	1.7	1.4	1.3
Education and health services	256	160	173	130	142	128	1.2	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.5
Educational services	37	21	31	29	35	14	1.1	0.6	0.9	0.8	1.0	0.4
Health care and social assistance	219	139	142	102	107	114	1.2	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.6
Leisure and hospitality	231	267	248	244	235	208	2.3	2.0	1.8	1.8	1.7	1.4
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	73	70	72	61	48	56	5.9	4.1	4.2	3.4	2.5	2.8
Accommodation and food services	159	197	176	182	187	152	1.8	1.7	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.2
Other services	83	84	81	61	77	62	1.7	1.5	1.5	1.1	1.4	1.1
Government	185	89	86	92	86	69	0.9	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3
Federal	25	18	11	9	9	9	0.9	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3
State and local	161	71	75	83	77	61	0.9	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3
State and local education	91	24	36	42	39	24	0.9	0.2	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.2
State and local, excluding education	69	47	39	41	38	37	0.8	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.4
REGION(3)
Northeast	445	309	323	263	269	285	1.8	1.2	1.2	1.0	1.0	1.1
South	715	598	619	562	519	503	1.5	1.1	1.2	1.1	1.0	0.9
Midwest	459	328	382	349	321	324	1.6	1.1	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.0
West	477	488	399	351	341	257	1.5	1.5	1.2	1.0	1.0	0.8
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 6. Other separations levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted(1)

Industry and region	Levels (in thousands)						Rates(2)
	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	316	294	323	343	360	346	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	237	233	257	280	303	298	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Mining and logging	3	2	1	1	2	2	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.3
Construction	12	13	15	10	14	17	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2
Manufacturing	24	22	26	21	28	27	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Durable goods	14	15	15	15	21	16	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2
Nondurable goods	10	7	11	6	8	11	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	39	28	46	53	88	46	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2
Wholesale trade	12	4	11	11	12	6	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
Retail trade	11	15	23	35	55	25	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.4	0.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	16	10	13	7	20	14	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.2
Information	4	7	12	4	8	6	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.2	0.3	0.2
Financial activities	19	27	17	13	21	35	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4
Finance and insurance	12	16	15	13	16	29	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4
Real estate and rental and leasing	7	10	1	1	4	6	0.3	0.5	0.1	0.0	0.2	0.3
Professional and business services	57	51	60	89	71	76	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.4
Education and health services	48	52	40	41	28	47	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2
Educational services	6	2	5	5	6	3	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1
Health care and social assistance	42	50	35	36	22	44	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2
Leisure and hospitality	14	25	31	35	34	28	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	1	2	3	2	3	4	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2
Accommodation and food services	13	23	28	33	31	24	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2
Other services	16	6	10	13	10	15	0.3	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3
Government	79	61	66	63	57	48	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2
Federal	13	15	11	11	12	13	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
State and local	66	46	55	51	46	35	0.4	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2
State and local education	41	19	27	23	20	8	0.4	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1
State and local, excluding education	25	27	28	28	25	27	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
REGION(3)
Northeast	61	53	56	62	62	56	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
South	112	103	129	129	135	147	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3
Midwest	58	55	69	71	74	64	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
West	86	83	69	80	90	79	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	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) 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)
	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	5,414	9,965	9,478	3.9	6.5	6.1
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,788	8,995	8,530	4.1	6.8	6.5
Mining and logging	10	24	23	1.6	3.8	3.6
Construction	311	376	331	4.2	4.8	4.2
Manufacturing	323	870	854	2.7	6.6	6.5
Durable goods	184	492	479	2.5	6.1	5.9
Nondurable goods	139	378	375	3.0	7.6	7.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	991	1,707	1,645	3.8	6.0	5.7
Wholesale trade	135	301	286	2.4	5.1	4.8
Retail trade	615	970	964	4.3	6.1	6.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	242	436	394	4.1	6.6	6.0
Information	74	118	130	2.8	4.2	4.6
Financial activities	274	478	343	3.1	5.2	3.8
Finance and insurance	204	334	244	3.1	4.9	3.6
Real estate and rental and leasing	70	143	99	3.2	6.0	4.2
Professional and business services	885	1,680	1,506	4.4	7.5	6.8
Education and health services	924	1,702	1,660	4.0	6.7	6.6
Educational services	80	138	171	2.4	3.7	4.6
Health care and social assistance	844	1,564	1,489	4.3	7.3	6.9
Leisure and hospitality	792	1,646	1,557	7.1	10.5	9.6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	131	296	198	9.4	13.8	8.9
Accommodation and food services	661	1,351	1,359	6.8	10.0	9.8
Other services	203	394	481	4.1	6.6	7.9
Government	626	969	949	2.8	4.2	4.1
Federal	73	152	127	2.5	5.0	4.2
State and local	554	817	822	2.9	4.1	4.1
State and local education	200	299	370	2.0	2.8	3.5
State and local, excluding education	353	517	451	3.9	5.5	4.8
REGION(3)
Northeast	951	1,745	1,730	3.8	6.2	6.1
South	2,074	3,826	3,624	4.1	6.7	6.4
Midwest	1,171	2,201	2,061	3.9	6.6	6.1
West	1,217	2,192	2,063	3.8	6.1	5.7
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)
	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	8,855	6,489	6,629	6.6	4.5	4.6
INDUSTRY
Total private	8,576	6,206	6,293	7.7	5.1	5.1
Mining and logging	20	23	23	3.3	3.8	3.7
Construction	821	446	399	11.6	6.1	5.3
Manufacturing	671	406	456	5.8	3.3	3.7
Durable goods	394	219	249	5.5	2.9	3.3
Nondurable goods	278	187	207	6.3	4.0	4.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,620	1,181	1,343	6.5	4.4	5.0
Wholesale trade	230	185	176	4.2	3.3	3.1
Retail trade	1,078	796	900	7.9	5.3	6.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	312	201	267	5.4	3.3	4.3
Information	72	103	108	2.8	3.8	4.0
Financial activities	245	216	231	2.9	2.5	2.6
Finance and insurance	123	135	142	1.9	2.1	2.2
Real estate and rental and leasing	122	81	89	5.7	3.6	3.9
Professional and business services	1,025	1,161	1,005	5.3	5.6	4.8
Education and health services	1,155	753	765	5.2	3.2	3.2
Educational services	76	66	82	2.3	1.8	2.3
Health care and social assistance	1,079	687	682	5.7	3.4	3.4
Leisure and hospitality	2,233	1,628	1,677	21.7	11.6	11.5
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	263	303	310	20.8	16.3	15.3
Accommodation and food services	1,970	1,326	1,367	21.8	10.9	10.9
Other services	713	290	285	14.9	5.2	5.1
Government	279	283	336	1.3	1.3	1.5
Federal	59	41	39	2.0	1.4	1.3
State and local	220	242	297	1.2	1.3	1.6
State and local education	68	89	134	0.7	0.9	1.3
State and local, excluding education	153	153	163	1.7	1.7	1.8
REGION(3)
Northeast	1,486	1,099	987	6.1	4.2	3.7
South	3,003	2,481	2,646	6.1	4.7	5.0
Midwest	2,076	1,403	1,477	7.2	4.5	4.7
West	2,289	1,506	1,518	7.4	4.5	4.5
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)
	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	4,658	5,671	5,300	3.5	3.9	3.6
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,139	5,450	4,997	3.7	4.5	4.0
Mining and logging	29	21	21	4.8	3.4	3.4
Construction	280	323	310	4.0	4.4	4.1
Manufacturing	319	445	399	2.7	3.6	3.3
Durable goods	183	258	211	2.5	3.4	2.8
Nondurable goods	136	187	188	3.1	4.0	4.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	929	1,260	1,151	3.7	4.7	4.3
Wholesale trade	169	172	141	3.1	3.0	2.5
Retail trade	527	814	795	3.9	5.4	5.3
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	232	274	215	4.1	4.4	3.5
Information	95	90	72	3.7	3.3	2.6
Financial activities	166	215	200	1.9	2.5	2.3
Finance and insurance	106	151	132	1.6	2.3	2.0
Real estate and rental and leasing	60	64	68	2.8	2.9	3.0
Professional and business services	955	1,133	956	5.0	5.5	4.6
Education and health services	661	708	701	3.0	3.0	3.0
Educational services	103	70	82	3.1	1.9	2.3
Health care and social assistance	558	637	619	3.0	3.2	3.1
Leisure and hospitality	570	1,030	974	5.5	7.3	6.7
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	63	75	79	5.0	4.1	3.9
Accommodation and food services	507	955	895	5.6	7.8	7.1
Other services	136	224	214	2.8	4.0	3.8
Government	519	221	303	2.4	1.0	1.4
Federal	53	31	39	1.8	1.1	1.4
State and local	466	190	264	2.5	1.0	1.4
State and local education	336	74	140	3.4	0.7	1.4
State and local, excluding education	130	116	124	1.5	1.3	1.4
REGION(3)
Northeast	748	797	714	3.1	3.0	2.7
South	1,862	2,308	2,194	3.8	4.4	4.1
Midwest	993	1,176	1,192	3.4	3.8	3.8
West	1,055	1,390	1,199	3.4	4.1	3.5
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)
	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	2,330	4,068	3,764	1.7	2.8	2.6
INDUSTRY
Total private	2,096	3,929	3,590	1.9	3.2	2.9
Mining and logging	7	13	11	1.2	2.1	1.8
Construction	90	179	154	1.3	2.4	2.1
Manufacturing	151	307	264	1.3	2.5	2.2
Durable goods	82	174	133	1.1	2.3	1.7
Nondurable goods	69	132	131	1.5	2.9	2.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	515	967	906	2.1	3.6	3.4
Wholesale trade	57	122	95	1.0	2.2	1.7
Retail trade	346	636	657	2.5	4.2	4.3
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	112	209	154	2.0	3.4	2.5
Information	53	57	41	2.1	2.1	1.5
Financial activities	95	154	131	1.1	1.8	1.5
Finance and insurance	76	108	89	1.2	1.7	1.4
Real estate and rental and leasing	20	46	43	0.9	2.0	1.9
Professional and business services	437	770	596	2.3	3.7	2.9
Education and health services	329	555	519	1.5	2.4	2.2
Educational services	27	44	54	0.8	1.2	1.5
Health care and social assistance	302	511	465	1.6	2.6	2.3
Leisure and hospitality	374	790	819	3.6	5.6	5.6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	18	43	52	1.4	2.3	2.6
Accommodation and food services	356	746	767	3.9	6.1	6.1
Other services	45	139	149	0.9	2.5	2.7
Government	233	139	174	1.1	0.6	0.8
Federal	19	15	22	0.6	0.5	0.7
State and local	214	124	153	1.1	0.6	0.8
State and local education	158	46	71	1.6	0.4	0.7
State and local, excluding education	56	78	81	0.6	0.9	0.9
REGION(3)
Northeast	308	520	449	1.3	2.0	1.7
South	1,020	1,731	1,569	2.1	3.3	2.9
Midwest	504	858	853	1.7	2.7	2.7
West	498	959	893	1.6	2.8	2.6
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)
	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	2,032	1,251	1,195	1.5	0.9	0.8
INDUSTRY
Total private	1,832	1,211	1,120	1.6	1.0	0.9
Mining and logging	19	6	7	3.1	1.1	1.2
Construction	179	128	138	2.5	1.7	1.8
Manufacturing	145	109	108	1.2	0.9	0.9
Durable goods	87	62	62	1.2	0.8	0.8
Nondurable goods	58	47	45	1.3	1.0	1.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	376	206	198	1.5	0.8	0.7
Wholesale trade	103	38	42	1.9	0.7	0.7
Retail trade	168	124	108	1.2	0.8	0.7
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	104	44	47	1.8	0.7	0.8
Information	36	24	23	1.4	0.9	0.8
Financial activities	55	37	35	0.6	0.4	0.4
Finance and insurance	21	24	15	0.3	0.4	0.2
Real estate and rental and leasing	34	13	19	1.6	0.6	0.9
Professional and business services	470	297	290	2.4	1.4	1.4
Education and health services	288	124	137	1.3	0.5	0.6
Educational services	69	23	24	2.1	0.6	0.7
Health care and social assistance	219	102	113	1.2	0.5	0.6
Leisure and hospitality	182	205	129	1.8	1.5	0.9
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	44	29	23	3.5	1.6	1.1
Accommodation and food services	138	176	105	1.5	1.4	0.8
Other services	82	74	55	1.7	1.3	1.0
Government	200	40	75	0.9	0.2	0.3
Federal	22	6	5	0.8	0.2	0.2
State and local	178	34	69	1.0	0.2	0.4
State and local education	127	18	52	1.3	0.2	0.5
State and local, excluding education	51	17	18	0.6	0.2	0.2
REGION(3)
Northeast	384	213	212	1.6	0.8	0.8
South	736	457	474	1.5	0.9	0.9
Midwest	429	252	271	1.5	0.8	0.9
West	482	330	238	1.5	1.0	0.7
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)
	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)	May 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021(p)
Total	297	351	341	0.2	0.2	0.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	211	310	288	0.2	0.3	0.2
Mining and logging	3	1	2	0.5	0.2	0.4
Construction	11	16	17	0.2	0.2	0.2
Manufacturing	24	29	28	0.2	0.2	0.2
Durable goods	14	22	16	0.2	0.3	0.2
Nondurable goods	10	8	12	0.2	0.2	0.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	38	88	48	0.2	0.3	0.2
Wholesale trade	9	13	4	0.2	0.2	0.1
Retail trade	13	54	30	0.1	0.4	0.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	16	21	14	0.3	0.3	0.2
Information	6	10	8	0.2	0.4	0.3
Financial activities	15	25	34	0.2	0.3	0.4
Finance and insurance	9	19	28	0.1	0.3	0.4
Real estate and rental and leasing	6	6	6	0.3	0.3	0.3
Professional and business services	48	66	70	0.3	0.3	0.3
Education and health services	44	29	45	0.2	0.1	0.2
Educational services	7	4	4	0.2	0.1	0.1
Health care and social assistance	37	25	41	0.2	0.1	0.2
Leisure and hospitality	14	36	26	0.1	0.3	0.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	1	3	4	0.1	0.2	0.2
Accommodation and food services	12	33	22	0.1	0.3	0.2
Other services	9	11	9	0.2	0.2	0.2
Government	86	41	54	0.4	0.2	0.2
Federal	13	9	12	0.4	0.3	0.4
State and local	74	32	42	0.4	0.2	0.2
State and local education	52	11	17	0.5	0.1	0.2
State and local, excluding education	22	21	25	0.3	0.2	0.3
REGION(3)
Northeast	56	64	53	0.2	0.2	0.2
South	106	120	152	0.2	0.2	0.3
Midwest	61	66	68	0.2	0.2	0.2
West	76	100	69	0.2	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) 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.