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Job openings, hires, and separations in December 2012

February 13, 2013

There were 3.6 million job openings on the last business day of December, little changed from November. The level of total nonfarm job openings was 2.4 million at the end of the recession in June 2009.

Job openings level and rate, total nonfarm, seasonally adjusted, January 2009-December 2012
Job openings level and rate, total nonfarm, seasonally adjusted, January 2009–December 2012
MonthJob openings
LevelRate

Jan 2009

2,842,0002.1

Feb 2009

2,794,0002.1

Mar 2009

2,590,0001.9

Apr 2009

2,315,0001.7

May 2009

2,409,0001.8

Jun 2009

2,391,0001.8

Jul 2009

2,186,0001.7

Aug 2009

2,268,0001.7

Sep 2009

2,487,0001.9

Oct 2009

2,400,0001.8

Nov 2009

2,392,0001.8

Dec 2009

2,432,0001.8

Jan 2010

2,728,0002.1

Feb 2010

2,571,0002.0

Mar 2010

2,669,0002.0

Apr 2010

3,167,0002.4

May 2010

2,843,0002.1

Jun 2010

2,666,0002.0

Jul 2010

2,919,0002.2

Aug 2010

2,924,0002.2

Sep 2010

2,772,0002.1

Oct 2010

3,030,0002.3

Nov 2010

3,057,0002.3

Dec 2010

2,902,0002.2

Jan 2011

2,860,0002.1

Feb 2011

3,012,0002.3

Mar 2011

3,189,0002.4

Apr 2011

3,014,0002.2

May 2011

3,077,0002.3

Jun 2011

3,241,0002.4

Jul 2011

3,366,0002.5

Aug 2011

3,152,0002.3

Sep 2011

3,501,0002.6

Oct 2011

3,408,0002.5

Nov 2011

3,274,0002.4

Dec 2011

3,540,0002.6

Jan 2012

3,477,0002.6

Feb 2012

3,565,0002.6

Mar 2012

3,741,0002.7

Apr 2012

3,447,0002.5

May 2012

3,657,0002.7

Jun 2012

3,722,0002.7

Jul 2012

3,593,0002.6

Aug 2012

3,661,0002.7

Sep 2012

3,547,0002.6

Oct 2012

3,665,0002.7

Nov 2012

3,790,0002.8

Dec 2012 (p)

3,617,0002.6

Footnotes:
(p) = preliminary
 

In December, the hires rate was little changed at 3.1 percent. The hires rate decreased in construction and in professional and business services. The number of hires was 4.2 million, up from 3.7 million at the end of the recession in June 2009.

Total separations include quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. In December, the quits rate was unchanged at 1.6 percent. The quits rate was unchanged for total private and little changed for government. The number of quits was 2.2 million in December, compared with 1.8 million at the end of the recession in June 2009.

The layoffs and discharges rate was little changed in December at 1.2 percent. The number of layoffs and discharges for total nonfarm was 1.6 million in December, down from 2.1 million in June 2009.

There were 345,000 other separations for total nonfarm in December, unchanged from the previous month.

These data are from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Data for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see “Job Openings and Labor Turnover — December 2012” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-13-0234.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Job openings, hires, and separations in December 2012 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130213.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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