For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, February 7, 2017	USDL-17-0179

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 2016

The number of job openings was little changed at 5.5 million on the last business day of December, the 
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and separations were also little 
changed at 5.3 million and 5.0 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits rate was little changed 
at 2.0 percent and the layoffs and discharges rate was unchanged at 1.1 percent. This release includes 
estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by 
industry and by four geographic regions.

Job Openings

On the last business day of December, there were 5.5 million job openings, little changed from 
November. The job openings rate was 3.6 percent in December. The number of job openings was little 
changed for total private and decreased for government (-75,000). Job openings increased in other 
services (+50,000) and federal government (+13,000) but decreased in state and local government, 
excluding education (-85,000). The number of job openings was little changed in all four regions. (See 
table 1.)

Hires	

The number of hires was essentially unchanged at 5.3 million in December. The hires rate was 3.6 
percent. The number of hires was little changed for total private and decreased for government 
(-38,000). Hires decreased in state and local government, excluding education (-33,000), and in mining 
and logging (-7,000). The number of hires was little changed in all four regions. (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.

There were 5.0 million total separations in December, little changed from November. The total 
separations rate in December was 3.4 percent. The number of total separations was little changed for 
total private and decreased for government (-37,000). Total separations decreased in state and local 
government education (-28,000). The number of total separations was little changed in all four regions. 
(See table 3.)

The number of quits was little changed in December at 3.0 million. The quits rate was 2.0 percent. Over 
the month, the number of quits was little changed for total private and for government. Quits decreased 
in state and local government education (-14,000). The number of quits was little changed in all four 
regions. (See table 4.)

There were 1.6 million layoffs and discharges in December, essentially unchanged from November. 
The layoffs and discharges rate was 1.1 percent in December. The number of layoffs and discharges was 
little changed for total private and decreased for government (-27,000). The layoffs and discharges level 
increased in construction (+75,000) but decreased in health care and social assistance (-46,000), state 
and local government, excluding education (-15,000), and state and local government education 
(-12,000). Layoffs and discharges were little changed in all four regions. (See table 5.)

In December, the number of other separations was little changed for total nonfarm, total private, and 
government as well as in all industries and 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 62.5 million 
and separations totaled 60.1 million, yielding a net employment gain of 2.4 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 results for January 2017 are scheduled to be 
released on Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

  ______________________________________________________________________________________________
 |                                                                                             |
 |                            Revisions to the JOLTS Data                                      |
 |                                                                                             |
 | With the release of January 2017 data on March 16, 2017, BLS will revise the job openings,  |
 | hires, and separations data to 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 2012 forward are subject to revision.             |
 |_____________________________________________________________________________________________|

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

Category	Job openings			Hires			Total separations
	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
LEVELS BY INDUSTRY (in thousands)
Total	5,281	5,505	5,501	5,401	5,212	5,252	5,128	5,018	4,968
Total private	4,786	4,946	5,017	5,042	4,854	4,931	4,774	4,672	4,659
Mining and logging(1)	14	16	19	33	30	23	45	28	29
Construction(1)	124	174	148	322	332	388	283	318	363
Manufacturing	317	314	325	274	283	283	263	286	274
Durable goods(1)	174	181	183	163	166	163	162	165	153
Nondurable goods(1)	143	133	141	112	117	119	101	121	121
Trade, transportation, and utilities	822	1,016	1,034	1,087	1,015	1,010	1,074	1,021	973
Wholesale trade(1)	137	199	184	128	132	133	133	133	139
Retail trade	538	640	661	760	672	673	762	685	653
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(1)	147	177	188	199	211	204	178	203	180
Information(1)	101	69	89	72	73	78	61	75	83
Financial activities	390	326	357	217	174	175	203	159	158
Finance and insurance	319	260	275	142	112	117	142	117	108
Real estate and rental and leasing(1)	71	66	82	75	62	58	62	42	50
Professional and business services	1,034	935	911	1,175	1,034	1,112	1,095	1,005	1,065
Education and health services	1,075	1,148	1,193	641	655	649	578	609	589
Educational services(1)	93	83	93	84	82	81	74	69	75
Health care and social assistance	982	1,065	1,100	557	573	569	504	540	514
Leisure and hospitality	710	758	703	1,024	1,048	1,028	1,003	997	954
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	62	102	99	151	156	185	141	144	163
Accommodation and food services	648	656	604	873	891	842	862	853	792
Other services(1)	199	190	240	198	209	185	168	173	171
Government	495	558	483	359	359	321	354	346	309
Federal(1)	80	82	95	45	41	42	40	41	41
State and local	415	477	388	314	318	279	314	306	268
State and local education	171	151	147	165	144	138	161	148	120
State and local, excluding education(1)	245	326	241	149	174	141	153	158	148
RATES BY INDUSTRY (percent)
Total	3.6	3.7	3.6	3.8	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.5	3.4
Total private	3.8	3.9	3.9	4.2	3.9	4.0	3.9	3.8	3.8
Mining and logging(1)	1.8	2.3	2.8	4.3	4.5	3.4	5.9	4.1	4.3
Construction(1)	1.8	2.5	2.2	4.9	4.9	5.8	4.3	4.7	5.4
Manufacturing	2.5	2.5	2.6	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.1	2.3	2.2
Durable goods(1)	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.1	2.2	2.1	2.1	2.2	2.0
Nondurable goods(1)	3.0	2.8	3.0	2.4	2.6	2.6	2.2	2.6	2.6
Trade, transportation, and utilities	2.9	3.6	3.6	4.0	3.7	3.7	4.0	3.7	3.5
Wholesale trade(1)	2.3	3.2	3.0	2.2	2.2	2.2	2.3	2.2	2.3
Retail trade	3.3	3.8	4.0	4.8	4.2	4.2	4.8	4.3	4.1
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(1)	2.6	3.1	3.3	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.3	3.7	3.3
Information(1)	3.5	2.4	3.1	2.6	2.6	2.8	2.2	2.7	3.0
Financial activities	4.5	3.8	4.1	2.6	2.1	2.1	2.5	1.9	1.9
Finance and insurance	5.0	4.0	4.3	2.3	1.8	1.9	2.3	1.9	1.7
Real estate and rental and leasing(1)	3.3	3.0	3.7	3.6	2.9	2.7	2.9	2.0	2.3
Professional and business services	4.9	4.4	4.3	5.9	5.0	5.4	5.5	4.9	5.2
Education and health services	4.6	4.8	4.9	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.6	2.7	2.6
Educational services(1)	2.6	2.3	2.5	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.1	1.9	2.1
Health care and social assistance	4.9	5.2	5.4	2.9	3.0	2.9	2.7	2.8	2.6
Leisure and hospitality	4.4	4.6	4.3	6.7	6.7	6.6	6.5	6.4	6.1
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	2.7	4.3	4.3	6.9	7.0	8.3	6.5	6.4	7.3
Accommodation and food services	4.7	4.7	4.3	6.6	6.7	6.3	6.6	6.4	5.9
Other services(1)	3.4	3.2	4.0	3.5	3.7	3.2	3.0	3.0	3.0
Government	2.2	2.5	2.1	1.6	1.6	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.4
Federal(1)	2.8	2.8	3.3	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.4	1.5	1.5
State and local	2.1	2.4	2.0	1.6	1.6	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.4
State and local education	1.6	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.4	1.3	1.6	1.4	1.2
State and local, excluding education(1)	2.6	3.5	2.6	1.6	1.9	1.5	1.7	1.7	1.6
Footnotes (1) No regular seasonal movements could be identified in this series; therefore, identical numbers appear for the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted series. (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 2012 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. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	5,281	5,453	5,631	5,451	5,505	5,501	3.6	3.6	3.7	3.6	3.7	3.6
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,786	4,941	5,112	4,951	4,946	5,017	3.8	3.9	4.0	3.9	3.9	3.9
Mining and logging(3)	14	11	20	14	16	19	1.8	1.6	2.8	2.0	2.3	2.8
Construction(3)	124	192	221	193	174	148	1.8	2.8	3.2	2.8	2.5	2.2
Manufacturing	317	326	328	320	314	325	2.5	2.6	2.6	2.5	2.5	2.6
Durable goods(3)	174	185	206	197	181	183	2.2	2.4	2.6	2.5	2.3	2.3
Nondurable goods(3)	143	141	122	123	133	141	3.0	3.0	2.6	2.6	2.8	3.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	822	997	1,020	1,024	1,016	1,034	2.9	3.5	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6
Wholesale trade(3)	137	160	169	181	199	184	2.3	2.6	2.8	3.0	3.2	3.0
Retail trade	538	628	663	653	640	661	3.3	3.8	4.0	3.9	3.8	4.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(3)	147	208	188	190	177	188	2.6	3.7	3.3	3.4	3.1	3.3
Information(3)	101	83	97	76	69	89	3.5	2.9	3.4	2.7	2.4	3.1
Financial activities	390	332	355	331	326	357	4.5	3.8	4.1	3.8	3.8	4.1
Finance and insurance	319	253	265	257	260	275	5.0	3.9	4.1	4.0	4.0	4.3
Real estate and rental and leasing(3)	71	79	89	74	66	82	3.3	3.5	4.0	3.3	3.0	3.7
Professional and business services	1,034	1,022	1,113	980	935	911	4.9	4.8	5.2	4.6	4.4	4.3
Education and health services	1,075	1,041	1,072	1,159	1,148	1,193	4.6	4.4	4.5	4.8	4.8	4.9
Educational services(3)	93	95	102	90	83	93	2.6	2.6	2.8	2.5	2.3	2.5
Health care and social assistance	982	946	970	1,069	1,065	1,100	4.9	4.7	4.8	5.3	5.2	5.4
Leisure and hospitality	710	749	710	670	758	703	4.4	4.6	4.4	4.1	4.6	4.3
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	62	74	67	82	102	99	2.7	3.2	2.9	3.5	4.3	4.3
Accommodation and food services	648	675	642	589	656	604	4.7	4.8	4.6	4.2	4.7	4.3
Other services(3)	199	189	177	182	190	240	3.4	3.2	3.0	3.1	3.2	4.0
Government	495	511	519	501	558	483	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.2	2.5	2.1
Federal(3)	80	88	101	82	82	95	2.8	3.0	3.5	2.8	2.8	3.3
State and local	415	424	419	419	477	388	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.4	2.0
State and local education	171	147	130	131	151	147	1.6	1.4	1.2	1.3	1.4	1.4
State and local, excluding education(3)	245	276	289	288	326	241	2.6	3.0	3.1	3.1	3.5	2.6
REGION(4)
Northeast	887	944	1,034	980	960	1,001	3.2	3.4	3.7	3.5	3.4	3.6
South	1,981	1,961	2,028	1,984	2,030	1,924	3.7	3.6	3.7	3.6	3.7	3.5
Midwest	1,100	1,223	1,270	1,247	1,221	1,232	3.3	3.6	3.8	3.7	3.6	3.7
West	1,313	1,324	1,299	1,240	1,294	1,343	3.9	3.9	3.8	3.6	3.8	3.9
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. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	5,401	5,268	5,121	5,160	5,212	5,252	3.8	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.6	3.6
INDUSTRY
Total private	5,042	4,888	4,757	4,804	4,854	4,931	4.2	4.0	3.9	3.9	3.9	4.0
Mining and logging	33	31	28	32	30	23	4.3	4.6	4.2	4.7	4.5	3.4
Construction	322	337	314	331	332	388	4.9	5.1	4.7	4.9	4.9	5.8
Manufacturing	274	274	279	274	283	283	2.2	2.2	2.3	2.2	2.3	2.3
Durable goods	163	152	163	159	166	163	2.1	2.0	2.1	2.1	2.2	2.1
Nondurable goods	112	122	116	114	117	119	2.4	2.6	2.5	2.5	2.6	2.6
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,087	1,091	1,097	1,083	1,015	1,010	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	3.7	3.7
Wholesale trade	128	160	136	132	132	133	2.2	2.7	2.3	2.2	2.2	2.2
Retail trade	760	752	769	739	672	673	4.8	4.7	4.8	4.6	4.2	4.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	199	179	193	212	211	204	3.7	3.3	3.5	3.9	3.8	3.7
Information	72	71	80	71	73	78	2.6	2.6	2.9	2.5	2.6	2.8
Financial activities	217	192	170	170	174	175	2.6	2.3	2.0	2.0	2.1	2.1
Finance and insurance	142	133	110	106	112	117	2.3	2.2	1.8	1.7	1.8	1.9
Real estate and rental and leasing	75	59	60	63	62	58	3.6	2.8	2.8	2.9	2.9	2.7
Professional and business services	1,175	1,072	1,080	1,043	1,034	1,112	5.9	5.3	5.3	5.1	5.0	5.4
Education and health services	641	634	616	646	655	649	2.9	2.8	2.7	2.8	2.9	2.8
Educational services	84	92	87	75	82	81	2.4	2.6	2.4	2.1	2.3	2.3
Health care and social assistance	557	543	528	571	573	569	2.9	2.8	2.7	3.0	3.0	2.9
Leisure and hospitality	1,024	1,005	909	972	1,048	1,028	6.7	6.5	5.8	6.2	6.7	6.6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	151	174	119	148	156	185	6.9	7.7	5.3	6.6	7.0	8.3
Accommodation and food services	873	831	790	824	891	842	6.6	6.2	5.9	6.2	6.7	6.3
Other services	198	180	185	183	209	185	3.5	3.2	3.2	3.2	3.7	3.2
Government	359	380	365	356	359	321	1.6	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.4
Federal	45	40	40	42	41	42	1.6	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.5	1.5
State and local	314	339	325	314	318	279	1.6	1.7	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.4
State and local education	165	160	159	134	144	138	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.3	1.4	1.3
State and local, excluding education	149	180	165	180	174	141	1.6	2.0	1.8	2.0	1.9	1.5
REGION(3)
Northeast	827	895	802	864	822	842	3.1	3.3	3.0	3.2	3.1	3.1
South	2,109	2,002	2,000	2,061	1,991	2,058	4.0	3.8	3.8	3.9	3.8	3.9
Midwest	1,249	1,182	1,141	1,131	1,196	1,161	3.9	3.7	3.5	3.5	3.7	3.6
West	1,216	1,189	1,178	1,104	1,204	1,191	3.7	3.6	3.6	3.4	3.6	3.6
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. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	5,128	5,052	4,936	4,966	5,018	4,968	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.4	3.5	3.4
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,774	4,696	4,578	4,631	4,672	4,659	3.9	3.8	3.7	3.8	3.8	3.8
Mining and logging	45	31	26	33	28	29	5.9	4.6	3.9	4.9	4.1	4.3
Construction	283	327	296	311	318	363	4.3	4.9	4.4	4.6	4.7	5.4
Manufacturing	263	268	278	269	286	274	2.1	2.2	2.3	2.2	2.3	2.2
Durable goods	162	157	166	157	165	153	2.1	2.1	2.2	2.0	2.2	2.0
Nondurable goods	101	111	112	113	121	121	2.2	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.6	2.6
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,074	1,009	1,039	1,046	1,021	973	4.0	3.7	3.8	3.8	3.7	3.5
Wholesale trade	133	147	117	121	133	139	2.3	2.5	2.0	2.0	2.2	2.3
Retail trade	762	707	722	736	685	653	4.8	4.4	4.5	4.6	4.3	4.1
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	178	156	199	189	203	180	3.3	2.8	3.6	3.4	3.7	3.3
Information	61	72	89	72	75	83	2.2	2.6	3.2	2.6	2.7	3.0
Financial activities	203	186	163	156	159	158	2.5	2.2	2.0	1.9	1.9	1.9
Finance and insurance	142	123	107	98	117	108	2.3	2.0	1.7	1.6	1.9	1.7
Real estate and rental and leasing	62	63	56	59	42	50	2.9	2.9	2.6	2.7	2.0	2.3
Professional and business services	1,095	1,008	1,009	1,016	1,005	1,065	5.5	5.0	5.0	5.0	4.9	5.2
Education and health services	578	595	560	591	609	589	2.6	2.6	2.5	2.6	2.7	2.6
Educational services	74	85	69	68	69	75	2.1	2.4	1.9	1.9	1.9	2.1
Health care and social assistance	504	510	491	523	540	514	2.7	2.7	2.5	2.7	2.8	2.6
Leisure and hospitality	1,003	988	928	965	997	954	6.5	6.4	6.0	6.2	6.4	6.1
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	141	193	147	149	144	163	6.5	8.6	6.6	6.7	6.4	7.3
Accommodation and food services	862	795	781	815	853	792	6.6	6.0	5.9	6.1	6.4	5.9
Other services	168	211	191	173	173	171	3.0	3.7	3.3	3.0	3.0	3.0
Government	354	357	357	334	346	309	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.6	1.4
Federal	40	37	37	33	41	41	1.4	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.5	1.5
State and local	314	320	320	302	306	268	1.6	1.6	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.4
State and local education	161	162	152	137	148	120	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.4	1.2
State and local, excluding education	153	157	169	165	158	148	1.7	1.7	1.9	1.8	1.7	1.6
REGION(3)
Northeast	855	876	799	791	848	827	3.2	3.3	3.0	2.9	3.2	3.1
South	2,011	1,960	1,922	1,927	1,954	1,890	3.9	3.7	3.6	3.7	3.7	3.6
Midwest	1,105	1,052	1,037	1,119	1,079	1,088	3.5	3.3	3.2	3.5	3.3	3.3
West	1,156	1,164	1,178	1,128	1,137	1,163	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.4	3.4	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)
	Dec. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	3,088	3,009	3,052	3,023	3,077	2,979	2.2	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.0
INDUSTRY
Total private	2,922	2,847	2,867	2,861	2,914	2,825	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.4	2.3
Mining and logging	16	13	13	13	14	15	2.1	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.0	2.2
Construction	137	137	124	128	151	121	2.1	2.1	1.9	1.9	2.2	1.8
Manufacturing	133	140	150	155	163	160	1.1	1.1	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.3
Durable goods	80	76	85	86	93	84	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.2	1.1
Nondurable goods	54	64	64	69	69	76	1.2	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.5	1.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	719	651	654	675	661	640	2.7	2.4	2.4	2.5	2.4	2.3
Wholesale trade	81	90	71	72	91	96	1.4	1.5	1.2	1.2	1.5	1.6
Retail trade	518	475	462	492	457	446	3.3	3.0	2.9	3.1	2.9	2.8
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	120	85	121	111	113	99	2.2	1.6	2.2	2.0	2.0	1.8
Information	35	38	57	40	37	43	1.3	1.4	2.1	1.4	1.3	1.6
Financial activities	122	105	86	91	83	77	1.5	1.3	1.0	1.1	1.0	0.9
Finance and insurance	87	68	57	64	64	59	1.4	1.1	0.9	1.0	1.0	0.9
Real estate and rental and leasing(3)	36	37	29	27	19	18	1.7	1.7	1.3	1.2	0.9	0.8
Professional and business services	614	598	597	588	620	612	3.1	2.9	2.9	2.9	3.0	3.0
Education and health services	385	375	411	396	394	407	1.7	1.6	1.8	1.7	1.7	1.8
Educational services	49	51	45	38	43	40	1.4	1.5	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.1
Health care and social assistance	336	324	366	358	351	367	1.8	1.7	1.9	1.9	1.8	1.9
Leisure and hospitality	671	639	671	668	709	669	4.4	4.1	4.3	4.3	4.5	4.3
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	60	63	73	69	75	74	2.7	2.8	3.3	3.1	3.3	3.3
Accommodation and food services	611	576	599	600	634	595	4.6	4.3	4.5	4.5	4.7	4.4
Other services(3)	89	150	103	108	84	81	1.6	2.6	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.4
Government	166	162	185	163	163	153	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7
Federal	13	13	13	12	16	14	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.6	0.5
State and local	153	149	172	151	148	140	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.7
State and local education	75	76	78	73	76	62	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.6
State and local, excluding education	78	73	93	77	72	78	0.9	0.8	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.9
REGION(4)
Northeast	445	433	419	428	477	442	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.8	1.6
South	1,286	1,214	1,242	1,210	1,246	1,194	2.5	2.3	2.4	2.3	2.4	2.3
Midwest	656	625	648	678	667	639	2.0	1.9	2.0	2.1	2.1	2.0
West	701	737	743	707	687	703	2.2	2.2	2.3	2.1	2.1	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) 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. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	1,672	1,692	1,513	1,569	1,619	1,635	1.2	1.2	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.1
INDUSTRY
Total private	1,549	1,557	1,402	1,460	1,496	1,539	1.3	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.3
Mining and logging(3)	26	13	8	13	10	8	3.4	1.9	1.2	1.9	1.5	1.2
Construction	138	171	153	169	148	223	2.1	2.6	2.3	2.5	2.2	3.3
Manufacturing	104	110	100	92	101	94	0.8	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8
Durable goods	65	70	60	56	56	55	0.8	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7
Nondurable goods	39	40	40	37	45	40	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8	1.0	0.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	266	276	294	269	291	249	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.0	1.1	0.9
Wholesale trade(3)	39	48	33	35	31	30	0.7	0.8	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5
Retail trade	177	175	205	171	188	151	1.1	1.1	1.3	1.1	1.2	0.9
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	50	54	57	63	72	68	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.3	1.2
Information	19	24	21	20	28	27	0.7	0.9	0.8	0.7	1.0	1.0
Financial activities	62	51	52	50	55	60	0.8	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7
Finance and insurance	38	32	29	22	33	30	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.5
Real estate and rental and leasing	24	18	23	29	23	30	1.1	0.9	1.1	1.3	1.1	1.4
Professional and business services	414	358	352	368	342	391	2.1	1.8	1.7	1.8	1.7	1.9
Education and health services	149	179	108	160	185	145	0.7	0.8	0.5	0.7	0.8	0.6
Educational services	22	26	19	27	24	31	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.8	0.7	0.9
Health care and social assistance	127	153	89	133	160	114	0.7	0.8	0.5	0.7	0.8	0.6
Leisure and hospitality	298	317	231	264	254	258	1.9	2.0	1.5	1.7	1.6	1.6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	80	125	71	78	68	87	3.6	5.5	3.2	3.5	3.0	3.9
Accommodation and food services	219	192	161	186	187	171	1.7	1.4	1.2	1.4	1.4	1.3
Other services	72	58	82	54	81	84	1.3	1.0	1.4	0.9	1.4	1.5
Government	123	134	111	109	123	96	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.4
Federal	10	13	12	11	14	15	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5
State and local	113	122	100	99	108	81	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.4
State and local education	61	64	49	39	49	37	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.4
State and local, excluding education	52	58	50	60	59	44	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.5
REGION(4)
Northeast	324	372	308	299	307	323	1.2	1.4	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.2
South	601	601	537	575	579	552	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.0
Midwest	374	356	315	351	352	378	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.2
West	372	362	353	344	381	381	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.0	1.2	1.2
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. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Aug. 2016	Sept. 2016	Oct. 2016	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	368	351	370	373	322	355	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	303	291	310	311	261	296	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2
Mining and logging	3	5	6	7	4	6	0.3	0.7	0.8	1.0	0.6	0.8
Construction(3)	8	19	18	14	19	20	0.1	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3
Manufacturing	26	18	28	22	23	20	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Durable goods	17	11	21	15	16	15	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
Nondurable goods(3)	8	7	7	7	7	5	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	89	82	90	103	69	83	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3
Wholesale trade	14	9	13	13	11	13	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Retail trade	68	57	55	74	40	56	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.4
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities(3)	8	16	22	15	18	14	0.1	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.2
Information(3)	7	10	11	12	9	12	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.4
Financial activities	19	31	25	15	21	21	0.2	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3
Finance and insurance	17	23	21	12	20	19	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3
Real estate and rental and leasing(3)	2	7	4	3	1	2	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.1
Professional and business services	66	52	60	60	44	63	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3
Education and health services	44	40	40	35	30	36	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2
Educational services(3)	4	7	5	3	1	4	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.1
Health care and social assistance(3)	40	33	35	32	29	32	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2
Leisure and hospitality	34	32	26	32	34	28	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation(3)	2	5	4	2	2	3	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
Accommodation and food services(3)	32	27	22	30	32	25	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Other services(3)	7	3	5	11	7	6	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Government	65	60	61	62	61	59	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Federal	17	11	12	10	11	12	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
State and local	48	49	49	52	50	47	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2
State and local education	25	22	24	24	24	22	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
State and local, excluding education	23	27	25	28	26	26	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
REGION(4)
Northeast	86	71	72	64	63	62	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
South	125	145	143	143	128	144	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3
Midwest	75	70	74	90	61	71	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2
West	82	65	81	77	69	78	0.3	0.2	0.2	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) 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. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	4,844	5,233	5,040	3.3	3.5	3.3
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,368	4,686	4,573	3.5	3.6	3.6
Mining and logging	14	16	19	1.8	2.3	2.7
Construction	124	174	148	1.9	2.5	2.2
Manufacturing	317	314	325	2.5	2.5	2.6
Durable goods	174	181	183	2.2	2.3	2.3
Nondurable goods	143	133	141	3.0	2.8	3.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	717	957	933	2.5	3.3	3.2
Wholesale trade	137	199	184	2.3	3.2	3.0
Retail trade	433	581	560	2.6	3.4	3.3
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	147	177	188	2.5	3.1	3.2
Information	101	69	89	3.5	2.4	3.1
Financial activities	350	303	337	4.1	3.5	3.9
Finance and insurance	279	238	256	4.4	3.7	4.0
Real estate and rental and leasing	71	66	82	3.3	3.0	3.7
Professional and business services	959	882	809	4.6	4.1	3.8
Education and health services	1,015	1,107	1,149	4.3	4.6	4.7
Educational services	93	83	93	2.5	2.2	2.5
Health care and social assistance	923	1,024	1,056	4.6	5.0	5.2
Leisure and hospitality	571	672	525	3.7	4.2	3.3
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	43	84	69	2.1	3.9	3.3
Accommodation and food services	529	588	456	3.9	4.2	3.3
Other services	199	190	240	3.4	3.2	4.0
Government	475	547	467	2.1	2.4	2.0
Federal	80	82	95	2.8	2.8	3.3
State and local	396	466	372	2.0	2.3	1.9
State and local education	151	139	131	1.4	1.3	1.2
State and local, excluding education	245	326	241	2.7	3.5	2.6
REGION(3)
Northeast	811	914	928	2.9	3.3	3.3
South	1,854	1,897	1,790	3.4	3.4	3.3
Midwest	1,016	1,201	1,142	3.1	3.5	3.4
West	1,161	1,221	1,181	3.4	3.5	3.4
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. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	3,919	4,823	3,809	2.7	3.3	2.6
INDUSTRY
Total private	3,697	4,544	3,614	3.0	3.7	2.9
Mining and logging	22	27	16	2.8	3.9	2.3
Construction	183	254	224	2.8	3.7	3.4
Manufacturing	183	233	189	1.5	1.9	1.5
Durable goods	109	138	109	1.4	1.8	1.4
Nondurable goods	74	95	79	1.6	2.1	1.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	874	1,316	812	3.1	4.7	2.9
Wholesale trade	94	97	95	1.6	1.6	1.6
Retail trade	577	909	499	3.5	5.5	3.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	203	309	218	3.6	5.5	3.8
Information	57	69	63	2.0	2.5	2.3
Financial activities	160	153	131	2.0	1.8	1.6
Finance and insurance	106	99	89	1.7	1.6	1.4
Real estate and rental and leasing	54	54	42	2.6	2.5	1.9
Professional and business services	894	928	860	4.5	4.5	4.2
Education and health services	469	527	471	2.1	2.3	2.0
Educational services	42	48	38	1.2	1.3	1.0
Health care and social assistance	427	479	433	2.3	2.5	2.2
Leisure and hospitality	722	869	731	4.8	5.7	4.8
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	103	106	128	5.1	5.1	6.2
Accommodation and food services	619	763	604	4.8	5.8	4.6
Other services	133	167	118	2.4	2.9	2.1
Government	222	280	195	1.0	1.2	0.9
Federal	37	53	36	1.3	1.9	1.3
State and local	184	227	159	0.9	1.1	0.8
State and local education	86	92	68	0.8	0.9	0.6
State and local, excluding education	99	135	91	1.1	1.5	1.0
REGION(3)
Northeast	609	755	616	2.3	2.8	2.3
South	1,524	1,825	1,503	2.9	3.4	2.8
Midwest	900	1,113	832	2.8	3.4	2.5
West	886	1,130	858	2.7	3.4	2.6
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. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	4,822	4,367	4,698	3.3	3.0	3.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	4,511	4,125	4,428	3.7	3.3	3.6
Mining and logging	41	25	27	5.4	3.6	3.9
Construction	304	311	428	4.7	4.6	6.5
Manufacturing	234	248	237	1.9	2.0	1.9
Durable goods	141	139	127	1.8	1.8	1.7
Nondurable goods	93	109	110	2.0	2.4	2.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1,102	889	980	4.0	3.2	3.5
Wholesale trade	109	109	114	1.9	1.8	1.9
Retail trade	780	593	660	4.8	3.6	4.0
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	212	187	206	3.8	3.3	3.6
Information	53	69	76	1.9	2.5	2.7
Financial activities	189	139	152	2.3	1.7	1.8
Finance and insurance	131	96	104	2.2	1.6	1.7
Real estate and rental and leasing	58	43	48	2.8	2.0	2.2
Professional and business services	1,064	881	1,043	5.3	4.3	5.1
Education and health services	504	480	506	2.2	2.1	2.2
Educational services	55	37	55	1.5	1.0	1.5
Health care and social assistance	448	443	451	2.4	2.3	2.3
Leisure and hospitality	867	915	819	5.8	6.0	5.4
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	109	146	129	5.4	7.0	6.3
Accommodation and food services	758	768	690	5.8	5.8	5.2
Other services	154	167	160	2.7	2.9	2.8
Government	311	242	270	1.4	1.1	1.2
Federal	37	37	38	1.3	1.3	1.3
State and local	275	206	232	1.4	1.0	1.2
State and local education	134	70	96	1.3	0.6	0.9
State and local, excluding education	141	136	137	1.6	1.5	1.5
REGION(3)
Northeast	842	737	824	3.2	2.7	3.0
South	1,828	1,641	1,721	3.5	3.1	3.2
Midwest	1,100	1,001	1,091	3.4	3.1	3.3
West	1,052	988	1,063	3.2	3.0	3.2
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. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	2,604	2,565	2,507	1.8	1.8	1.7
INDUSTRY
Total private	2,476	2,455	2,387	2.0	2.0	1.9
Mining and logging	12	12	13	1.6	1.7	1.9
Construction	106	117	94	1.6	1.7	1.4
Manufacturing	97	126	119	0.8	1.0	1.0
Durable goods	58	72	60	0.7	0.9	0.8
Nondurable goods	39	53	59	0.9	1.2	1.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	654	563	574	2.3	2.0	2.0
Wholesale trade	58	70	70	1.0	1.2	1.2
Retail trade	471	387	403	2.9	2.4	2.4
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	125	106	101	2.2	1.9	1.8
Information	28	32	37	1.0	1.2	1.3
Financial activities	107	66	65	1.3	0.8	0.8
Finance and insurance	71	48	47	1.2	0.8	0.8
Real estate and rental and leasing	36	19	18	1.7	0.9	0.8
Professional and business services	527	534	525	2.6	2.6	2.5
Education and health services	317	305	335	1.4	1.3	1.4
Educational services	34	25	27	0.9	0.7	0.7
Health care and social assistance	283	280	308	1.5	1.4	1.6
Leisure and hospitality	539	616	543	3.6	4.0	3.6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	43	56	53	2.1	2.7	2.6
Accommodation and food services	496	560	490	3.8	4.2	3.7
Other services	89	84	81	1.6	1.5	1.4
Government	129	110	120	0.6	0.5	0.5
Federal	11	13	11	0.4	0.5	0.4
State and local	118	97	109	0.6	0.5	0.6
State and local education	54	42	44	0.5	0.4	0.4
State and local, excluding education	64	54	65	0.7	0.6	0.7
REGION(3)
Northeast	365	389	367	1.4	1.4	1.4
South	1,080	1,030	998	2.1	1.9	1.9
Midwest	558	581	541	1.7	1.8	1.7
West	601	565	601	1.8	1.7	1.8
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. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	1,844	1,525	1,822	1.3	1.0	1.2
INDUSTRY
Total private	1,727	1,432	1,735	1.4	1.2	1.4
Mining and logging	26	10	8	3.4	1.5	1.2
Construction	190	176	314	2.9	2.6	4.8
Manufacturing	112	105	98	0.9	0.9	0.8
Durable goods	67	57	53	0.9	0.7	0.7
Nondurable goods	45	48	45	1.0	1.1	1.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	369	268	328	1.3	1.0	1.2
Wholesale trade	39	31	30	0.7	0.5	0.5
Retail trade	250	174	206	1.5	1.1	1.2
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	80	62	91	1.4	1.1	1.6
Information	18	28	27	0.6	1.0	1.0
Financial activities	60	50	63	0.7	0.6	0.7
Finance and insurance	40	27	35	0.7	0.4	0.6
Real estate and rental and leasing	20	23	28	1.0	1.1	1.3
Professional and business services	458	310	441	2.3	1.5	2.1
Education and health services	142	145	134	0.6	0.6	0.6
Educational services	18	11	24	0.5	0.3	0.7
Health care and social assistance	125	134	110	0.7	0.7	0.6
Leisure and hospitality	294	264	248	2.0	1.7	1.6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	65	88	73	3.2	4.2	3.6
Accommodation and food services	230	176	175	1.8	1.3	1.3
Other services	58	76	73	1.0	1.3	1.3
Government	116	93	87	0.5	0.4	0.4
Federal	7	14	12	0.3	0.5	0.4
State and local	109	79	74	0.6	0.4	0.4
State and local education	62	17	36	0.6	0.2	0.3
State and local, excluding education	47	62	38	0.5	0.7	0.4
REGION(3)
Northeast	396	301	400	1.5	1.1	1.5
South	609	495	557	1.2	0.9	1.0
Midwest	470	368	483	1.5	1.1	1.5
West	368	361	382	1.1	1.1	1.1
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. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)	Dec. 2015	Nov. 2016	Dec. 2016(p)
Total	375	277	369	0.3	0.2	0.3
INDUSTRY
Total private	308	238	306	0.3	0.2	0.2
Mining and logging	3	3	6	0.4	0.4	0.8
Construction	8	19	20	0.1	0.3	0.3
Manufacturing	25	17	19	0.2	0.1	0.2
Durable goods	17	10	14	0.2	0.1	0.2
Nondurable goods	8	7	5	0.2	0.2	0.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	80	58	77	0.3	0.2	0.3
Wholesale trade	13	7	14	0.2	0.1	0.2
Retail trade	59	32	50	0.4	0.2	0.3
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities	8	18	14	0.1	0.3	0.2
Information	7	9	12	0.3	0.3	0.4
Financial activities	22	22	25	0.3	0.3	0.3
Finance and insurance	20	22	23	0.3	0.4	0.4
Real estate and rental and leasing	2	1	2	0.1	0.0	0.1
Professional and business services	78	38	77	0.4	0.2	0.4
Education and health services	44	30	36	0.2	0.1	0.2
Educational services	4	1	4	0.1	0.0	0.1
Health care and social assistance	40	29	32	0.2	0.1	0.2
Leisure and hospitality	34	34	28	0.2	0.2	0.2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	2	2	3	0.1	0.1	0.1
Accommodation and food services	32	32	25	0.2	0.2	0.2
Other services	7	7	6	0.1	0.1	0.1
Government	66	39	63	0.3	0.2	0.3
Federal	18	9	14	0.7	0.3	0.5
State and local	48	30	49	0.2	0.2	0.2
State and local education	18	10	15	0.2	0.1	0.1
State and local, excluding education	30	20	34	0.3	0.2	0.4
REGION(3)
Northeast	80	47	56	0.3	0.2	0.2
South	140	116	166	0.3	0.2	0.3
Midwest	72	52	66	0.2	0.2	0.2
West	83	62	81	0.3	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.