U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Hires and quits rose in 2017

March 23, 2018

There were 65.3 million hires in 2017, an increase from 63.2 million in 2016. Total separations (the sum of quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations) rose in 2017 to 63.0 million. Quits rose for the eighth consecutive year, reaching 38.2 million in 2017. Quits comprised 61 percent of total separations in 2017.
Annual hires and separations, 2001–17
Year Hires Total
separations		 Layoffs and
discharges		 Quits Other
separations

2001

 62,727,000 64,560,000 24,271,000 35,784,000 4,506,000

2002

 58,416,000 58,942,000 22,719,000 31,655,000 4,566,000

2003

 56,919,000 56,961,000 23,420,000 29,251,000 4,292,000

2004

 60,236,000 58,224,000 22,584,000 31,444,000 4,201,000

2005

 63,089,000 60,633,000 22,151,000 34,380,000 4,102,000

2006

 63,491,000 61,284,000 20,856,000 35,692,000 4,731,000

2007

 62,239,000 60,984,000 21,997,000 34,718,000 4,270,000

2008

 54,764,000 58,209,000 23,969,000 30,391,000 3,850,000

2009

 46,190,000 51,358,000 26,557,000 21,112,000 3,689,000

2010

 48,659,000 47,649,000 21,703,000 22,051,000 3,897,000

2011

 50,253,000 48,214,000 20,756,000 23,581,000 3,877,000

2012

 52,332,000 50,131,000 20,942,000 25,142,000 4,047,000

2013

 54,297,000 51,937,000 19,889,000 27,715,000 4,328,000

2014

 58,629,000 55,596,000 20,402,000 30,590,000 4,604,000

2015

 62,027,000 59,296,000 20,963,000 33,732,000 4,604,000

2016

 63,240,000 60,896,000 20,152,000 36,339,000 4,405,000

2017

 65,259,000 63,031,000 20,676,000 38,180,000 4,175,000

Layoffs and discharges edged up in 2017 to 20.7 million and comprised 33 percent of total separations. Other separations declined in 2017 to 4.2 million and comprised 7 percent of total separations.

These data are from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. To learn more, see "Job Openings and Labor Turnover — January 2018" (HTML) (PDF). Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations initiated by employers. Other separations include retirements, transfers to other locations, deaths, and separations because of disability. We also have more charts featuring data on job openings, hires, and separations.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Hires and quits rose in 2017 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/hires-and-quits-rose-in-2017.htm (visited April 26, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle