Yesterday, JOLTS reported a steady decline in employee layoffs. This is a sign that the labor market continues to ease. Nevertheless, the number of people who have voluntarily resigned is still quite high.
The number of job openings in the U.S., a measure of demand for workers, rose by 431,000 to 11.0 million on the last day of October.
This could point to the problem of labor shortages, which could affect further economic growth.
Most of the increase was due to the accommodation and food services sector, which added 254,000 jobs, as well as 45,000 vacancies in the consumer goods industry and 42,000 vacancies in educational services. State and local government, excluding education, saw a decline of 115,000 jobs.
At the regional level, job vacancies are on the rise. The job vacancy rate rose to 6.9% from 6.7% in September.
Yet many Americans are still quitting their jobs.
Normally, the turnover rate is seen by policymakers as a measure of the mood in the labor market. Yet the unemployment rate is still relatively high. Given this, wage inflation is likely to remain high for a while. Inflation is above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.