Job Openings Remain Historically High

3/28/2016
Roy Maurer

Job openings rose to 5.5 million in January 2016, from a downwardly revised 5.3 million the month before, according to the monthly report on job openings and labor turnover prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The report showed that 2.8 million people quit their jobs in January, while hires decreased from nearly 5.4 million in December 2015 to 5 million in January.

The wholesale trade (+74,000) and construction (+61,000) industries reported some of the highest job openings in January, while new jobs decreased in educational services (-40,000).

“Overall, a good report,” said Jennifer Schramm, SHRM-SCP, manager of workforce trends at the Society for Human Resource Management. “As always, the quits rate is an important number for HR professionals to follow because when it goes up, it can indicate that more employees are looking for new opportunities.”

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