The number of job openings fell as 2020 neared the end, with the biggest hit in the battered hospitality industry as the Covid pandemic intensified.
The total number of job openings fell by 105,000 in November, down 1.6% from October and down 3.9% from a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s survey of job vacancies and turnover published Tuesday.
Leisure and hospitality were particularly hard hit, with a drop in job vacancies and a sharp increase in layoffs and total divorces.
While the report lags a month behind the department’s nonfarm payrolls, the JOLTS count is being watched by policymakers for indications of labor market tightness.
In total, there were 6.63 million openings for the month, compared to the 10.74 million workers the government considers unemployed. Net payroll earnings of 336,000 remained relatively high this month, although growth ended December with a decline of 140,000.
The JOLTS report indicated that the slowdown in job vacancies came mainly in the hospitality industry, where bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos have been hit by the economic restrictions imposed by officials to combat Covid. The number of cases has continued to rise despite lockdowns and other restrictions.
Openings for leisure and hospitality fell to 801,000 for the month, only 16,000 less than in October, but 17% less than the same period in 2020.
At the same time, the number of layoffs increased sharply, by 17.6% from October to 1.68 million.
The divorce rate rose this month as 271,000 employees lost or left their jobs, a rate of 3.8% compared to 3.6% in October. The profit was mainly due to the leisure and hospitality percentage, which increased from 5.8% to 8.2%. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of divorces by the total employment and multiplying by 100.
Every month, the largest decreases in job vacancies were the production of durable goods (-48,000), information (-45,000) and education services (-21,000).
The quit rate, a measure of employees’ confidence that they can find a new job, remained little changed this month at 2.2%. Leisure and hospitality, however, showed a sharp rise in that measure, from 4.3% to 4.7% as workers in industry switched to other professions. Within the industry, accommodation and catering services rose from 4.5% in October to 5%.
The number of recruitments changed little every month at a rate of 4.2%. Leisure and hotels and restaurants again fell sharply, from 7.8% to 7.3% to the lowest total level since August.