Labor Market Dynamics Retighten, Job Openings Jump Again. Fed Faces Scenario of Solid Job Market, Re-accelerating Inflation
October’s majestic jump in job openings was revised even higher, and in November, job openings jumped by another 259,000, to 8.10 million (blue in the chart below), the highest since May and well above the prepandemic record in late 2018, and the three-month average (red) rose for the second month in a row, as the underlying dynamics of the labor market retightened, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. This data is based on surveys of about 21,000 work locations, and not on online job listings.
Since fewer people are quitting their jobs – voluntary quits have come way down from the pandemic highs – they’re leaving fewer empty slots behind, which should reduce job openings to refill the empty slots. But instead, job openings have now jumped substantially despite fewer quits, which is interesting because it points at more new slots to be filled that didn’t exist before – and thereby, it points at a sudden U-turn in the demand for labor, and not just churn.
Big jumps occurred in the highly-paid and huge category of professional and business services (+273,000) and also in finance (+105,000).
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