Hires in the US fell by 1.6 million in April while the number of job openings fell by 965,000 amid the Covid-19 crisis, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Openings were at their lowest rate since 2014, Bloomberg reported.
The “professional and business services” industry recorded the biggest month-over-month decrease in job openings at 309,000, according to the BLS.
However, the total number of separations — which include quits, layoffs and discharges — decreased by almost 4.8 million. The largest decrease in separations was in “accommodation and food services,” where there were 3.0 million fewer separations than in the previous month.
| Job Openings, Hires and Separations for April 2020 (Seasonally Adjusted) | |||||||
| (000s) | |||||||
| April 2019 | March 2020 | April 2020 | m/m change | m/m% change | y/y change | y/y % change | |
| Job openings | 7,284 | 6,011 | 5,046 | -965 | -16.1% | -2,238 | -30.7% |
| Hires | 6,000 | 5,111 | 3,524 | -1,587 | -31.1% | -2,476 | -41.3% |
| Total separations | 5,763 | 14,643 | 9,888 | -4,755 | -32.5% | 4,125 | 71.6% |
| Rates | |||||||
| Job openings | 4.6% | 3.8% | 3.7% | -10 bps | – | -90 bps | – |
| Hires | 4.0% | 3.4% | 2.7% | -70 bps | – | -130 bps | – |
| Total separations | 3.8% | 9.7% | 7.5% | -220 bps | – | +370 bps | – |
| Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics; bps=basis points | |||||||