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Job vacancies declined as 2020 neared the end, with the biggest blow coming from the struggling hospitality sector as the Covid pandemic escalated.
Total open positions fell by 105,000 in November, a drop of 1.6% from October and 3.9% from a year earlier, according to the Job Opportunities Survey and the Ministry of Labor workforce rotation released Tuesday.
The leisure and hospitality industries were particularly affected, with a drop in job vacancies and a sharp increase in layoffs and departures in general.
Although the report is a month behind on the county’s non-farm payroll tally, JOLTS’s tally is being watched by policymakers for signs of labor market strain.
In total, there were 6.63 million job openings for the month, compared to 10.74 million workers the government considers unemployed. The net payroll gain of 336,000 remained relatively strong for the month, although growth ended in December with a decline of 140,000.
The JOLTS report said the slowdown in vacancies came mainly in the hospitality industry, where bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos have been hit by economic restrictions imposed by authorities to fight Covid. The number of cases continued to rise despite lockdowns and other restrictions.
Leisure and hospitality openings fell to 801,000 for the month, down just 16,000 from October, but 17% from the same period in 2020.
At the same time, layoffs have risen sharply, rising 17.6% from October to 1.68 million.
The separation rate increased for the month, with 271,000 workers losing or leaving their jobs, a rate of 3.8% compared to 3.6% in October. The gain was mainly attributable to the leisure and hospitality rate, which jumped to 8.2% from 5.8%. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of departures by the total employment and multiplying it by 100.
On a monthly basis, the largest declines in employment opportunities were in durable goods manufacturing (-48,000), information (-45,000) and educational services (-21,000).
The quit rate, an indicator of workers’ confidence in the possibility of finding a new job, was little changed for the month at 2.2%. However, recreation and hospitality saw a sharp increase in this measure, from 4.3% to 4.7%, as workers in the industry transition to other occupations. Within the industry, accommodation and food services rose 5% from 4.5% in October.
Overall, hires were little changed over the month at a rate of 4.2%. Once again, leisure and hospitality saw a sharp decline, from a rate of 7.8% to 7.3% to the lowest total level since August.
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