Job vacancies fell as 2020 drew to a close, with the biggest blow to the hospitality industry as the Covid pandemic rose.
Total open positions fell 105,000 in November, down 1.6% from October and down 3.9% from a year earlier, according to the Department of Labor’s job opening and turnover survey. Tuesday.
Leisure and hospitality were particularly successful, with jobs slipping and a sudden increase in redundancies and general separations.
Although the report is a month behind the department’s number of non-agricultural wages, the JOLTS accountant is being watched by policy makers for clues to the labor market.
In total, there were 6.63 million openings for that month, compared to the 10.74 million workers the government considers unemployed. The net earnings of 336,000 remained relatively fast for that month, although the increase ended in December with a decline of 140,000.
The JOLTS report indicated that the slowdown in vacancies came primarily in the field of hospitality, where bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos were affected by economic restrictions imposed by officials to combat Covid. The number of cases continued to increase despite the blockade and other restrictions.
Leisure and hospitality places decreased to 801,000 for that month, down by only 16,000 compared to October, but by 17% compared to the same period in 2020.
At the same time, layoffs rose sharply, rising by 17.6% in October to 1.68 million.
The redundancy rate rose 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 primarily due to the rate of leisure and hospitality, which rose to 8.2% from 5.8%. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of separations by the total number of jobs and multiplying by 100.
On a monthly basis, the largest decreases in employment came in the production of durable goods (-48,000), information (-45,000) and educational services (-21,000).
The dropout rate, an indicator for workers’ confidence that they can find new jobs, has been slightly changed for the month, 2.2%. However, leisure and hospitality gained strongly in this value, rising to 4.7% from 4.3% as workers in the transition from industry to other professions. Within the industry, accommodation and food services rose to 5% from 4.5% in October.
Employment was generally slightly changed in that month, at a rate of 4.2%. Again, leisure and hospitality fell sharply, from 7.8% to 7.3% at the lowest total level in August.