More job openings in October vs September but hiring rate slows again

Job openings in October, ahead of the November jobs data we’ll get this week, totaled 7.744mm, 225k above expectations after dropping to 7.372mm in September which was the least since January 2021 and vs 7.861mm in August.

The problem though was the hiring rate which fell to just 3.3% which matches the lowest level since 2013 not including Covid. The number of quits did pick up though with the rate at 2.1% vs 1.9% in September and 2% in August.

In terms of industry, for the 2nd month there has been less job openings in healthcare as maybe finally after Covid, staff levels are back to mostly filled. On the flip side, we did see a lift of 87k in job openings in the ‘information’ sector after a notable slowdown in hiring in some areas of tech over the past few years.