The number of job openings changed little at 8.5 million on the last business day of March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, the number of hires changed little at 5.5 million while the number of total separations decreased to 5.2 million. Within separations, quits (3.3 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.5 million) changed little. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by establishment size class. Job Openings On the last business day of March, the number of job openings changed little at 8.5 million; this measure was down by 1.1 million over the year. The rate was little changed at 5.1 percent in March. Job openings decreased in construction (-182,000) and in finance and insurance (-158,000), but increased in state and local government education (+68,000). (See table 1.) Hires In March, the number of hires was little changed at 5.5 million but was down by 455,000 over the year. The rate, at 3.5 percent, changed little in March. (See table 2.) Separations Total separations include quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Therefore, the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers willingness or ability to leave jobs. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Other separations include separations due to retirement, death, disability, and transfers to other locations of the same firm. post: The private-sector job vacancy rate fell to 5.3% in March, the lowest level since January 2021 There were 1.3 vacancies for every unemployed worker in March, the lowest since August 2021 pic.twitter.com/RkgPX1elhk post: 
U.S. quits rate fell to 2.1% in March 2024 (lowest since August 2020) pic.twitter.com/WWDrqNaml2
