The number of job vacancies declined to below 7.2 million for the first time since September, new Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data show.
According to the July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS), released on Sept. 3, job openings fell by 176,000, to 7.18 million from the downwardly revised 7.35 million in the previous month.
Economists had penciled in a reading of 7.4 million job vacancies.
The monthly drop was concentrated mainly in health care and social assistance (negative 181,000) and arts, entertainment, and recreation (negative 62,000). The number of job vacancies in the government also tumbled by 38,000.
Job quits were flat in July, totaling 3.208 million from an upwardly revised 3.209 million. The quits rate—the percentage of employees who voluntarily leave their positions during the month—was unchanged at 2 percent….