The number of job openings remained little changed in August, as the U.S. economy’s “low fire, low hire” trend continued.
Job vacancies edged up last month by 19,000, to 7.227 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report, released on Sept. 30.
The previous month’s reading was revised slightly higher, to 7.208 million from 7.181 million.
Economists had penciled in a reading of 7.2 million.
A significant decline in job openings was observed in construction (negative 115,000) and in the federal government (negative 61,000).
Bureau data show that the number of job quits—a measure economists monitor to gauge workers’ confidence in the labor market—fell by 75,000, to a 11-month low of 3.091 million from a downwardly adjusted 3.166 million….