—
The latest snapshot of job openings in the US shows that there were 7.74 million available positions in January, signaling renewed optimism from US employers to start the year.
The number of job openings rose from December’s downwardly revised total of 7.51 million, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Economists expected openings to increase to 7.7 million, up 100,000 from the preliminary estimate, according to FactSet.
Although backward-looking, the report provides a critical baseline for US labor market activity — job openings, hires, quits and separations such as layoffs — as President Donald Trump began to enact sweeping policy actions that has since rattled consumers, businesses and investors alike, reigniting recession fears.
The JOLTS report lags the jobs report by a month (although the data feeding into the respective reports are collected at different times: the jobs report around the middle of the month and JOLTS at the end of the month).
Although slightly lagged, the JOLTS report typically is released in the days leading up to the latest jobs report. January’s report, however, is landing afterwards, a scheduling decision made to allow for annual employment updates, including seasonal adjustment factors, BLS officials said.
This story is developing and will be updated.
