Job vacancies declined as 2020 drew to a close, with the biggest success coming to the battered hospitality industry with the rise of the Covid pandemic.
Total open positions decreased 105,000 in November, down 1.6% from October and down 3.9% from the previous year, according to the Labor Department’s Job Search and Job Turnover Survey released on Tuesday.
Leisure and hospitality have had a particularly strong impact, with a drop in job openings and a sharp increase in layoffs and separations in general.
Although the report is a month behind the department’s non-farm payroll count, the JOLTS count is watched by lawmakers for signs of tightening in the labor market.
In all, there were 6.63 million jobs in the month, compared to 10.74 million workers that the government considers unemployed. The net payroll gain of 336,000 remained relatively high in the month, although growth ended in December with a drop of 140,000.
The JOLTS report indicated that the slowdown in vacancies occurred mainly in hospitality, where bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos were hit by the economic restrictions that authorities imposed to combat Covid. The case count continued to increase, despite blockages and other restrictions.
Openings for leisure and hospitality dropped to 801,000 in the month, a drop of just 16,000 compared to October, but less than 17% compared to the same period in 2020.
At the same time, layoffs increased sharply, rising 17.6% compared to October, to 1.68 million.
The separation rate increased in the month, as 271,000 workers lost or left their jobs, a rate of 3.8% compared to 3.6% in October. The gain was mainly due to the leisure and hospitality rate, which rose from 5.8% to 8.2%. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of separations by total employment and multiplying by 100.
On a monthly basis, the biggest declines in job openings came in the manufacture of durable goods (-48,000), information (-45,000) and educational services (-21,000).
The layoff rate, a proxy for workers’ confidence that they can find new jobs, has changed little by 2.2% in the month. However, leisure and hospitality saw a sharp increase in this metric, going from 4.3% to 4.7%, as industry workers make the transition to other professions. Within the industry, accommodation and food rose from 4.5% in October to 5%.
The hiring in general was little changed in the month, with a rate of 4.2%. Once again, leisure and hospitality fell sharply, from 7.8% to 7.3%, to the lowest total level since August.