Report: 10.1 million jobs available in June

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- The Labor Department said Monday that a record 10.1 million jobs were available in June, highlighting the challenge of businesses to bring on staff as the economy continues to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic restrictions with new variants now spreading.

The report said hires increased to 6.7 million and those leaving jobs ticked up to 5.6 million. Those quitting jobs increased 2.7% while those laid off or discharged remained unchanged at 0.9%.

The job opening rate rose to 6.5% as job openings increased in several industries. Professional and business services had the most openings with 227,000 positions while retail trade had 133,000 openings followed by accommodation and food services with 121,000 spots.

Despite the openings, the report said hiring was robust in June. It said the hiring rate increased to 4.6%, led by hires in the retail trade with 291,000. Hires in state and local government education followed with 94,000 jobs and durable goods manufacturing with 36,000.

When it comes to separations, 124,000 left professional and business services jobs, easily leading all other categories. Of those separations 72,000 quit. Durable goods manufacturing saw 48,000 separations because of 47,000 quitting.

There was an overall low 1.3 million layoffs and discharges in June, changing little from the month before.