U.S. job openings rose to 9.6 million in August; hires, separations little changed

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The number of job openings increased by more than a half-million in August while people quitting their jobs remained steady over the same period, according to the latest statistics from the Labor Department released on Tuesday.

In the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Study, officials said the number of job openings around the country rose to 9.6 million in August, an increase of 690,000 from the previous month.

The increase came as August saw 5.9 million hires and 5.7 million separations, relatively unchanged from the previous month.

Job openings in professional and business services spurred the increase jump with an increase of 509,000, followed by finance and insurance at 96,000, state and local government education at 76,000, and nondurable goods manufacturing at 59,000, and federal government at 31,000.

Quits, a measure of worker confidence in finding a new job after leaving a previous position, did not have a noticeable change in August at 3.6 million, while layoffs and discharges also showed little change at 1.7 million.

Accommodations and food services saw the largest increase in separations with 105,000 leaving their jobs. There were notable separation decreases in August as separations in information totaled 41,000 while the federal government saw 8,000.