The number of available jobs since May 2021 continues to outnumber Americans looking for work.
The tight labor market has pushed total job openings to nearly double the available workers this year, but hiring has slowed amid a broader economic slowdown.
Job openings fell by 353,000 to 10.3 million in October after rising in September, and remains far below the record high 11.9 million in March.
The number of job openings decreased in state and local government (-101,000), nondurable goods manufacturing (+-95,000), and federal government (-61,000).
The number of job openings increased in other services (+76,000) and in finance and insurance (+70,000).
The U.S. added 261,000 jobs in October but there were 6 million people unemployed.
In October, the number of hires edged down to 6.0 million and the number of separations changed little at 5.7 million.
Within separations, the number of quits were little changed at 4.0 million – still near the record high of 4.4 million – and layoffs and discharges rose to 1.4 million.
The labor force participation rate decreased over the month to 62.2% in October and is 1.2% below its February 2020 level.
The Right Facts will continue to monitor unemployment and job openings.