JOLTS: Openings Still High, Quit Rate Falls

Bottom Line:  The Job Openings Layoffs and Turnover Survey showed higher-than-expected job openings for the third consecutive month. While openings declined to start the year, there were upward revisions to previously reported data. That said, the quit rate, an indicator of how sure employees are about their ability to get new jobs and often cited by Fed Chair Powell as a sign of labor market tightness, fell to a two-year low. Furthering the notion that the labor market is slowly loosening, the ratio of openings to hires continues to top out in most industries, with hiring in the most volatile sector, leisure and hospitality, slowing. Overall, despite upward revisions, the trend turned towards a modest easing of the historic labor market tightness that has frustrated monetary policymakers, but there was still a long way to go.