From Bloomberg: The number of available positions increased to 6.92 million during the month from an upwardly revised 6.75 million in December, the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Thursday, March 11. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 6.7 million openings.
U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in December, led by increases in business services and retail trade, signaling that companies were looking to add workers as the nation starts getting vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Separations, which include layoffs and quits, rose by 271,000 to 5.41 million, the highest since April. The number of quits were little changed at 3.16 million, still the highest since February. The quits rate held at 2.2%, and the rate of layoffs and discharges rose.