What HR needs to know about the latest JOLTS report

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS), released on May 1, showed the number of job openings in March “changed little” when compared to February.

What’s happening? There were 8.5 million job openings in March, the BLS reported, compared to 8.8 million job openings in February. There were 5.5 million hires in March and 5.2 million total separations, slightly lower than the 5.8 million hires and 5.5 million separations in February. The quit rate for March dipped to 3.3 million from 3.5 million in the previous month.

“[The] JOLTS report is fairly benign and boring. Openings tick down, but still elevated,” economist Nick Bunker said in a post on X. “Hires declined, but so did quits suggesting the main driver here is less job-to-job switching.”

Zoom out. Attracting talent in a job market where fewer employees are voluntarily quitting their jobs will require HR to focus more on compensation and benefits, Scott Hamilton, global chairman of HR and compensation consulting at Gallagher, told HR Brew.

“What’s really going on is that where the jobs are being created, and where job growth is happening, is in healthcare, construction, finance, and insurance,” Hamilton said. “The hiring that’s happening is in industries where we’re seeing slightly higher than market wages being paid.”

Wage inflation is not going to calm down, he added, “until the economy overall starts to decrease hiring in some of these higher than average wage industries.”

“From an HR executive’s perspective, continuing to leverage compensation, benefits, and retirement program offerings on a total rewards level is mission critical,” Hamilton said. “That’s how you’re going to keep your workers, that’s how you’re going to make sure you’re attracting people—with a very balanced approach. It’s not all just base pay. It’s the complete offering of compensation, benefits, and retirement support that is going to help HR executives execute on their HR strategies, continue to find people, and keep growing their business.”