Number of U.S. job openings hit 14-year high in January

Job openings climbed in January, pointing to sustained gains in the U.S. labor market after the best year of hiring since 1999.

The number of positions waiting to be filled in the U.S. rose by 121,000 to 5 million in January, the highest level in 14 years, from a revised 4.88 million the prior month, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The rate of hiring cooled, while the number of Americans quitting their jobs increased.

A steady rise in job listings is reinforcing signs of labor-market strength, as payroll advances have helped bring the unemployment rate down to its lowest level in almost seven years. At the same time, limited wage growth and lingering evidence of job-market slack have allowed Federal Reserve policy makers to be deliberate in considering their first interest-rate increase since 2006.

“The labor market is getting tighter and tighter,” said Stan Shipley, an economist at Evercore ISI in New York, who projected 5.03 million openings. “You’re seeing it in the unemployment rate going down and the job openings going up. It’s harder and harder to find people qualified to fill positions.”

The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 5.05 million openings in January after a previously reported 5.03 million a month earlier. The Labor Department’s report reflected annual revisions to seasonally adjusted figures dating back to January 2010.

Stocks fell, wiping out gains for the year, as the dollar strengthened to near a 12-year high versus the euro on speculation the Fed is moving closer to raising rates. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 1.2 percent to 2,054.87 at 10:33 a.m. in New York.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, adds context to monthly payrolls figures by measuring dynamics such as resignations, help-wanted ads and the pace of hiring. Although it lags the Labor Department’s other jobs data by a month, Fed Chair Janet Yellen follows the report as a measure of labor-market tightness and worker confidence.

Some 2.8 million people quit their jobs in January, up from 2.72 million a month earlier, today’s report showed. The quits rate rose to a three-month high of 2 percent in January from 1.9 percent.

The hiring rate – the number of people who got new jobs divided by the number who worked or were paid – dropped to 3.5 percent in January from 3.7 percent a month earlier. Hires fell to 5 million from 5.24 million, according to today’s figures.

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 10:03 AM with the headline "Number of U.S. job openings hit 14-year high in January."