Figures released by the U.S. Labor Department Tuesday reveal job openings that totaled nearly 11 million in December while the Great Resignation cooled off.
Reflecting a tightening labour market, vacancies rose to 10.92 million, well above estimates for 10.28 million and an increase of 1.4% from November. The rate of job openings as a share of the labour force was unchanged at 6.8%.
The "quits" level, which had soared to record highs in recent months amid a confluence of factors, slowed to 4.34 million, a decrease of 3.6%, while the quits rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 2.9%.
The JOLTS report is considered a particularly important gauge when measuring labor market slack.
December’s numbers further pointed to how close the economy is to full employment. There were 4.6 million more vacancies than workers considered unemployed for the month.
January, however, is expected to be a tricky month for job data as the COVID omicron variant sent millions of workers to the sidelines during the month.
