US job openings increases to 5.43 million in November

The job openings in the US grew to 5.43 million in November from October's reading of 5.35 million. The demand for manufacturing employment in the goods sector dropped where openings declined by 16,000 as compared with the drop of 5000 in October. The construction sector recorded the strongest growth since May 2015, where job openings increased 14,000 in November, as compared with 2000 in October. The December's employment report had noted the rise in construction employment, where payrolls in the sector increased by over thirty thousand for the third consecutive month.

Meanwhile, job openings in the service sector were on par with recent trends in November. However, job openings in the retail trade decline sharply for the second continuous month, falling by 64,000, as compared with the decline of 2000 in October. The sector also saw this slowdown in the December payroll growth. The quits rate and hires rate remained steady at 2% and 3.6% respectively.  Hence the slack in the labour market remained the same. The ratio of unemployed job seeker to openings dropped to 1.46 in November from 1.48 in October.

Today's JOLTS data indicates that the initial unemployment claims' breakeven level increased a bit in November to 311,000 from 303,000 in October. This marginal rise shows how growth in the job market was strong during the end of 2015 in spite of the moderate rise in unemployment claims.