Virginia employers hired 182,000 workers in February while reporting 313,000 job openings.
This is according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ February 2022 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS data provides information on all pieces that go into the net change in the number of jobs. These components include job openings, hires, layoffs, voluntary quits, and other job separations (which includes retirements and worker deaths).
Putting those components together reveals the overall change in payroll employment. JOLTS data is seasonally adjusted and describes conditions on the last business day of the month. Current month’s data are preliminary and the prior month’s data have been revised.
The 6,000 increase in the number of February 2022 job openings in Virginia was an increase from January 2022’s revised figure of 307,000 but was 23,000 lower than last September’s record high. Nationwide, job openings increased in several industries with the largest increases in arts, entertainment, and recreation (+32,000); educational services (+26,000); and federal government (+23,000).
Job openings decreased in finance and insurance (-63,000) and in nondurable goods manufacturing (-39,000). The 2021 rapid rise in U.S. job openings was led by accommodations and food service and health care but many industries spanning the economy have also seen similar increases over the past year.
The Virginia job openings rate (job openings as a percentage of total employment) was little-changed; rising by 0.1 of a percentage point to 7.2 percent in February but was significantly lower than the series high of 7.9 percent set in September 2021.
The number of hires in Virginia rose by 18,000 to 182,000 in February and was the same amount higher compared to February 2021. JOLTS defines hires as all additions to the payroll during the month. The series low of 77,000 was set in April 2020, while the high of 265,000 was set in June of that year. Nationwide, the number of hires edged up to 6.7 million in February 2022, an increase of over a quarter million from January. The number of hires was lower than its peak of 8.1 million set in May 2020 but was still elevated compared to typical levels seen over the past two decades. U.S. hires increased significantly in construction (+75,000) and decreased in information (-29,000). In Virginia, the hires rate rose around half of a percentage point over the month to 4.5 percent.
An estimated 101,000 workers quit jobs from Virginia employers in February. That’s down significantly from the record-breaking month of December 2021 when 131,000 Virginia workers quit their jobs. The number of quits decreased by 16,000 from January’s revised figure of 117,000 but was 15 percent higher than a year earlier. Quits, a component of total separations, are voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Across the U.S. in February, the number of quits was little changed at 4.4 million. Virginia, along with Michigan and Arizona, saw significantly fewer quits. U.S. quits increased in retail trade (+74,000); durable goods manufacturing (+22,000); and state and local government education (+14,000). Quits decreased in finance and insurance (-30,000). With February 2022 27 percent higher than February 2021, recent months’ figures represent the most people quitting since the United States began keeping records of the statistic about two decades ago, The number of quits can be seen as a leading indicator of wage trends in that it includes workers who quit to move to another job.
The quits rate nationwide rose to 2.9 percent, which was slightly off of the series high set at the end of 2021. However, it significantly decreased in Virginia, Arizona, Michigan, Maryland, and Tennessee. The quits rate in the Commonwealth fell by nearly half of a percentage point to 2.5 percent, yet remained at the highly elevated levels seen during 2021. In general, industries with relatively low rates of quitting like government, finance, and educational services had even lower rates compared to the year before while a handful of large industries with relatively high rates of quitting like accommodation and food services and retail had even higher rates compared to the year before.
The hires-per-job-openings (HPJO) ratio rose to 0.6 in February in Virginia, equaling the rate nationwide. This measure shows the rate of hiring compared to open jobs and is a proxy for time to fill positions.
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