Labor Demand Stayed Flat in October as Job Vacancies in the U.S. Rose just 0.1% for the month

Based on U.S. job openings indexed daily directly from corporate and employer websites globally, we expect little to no job growth for the remainder of the year

We published our NFP forecast for October last Friday (a net decrease of 5,000 jobs) before we had complete data for October (our NFP forecast model is based on the prior month’s vacancy data given the lag between when job openings are listed on company and employer career portals and when those jobs are filled with a new hire). As a result, we are publishing our October data below.

In October, labor demand in the U.S. was flat relative to September as LinkUp’s total job openings indexed daily directly from employer websites rose 0.1% from September and new job openings rose 4%.

In October, states with gains or losses in job vacancies were pretty evenly split across the country.

In regard to new job listings, all but 8 states showed an increase.

Gains and losses in job openings by industry were pretty evenly split across the economy.

Labor demand rose in Manufacturing but was flat in Services.

Looking at labor demand by occupation paints a similar story with gains and losses pretty evenly split across the economy.

Labor demand for blue collar jobs decreased and increased for white collar jobs.

Looking at our mid-month time series which maps more closely to the survey period for BLS data, total U.S. job openings fell 3% between the 20th of September to the 19th of October, while new job openings fell 7%.

So based on our September data, we are forecasting that the U.S. lost 5,000 jobs in October.

Based on our October data, we expect little to no job growth for the remainder of the year.