A new jobs report is in and the number of position openings is as high as it’s ever been, according to The Wall Street Journal. The latest information, which applies to the month of May, shows a slight increase in openings from 5.33 million to 5.36 million around the country. In the same time period some 2.7 million people voluntarily quit their jobs, and that number, stable relative to the previous month, is actually a good thing when compared to the 1.7 million people who were laid off or fired the same month.
So why is a high number of voluntary quits a good thing on a job report? Generally speaking, people that quit their jobs on their own accord are heading somewhere else or at least have confidence that they’ll do well on the job market. Still, it’s another bit of information in the latest report that delivers the most interesting revelation: there’s a small but growing rift between the number of job openings and the number of people being hired to fill those positions. While not exactly good news, the fact that the rate of hires is lagging just behind the rate of openings demonstrates a trend beneficial to millennials in both the long and short-term. “These data add yet more weight to the idea that labor demand is rising very strongly, and that the biggest constraint on employers now is finding suitably qualified staff,” economist Ian Shepherdson told WSJ.
The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report signals mostly good news across the board, but the numbers could be of particular interest to young people. The growing demand—the month of May brought 16% more openings than last year—and the relative lack of qualified candidates should excite soon-to-graduate college students as well as millennials starting their careers and gaining employment experience. Even better? While the number of jobs being created is always the headline-maker, there’s also evidence that wages are rising and even more people might jump into the ‘I’m quitting’ pile. “The ratio of vacancies to unemployed workers is near pre-crisis peaks and although leading indicators of wage-growth remain restrained for now, the outlook for job-seekers is becoming even more positive,” Jeremy Schwartz, an analyst at Credit Suisse said.
For now we know that companies are hiring and can’t find enough of the type of qualified candidates they’re looking for. We also already know that millennials will account for almost half of the American workforce in the next five years. 2015 is another transition year, and as the face of American work becomes a little younger, millennials can brush off the doomsayers and count on the fact that there’s work to be found and more on the way.
