by Oriane Casale
August 2024
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) Survey conducted by the BLS shows that the number of job openings fell to 139,000, down 21.5% over the month in July on a seasonally adjusted basis in Minnesota. Compared to one year ago, job openings were down by 27,000 or 16.3%. This compares to an over-the-year decline of 12.4% at the national level.
Hires were up 7.4% over the year in July in Minnesota compared to while they dropped 5.5% nationally. Total separations were down over the year by 29.6% in Minnesota and 5.9% nationally.
Minnesota's job openings rate was 4.4% in July, down from previous months this year. It is also now below the job openings rate nationally, which was at 4.6% in July (see figure below). The job openings rate is the number of job openings as a percent of total employment plus job openings.
In Minnesota there were 0.7 unemployed workers for each job vacancy in July – or seven unemployed works for every 10 job openings. This ratio is up compared to the last several years, although still low, indicating that Minnesota continues to have a tight labor market where there are fewer than one unemployed worker for every job opening. Nationwide there were 0.9 unemployed workers for each job opening in July, unchanged from the previous month.
