Dec. 9 (UPI) — Job openings inched up slightly in October, despite fears of shrinkage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its<\/a> government shutdown-delayed October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary Tuesday, showing a small uptick in job openings that month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the job market isn’t rosy quite yet. Hiring stalled, layoffs increased and employees did not quit their jobs. The voluntary quits rate was at a five-year low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report also includes some data from September, which hadn’t been released because of the government shutdown from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12. The October data also was affected by the agency’s inability to collect data during the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of October, there were about 7.67 million job openings in the United States, which is a slight raise from 7.66 million in September and 7.23 million in August, the report said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In October, the number and rate of total separations (quits, layoffs, firings) were little changed at 5.1 million and 3.2%. The number of total separations decreased in health care and social assistance by 111,000 and in the federal government by 34,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The quits were at 2.9 million and 1.8%, which was down by 276,000 over the year. A drop in quits can indicate a lack of confidence in the job market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n