US JOLTS Job Openings fall below estimates to 8.7 million in October

The number of job openings on the last business day of October stood at 8.7 million, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Tuesday. This reading followed 9.35 million (revised from 9.55 million) openings in September and came in below the market expectation of 9.3 million.

“Over the month, the number of hires and total separations changed little at 5.9 million and 5.6 million, respectively,” the BLS noted in the press release and added:

“Within separations, quits (3.6 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.6 million) changed little.” The US Dollar came under modest selling pressure after this data. At the time of press, the US Dollar Index was unchanged on the day at 103.64.