JOLTS increased substantially in April - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura offered a review of the US data from overnight.

Key Quotes:

"JOLTS: Job openings increased substantially in April, jumping by 259k to 6044k from an upwardly revised 5785k (previously reported as 5743k). Today’s reading, the first time the survey reported more than 6 million vacancies, marks the historical high for the series which was previously 5973k in July 2015. 

Much of the increase in job openings was focused in the accommodation & food services sector (+118k), while construction (+42k) also contributed strongly. Manufacturing (-45k) and retail trade (-16k) disappointed somewhat, while professional & business services decreased slightly after increasing in March by 176k. Regionally, the Northeast (+117k) and Midwest (+138k) saw substantial increases in vacancy postings. Hires in April decreased by 253k, driven by a sharp decline in hires for education & health services and retail workers. 

The quits rate decreased somewhat to 2.1% but has remained within a 2-2.2% range since June 2015. The ratio of vacancies to unemployed workers, a common measure of labor market tightness, hit a historical high of 0.86 in April. Since January 2017, this indicator has increased by 0.12, the largest 3-month change on record. While the quits rate ticked down slightly, the increase in vacancy postings combined with a fall in the number of unemployed workers in the April household employment survey indicates continued labor market tightness."