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The number of job openings decreased to 10.1 million on the last business day of August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires and total separations were little changed at 6.3 million and 6.0 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (4.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.5 million) were little changed. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by establishment size class. Job Openings On the last business day of August, the number and rate of job openings decreased to 10.1 million (-1.1 million) and 6.2 percent, respectively. The largest decreases in job openings were in health care and social assistance (-236,000), other services (-183,000), and retail trade (-143,000). (See table 1.) Hires In August, the number of hires was little changed at 6.3 million, and the rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent. Hires decreased in federal government (-8,000). (See table 2.) Separations Total separations includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Therefore, the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Other separations includes separations due to retirement, death, disability, and transfers to other locations of the same firm. tweet at 10:01am: 2nd biggest JOLTS drop on record. Only global covid lockdown in April 2020 was worse