U.S. Job Openings Fall to 6.5 Million as Labor Market Continues to Cool

US job openings continued to decline in December, reaching 6.5 million, a decrease of 386,000 from the previous month, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. This marks a significant drop of 966,000 over the year. The job openings rate stood at 3.9%, showing little change from November. Hires and total separations remained steady at 5.3 million each. Quits held at 3.2 million, while layoffs and discharges were little changed at 1.8 million. Job openings in professional and business services (-257,000), retail trade (-195,000), and finance and insurance (-120,000) all fell. The number of job openings for November was revised down by 218,000 to 6.9 million.