RICHMOND— Virginia Works (the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement) announced today that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 2025 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) reports a decrease in job layoffs and discharges.
On the last business day in March, there were 221,000 job openings in Virginia, seasonally adjusted, an increase of 8,000 from February’s revised figure. Job openings fell by 13 percent from March 2024’s figure but are still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Nationwide, the number of job openings was little changed at 7.2 million in March but was down by 901,000 over the year. The number of U.S. job openings decreased in federal government (-36,000).
According to the most recent BLS JOLTS survey data, March total job separations in Virginia decreased by 28,000 to 127,000. BLS’s JOLTS data provide information on all the components that make up the net change in the number of jobs over a month, including job openings, hires, layoffs, voluntary quits, and other job separations (including retirements and worker deaths). Together, these components attempt to reveal the overall change in payroll employment. JOLTS data is seasonally adjusted and describes conditions on the last business day of the month. Current month’s data are preliminary and the previous month’s data have been revised.
The Virginia job openings rate rose slightly to 4.9 percent. Nationwide, the job openings rate, at 4.3 percent, changed little over the month.
The number of hires in Virginia was 139,000 in March, unchanged from February’s revised figure. JOLTS defines hires as all additions to the payroll during the month. However, the number of hires was 70 percent higher than the low set in April 2020. In March, the number of U.S. hires was unchanged at 5.4 million. In Virginia, the 3.3 percent hires rate was unchanged over the month. In March, the U.S. rate of hires nationwide was unchanged at 3.4 percent.
The Virginia hires-per-job-openings (HPJO) ratio was little changed at 6 hires for every 10 job openings, lower than nationwide. This measure shows the rate of hiring compared to open jobs and is a proxy for time to fill positions. In March 2025, there were 0.7 unemployed per job opening in the Commonwealth, compared to one unemployed per job opening nationwide.
Total job separations in Virginia decreased by 28,000 to 127,000. The number of total separations was twenty percent lower over the year. Nationwide, the number of total separations in March was unchanged at 5.1 million. Total separations increased in state and local government, excluding education (+28,000) but decreased in federal government (-8,000).
The Virginia total separations rate fell to three percent, a multi-year low rate. Nationwide, the rate of total separations in February was little changed at 3.2 percent.
An estimated 88,000 workers quit jobs from Virginia employers in March. The number of job quits was 15 percent lower compared to March 2024. Nationwide in March, the number of quits was little changed at 3.3 million. U.S. quits decreased in transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-49,000). The quits rate in the Commonwealth was 2.1 percent. Over the month, the U.S. quits rate was little changed at 2.1 percent. The February ‘churn’ rate (the sum of the hires and total separations rates) in Virginia fell by 0.6 of a percentage point from February’s revised 6.9 percent figure and was driven by a decrease in job separations. It was slower than the U.S. churn rate of 6.6 percent, which was little changed over the month.
The number of layoffs and discharges in Virginia was 34,000 in March, 18,000 lower than February’s revised estimate. This was down 23 percent over the year and reached a multi-year low. Layoffs and discharges are countercyclical, which means that layoffs typically increase during economic contractions and decrease during economic expansions. In March, the number of U.S. layoffs and discharges changed little at 1.6 million.Nationwide, Layoffs and discharges decreased in retail trade (-66,000) and in federal government (-11,000). Layoffs and discharges increased in state and local government, excluding education (+17,000). The Virginia layoffs and discharges rate fell to 0.8 percent.
On the last business day of March, JOLTS data indicated slowing movement from job to job, driven by a drop in layoffs. As a result, job quits stood at nearly 70 percent of total job separations, which is often considered an indicator of a healthy labor market.
| Job Openings Job openings include all positions that are open on the last business day of the reference month. A job is open only if it meets the following three conditions: (1) A specific position exists and there is work available for that position; the position can be full time or part time, and it can be permanent, short term, or seasonal; (2) the job could start within 30 days, whether or not the employer can find a suitable candidate during that time; and (3) the employer is actively recruiting workers from outside the establishment to fill the position. Excluded are positions open only to internal transfers, promotions or demotions, or recalls from layoffs. Hires Hires include all additions to the payroll during the entire reference month, including newly hired and rehired employees; full-time and part-time employees; permanent, short-term, and seasonal employees; employees who were recalled to a job at the location following a layoff (formal suspension from pay status) lasting more than 7 days; on-call or intermittent employees who returned to work after having been formally separated; workers who were hired and separated during the month; and transfers from other locations. Excluded are transfers or promotions within the reporting location, employees returning from a strike, and employees of temporary help agencies, employee leasing companies, outside contractors, or consultants. Separations Separations include all separations from the payroll during the entire reference month and are reported by type of separation; quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. Quits include employees who left voluntarily, except for retirements or transfers to other locations. Layoffs and discharges include involuntary separations initiated by the employer, including layoffs with no intent to rehire; layoffs (formal suspensions from pay status) lasting or expected to last more than 7 days; discharges resulting from mergers, downsizing, or closings; firings or other discharges for cause; terminations of permanent or short-term employees; and terminations of seasonal employees (whether or not they are expected to return the next season). Other separations include retirements, transfers to other locations, separations due to employee disability, and deaths. Excluded are transfers within the same location, employees on strike, and employees of temporary help agencies, employee leasing companies, outside contractors, or consultants. *Excerpted from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Handbook of Methods, “Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey: Concepts,” https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/jlt/concepts.htm. |
Virginia Works plans to release the April 2025 analysis of the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for Virginia on Friday June 18, 2025. The data for all states and the U.S. will be available on the BLS website JOLTS page, at https://www.bls.gov/jlt/. BLS is scheduled to release the March JOLTS data for states on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.
Technical note: Effective with the release of May 2025 data, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) state estimates will be benchmarked and revised to include the annual benchmark revisions to JOLTS national estimates, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) employment estimates, and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data. Seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted data from January 2019 forward are subject to revision. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) produces monthly data on U.S. and regional job openings, hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations from a sample of approximately 21,000 establishments. For more information on the program’s concepts and methodology, see “Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey: Handbook of Methods” (Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 13, 2020), https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/jlt/home.htm. For more information on BLS’ state JOLTS estimates, see https://www.bls.gov/jlt/jlt_statedata.htm. Definitions of JOLTS terms*
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