Monthly Labor Review • March 2007 19
Employment and Job Openings in 2006
Kimberly Riley,
Emily Lloyd,
and
Natalie Propst
Payroll employment and job openings
rate continued to grow in 2006
Payroll employment grew by 2.3 million
over the year; the job openings rate
climbed in the second half of the year,
while the hires and separations rates held steady
Kimberly Riley is an
economist, and Emi-
ly Lloyd is a supervisory
economist, in the Office
of Employment and Un-
employment Statistics,
Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics; Natalie Propst is an
economist formerly in
the same office. E-mail:
Lloyd.Emily@bls.gov or
Riley.Kimberly@bls.gov
Nonfarm payroll employment, as meas-
ured by the Current Employment
Statistics (CES) survey, increased by
2.3 million in 2006.1 (See chart 1.) Employ-
ment growth, averaging 252,000 per month
in the first quarter, was stronger then than in
any subsequent quarter. Overall, the pace of
growth in 2006 was slower than in 2005.
Employment trends varied by industry.
(See table 1.) A weak housing market hurt
employment in construction and related in-
dustries, and imports continued to compete
with manufactured goods such as textiles
and apparel. Oil prices hit an all-time high
in the summer and had a dual effect, hinder-
ing growth in retail trade while boosting em-
ployment in mining and other industries that
produce energy. Shortages of skilled labor
suppressed hiring in temporary help services,
but spurred wage growth in professional and
technical services. Increased tax revenues had
a positive influence on hiring for health care
and education.
The job openings rate, as measured by the
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
(JOLTS),2 flattened out for most of the year,
after climbing steadily since late 2003, but
started to climb again in the second half of
2006. (See chart 2.) Unlike the CES survey,
which measures the net change in employ-
ment from month to month, JOLTS meas-
ures the number of hires and the number of
separations that occur during the month, a