Voluntary separations in US jobs market steady in April, JOLTS survey shows

The US labour market softened only a tad in April with workers still quitting their jobs at a fast pace, according to the results of a closely-followed survey.

According to the US Department of Labor's JOLTS survey, the number of job openings decreased from 11.855m in March to 11.4m in April.

Vacancies, which are considered to be a solid indicator of labour demand nevertheless remained at near record levels.

The number of total separations meanwhile slipped from 6.248m to 6.033m, but the number of so-called 'quits' or voluntary separations was little changed with the rate of quits unchanged from March's 2.9%.

That was likely a reflection of Americans' confidence in their ability to find new jobs given still widespread labour shortages.

Similarly, the pace of hiring was relatively steady month-on-month, only drifting lower from 6.645m to 6.586m.