U.S. job openings fall to 7.5 million in December, lowest since September

U.S. job openings dropped to their lowest total in months in December, according to a Tuesday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report -- followed closely by the Federal Reserve for insights into possible tightening and loosening in the jobs market -- showed that job openings decreased to 7.6 million in December, the lowest total since September.

The total number of job openings also fell below expectations by Dow Jones economists who predicted 8 million openings.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 256,000 in December, their share of the overall job market to 4.5% from nearly 5% a month earlier. Openings in professional and business services tumbled 225,000, private education and health services had 194,000 fewer job openings, and financial activities had 166,000 fewer job openings.

There were 29,000 fewer layoffs in December than the previous month, but the overall total reached 1.77 million. Hiring, however, increased to 5.27 million. Those quitting their jobs increased slightly by 3.2 million. Over the past year, those leaving their jobs voluntarily actually declined by 242,000.

Layoffs and discharges increased in transportation, warehousing, and utilities by 87,000 in December with the logging industry losing 6,000 jobs.

The report said that November's overall job openings were revised up by 58,000 to 8.2 million, hires were revised up by 104,000 to 5.4 million and separations were revised up by 105,000 to 5.2 million.