Workforce Digest: Cautious optimism for the 2024 labor market

?? 0.6% workforce growth rate in December 2023. This is lower than in November (0.8%). The decrease in the growth rate is a combination of a stable hiring rate and a slight increase in the attrition rate.

?? 41.6% of workers who started a new job in December transitioned to a new role and 67.6% transitioned to a new industry. Professional Services had the largest increase in the share of workers coming from other industries.

?? 5.9% decrease in active job listings in December from November. The decrease in demand for workers was widespread across all industries and roles, with the largest affected being Real Estate and IT specialists, respectively.

?? 49.3 days to fill job openings. This is 3 days more than in November 2023 and 3.9 days more than in December 2022.

?? 16% decrease in the number of employees notified of layoffs under the WARN Act compared to November 2023.

December's Jobs Report confirmed the resilience of the labor market through 2023

The December Jobs Report was one more piece of proof for the resilience of the 2023 labor market. Amid four interest rate hikes in 2023, the unemployment rate stood at a solid 3.7% in the final month of the year, unchanged from November. The US economy added new jobs every month in 2023: In December, the economy added a solid 216,000 jobs. Employment continued to increase in government, health care, social assistance, and construction. Interestingly, transportation and warehousing lost jobs around the holidays.

What does the granular workforce intelligence data from Revelio Labs have to say about the health of the labor market, and what do they signal about the labor market in the near future? Read our detailed labor market analysis below.

Stable hiring and slightly increasing attrition rates

Revelio Labs’ workforce intelligence data show that hiring and attrition rates were moving in opposite directions in December. The hiring rate stood at 17.7% (unchanged from the rate observed in November). Meanwhile, the attrition rate stood at 17.1% (slightly higher from the 17% recorded in November). The workforce growth rate (difference between hiring and attrition rates) stood at 0.6% (0.1 percentage points less than November on a m.o.m basis).

For the full digest and insight into the jobs report, visit our site.

Have a great day!

Loujaina Abdelwahed, PhD , Economist at Revelio Labs

Please view our data and methodology here.