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Quits account for 58 percent of all separations in April 2016

June 10, 2016

There were 5.0 million employment separations in April 2016. Of these separations, 58.4 percent were quits, 33.0 percent resulted from layoffs and discharges, and 8.6 percent were other separations (retirement, death, disability, or transfers to other locations in the same firm). Quits are usually voluntary separations started by the employee. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations started by the employer.

Percentage of total separations resulting from quits, layoffs and discharges, and other reasons, April 2006–April 2016
Month Layoffs and discharges Quits Other separations

Apr 2006

35.8% 55.6% 8.5%

May 2006

34.8 56.4 8.8

Jun 2006

32.6 59.4 8.1

Jul 2006

34.1 57.4 8.5

Aug 2006

32.4 60.0 7.5

Sep 2006

34.1 58.7 7.2

Oct 2006

35.4 56.7 7.9

Nov 2006

35.3 58.0 6.6

Dec 2006

33.8 59.6 6.6

Jan 2007

33.9 58.1 8.0

Feb 2007

34.4 58.8 6.9

Mar 2007

34.9 58.3 6.8

Apr 2007

36.6 56.5 6.9

May 2007

34.5 59.2 6.3

Jun 2007

36.5 56.1 7.4

Jul 2007

34.4 57.6 8.1

Aug 2007

35.5 57.8 6.7

Sep 2007

41.3 52.5 6.1

Oct 2007

37.4 56.2 6.4

Nov 2007

38.1 55.2 6.6

Dec 2007

35.9 56.7 7.4

Jan 2008

36.8 56.6 6.6

Feb 2008

38.1 55.7 6.2

Mar 2008

38.5 54.1 7.4

Apr 2008

36.0 56.3 7.7

May 2008

39.0 55.0 6.0

Jun 2008

40.3 54.3 5.4

Jul 2008

40.2 54.1 5.7

Aug 2008

43.1 50.2 6.7

Sep 2008

41.3 51.5 7.2

Oct 2008

43.7 49.3 7.1

Nov 2008

47.6 44.8 7.6

Dec 2008

50.0 43.7 6.3

Jan 2009

51.7 41.1 7.2

Feb 2009

53.5 40.8 5.7

Mar 2009

53.6 39.6 6.8

Apr 2009

55.0 37.3 7.8

May 2009

51.2 42.0 6.9

Jun 2009

50.5 42.5 7.0

Jul 2009

52.9 40.2 6.9

Aug 2009

50.8 41.3 7.9

Sep 2009

52.1 40.1 7.8

Oct 2009

49.7 42.3 8.0

Nov 2009

47.1 46.1 6.9

Dec 2009

50.0 42.5 7.5

Jan 2010

48.1 42.8 9.0

Feb 2010

46.7 45.0 8.3

Mar 2010

46.3 45.4 8.3

Apr 2010

43.1 49.2 7.8

May 2010

45.2 46.7 8.0

Jun 2010

46.4 45.9 7.7

Jul 2010

48.6 43.2 8.2

Aug 2010

43.6 47.5 8.9

Sep 2010

43.9 47.7 8.4

Oct 2010

43.5 48.9 7.6

Nov 2010

45.6 46.3 8.1

Dec 2010

44.1 48.1 7.7

Jan 2011

43.8 46.7 9.5

Feb 2011

43.0 48.8 8.2

Mar 2011

42.9 49.4 7.6

Apr 2011

42.7 49.1 8.2

May 2011

41.9 50.5 7.6

Jun 2011

44.6 47.6 7.8

Jul 2011

42.8 48.5 8.6

Aug 2011

41.6 50.7 7.7

Sep 2011

42.7 49.7 7.6

Oct 2011

42.6 48.7 8.8

Nov 2011

43.9 48.7 7.4

Dec 2011

43.6 48.9 7.5

Jan 2012

42.4 49.5 8.1

Feb 2012

42.6 49.9 7.5

Mar 2012

40.0 52.3 7.6

Apr 2012

43.3 49.5 7.2

May 2012

42.2 50.5 7.3

Jun 2012

41.6 50.0 8.4

Jul 2012

40.1 51.0 8.9

Aug 2012

41.9 50.0 8.1

Sep 2012

43.1 48.6 8.3

Oct 2012

42.6 48.6 8.8

Nov 2012

42.8 49.6 7.6

Dec 2012

39.7 51.7 8.7

Jan 2013

37.3 53.5 9.2

Feb 2013

38.4 54.2 7.4

Mar 2013

41.7 50.6 7.7

Apr 2013

39.4 52.7 7.8

May 2013

39.8 51.7 8.5

Jun 2013

38.3 52.5 9.2

Jul 2013

37.5 54.2 8.3

Aug 2013

38.0 52.8 9.2

Sep 2013

39.1 53.2 7.7

Oct 2013

36.1 56.3 7.6

Nov 2013

35.9 55.8 8.3

Dec 2013

39.1 52.7 8.2

Jan 2014

39.1 52.7 8.2

Feb 2014

37.4 54.2 8.3

Mar 2014

36.9 54.4 8.7

Apr 2014

37.3 54.3 8.4

May 2014

36.2 55.2 8.7

Jun 2014

37.4 54.3 8.3

Jul 2014

38.0 54.2 7.8

Aug 2014

36.1 54.9 9.0

Sep 2014

34.0 57.7 8.3

Oct 2014

35.8 56.3 7.9

Nov 2014

35.8 57.2 7.0

Dec 2014

36.1 54.9 9.0

Jan 2015

36.0 56.7 7.3

Feb 2015

35.5 57.0 7.5

Mar 2015

38.3 54.6 7.1

Apr 2015

36.8 54.9 8.3

May 2015

35.0 56.6 8.4

Jun 2015

36.1 55.6 8.2

Jul 2015

34.7 56.8 8.4

Aug 2015

34.2 57.7 8.1

Sep 2015

37.2 55.4 7.4

Oct 2015

35.0 56.9 8.0

Nov 2015

34.7 57.7 7.6

Dec 2015

32.6 60.2 7.2

Jan 2016

34.2 57.3 8.5

Feb 2016

35.0 57.3 7.7

Mar 2016

34.7 57.8 7.5

Apr 2016

33.0(p) 58.4(p) 8.6(p)
Footnotes:

(p) Preliminary.

The share of quits has exceeded the share of layoffs and discharges for most months since BLS began publishing statistics on labor turnover in December 2000. During and after the latest recession, layoffs and discharges outnumbered quits from November 2008 through March 2010. The share of total separations made up of layoffs and discharges peaked at 55.0 percent in April 2009. In that same month, quits reached a low of 37.3 percent of all separations. The total number of separations also declined from 5.0 million in January 2009 to a low of 3.8 million in October 2010, before slowly returning to the 5.0 million level in the middle of 2015.

These data are from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see “Job Openings and Labor Turnover — April 2016” (HTML) (PDF). More charts featuring data on job openings, hires, and employment separations are in Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Highlights: April 2016 (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Quits account for 58 percent of all separations in April 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/quits-account-for-58-percent-of-all-separations-in-april-2016.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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