U.S. Job Openings Post First Drop of Year, With Quits at Record

U.S. job openings declined in August for the first time this year -- though remained near a record high -- as demand for labor wavered slightly amid rising Covid-19 cases during the month.

The number of available positions eased to 10.4 million from an upwardly revised 11.1 million in July, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Tuesday. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists was for 11 million openings.

Meantime, more people voluntarily left their jobs, underscoring how wage increases, sign-on incentives and a plethora of job vacancies are fueling significant ...