February 11, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Quits as a percentage of separations, December 2008

Quits as a percentage of total separations—an indicator of employees' confidence in their ability to change jobs—dropped to 40 percent in December 2008, a new series low.

Quits as a percentage of separations in total nonfarm employment, seasonally adjusted, December 2006 - December 2008
[Chart data—TXT]

Total separations is made up of three components (quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations), with quits contributing the largest portion.

The percentage of total separations attributable to quits has varied over time and has been trending downward from a high of 61 percent in December 2006. It ranged between 54 percent and 59 percent during 2007, and was 56 percent or lower throughout 2008.

These data are from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. To learn more, see "Job Openings and Labor Turnover: December 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 09-0149.