The Bureau of Labor Statistics published a report on vacancies and labor turnover in the country in December. In the last month of last year, the number of vacancies rose to 7,335,000, which came as a surprise to economists, who had expected it to decline to 6,900,000. The vacancy rate was 4.7%, having risen by 0.1%. The private sector increased the figure by 198 thousand. At the same time, the largest increase in the number of vacancies was observed in the construction sector, as well as in the field of health and nutrition. The fall of the index was recorded in the production of non-durable goods, in real estate and rental. The number of employees increased in December to 5 million 907 thousand people from 5 million 812 thousand people in November. At the same time, the level of layoffs retained the November value of 2.3%.