The number of U.S. job openings and hires fell in December while the number of separations from jobs rose, according to numbers released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Job openings fell by 32.3% year-over-year in December to 2.7 million, according to the BLS. The job openings rate fell to 1.9% from 2.8%.

The number of hires slipped 16.9% to 3.9 million in December when compared with the same period in the previous year. The hires rate fell to 2.9% from 3.4%.

Separations, however, rose 13.2% to almost 5.0 million in December year-over-year. The separations rate rose to 3.7% from 3.2% a year ago.