Job openings fell to their lowest level in three and a half years in July, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, another sign of a slowdown in the labor market.
The ministry’s closely watched job openings and labour turnover survey showed that job openings fell to 7.67 million in the month, down 237,000 from June’s downwardly revised figure and the lowest level since January 2021.
Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected 8.1 million.
With that decline, the ratio of job openings per available worker has fallen to less than 1.1, about half of what it was from its peak of more than 2 to 1 in early 2022.
The data likely provides additional leverage to Federal Reserve officials, who are expected to begin lowering interest rates at their next policy meeting on Sept. 17-18. Fed officials are closely watching the JOLTS report as an indicator of labor market strength.
“The labor market is no longer cooling to its pre-pandemic temperature; it has exceeded it,” said Nick Bunker, head of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab. “No one, and certainly not the Federal Reserve’s policymakers, should want the labor market to cool further at this point.”
While the number of job openings declined, layoffs increased to 1.76 million, up 202,000 from June. Total separations jumped by 336,000, bringing the separation rate as a share of the labor force to 3.4%. However, hiring also increased, by 273,000 over the month, bringing the rate to 3.5%, 0.2 percentage points better than June.
The report comes two days before the Labor Department releases its August nonfarm payrolls count on Friday. The report is expected to show an increase of 161,000 jobs and a slight decline in the unemployment rate to 4.2%.
cnbc
