US employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021, in an indication that hiring is cooling within the face of upper rates of interest yet stays at a still-healthy pace.
The Labor Department’s report said Tuesday that openings were down significantly from a revised 9.4 million in September.
Layoffs were up modestly in October.
And the variety of Americans who quit their jobs – which generally reflects confidence of their ability to seek out higher pay or working conditions elsewhere — was down barely.
Despite dropping in October, job openings remain at historically high levels.
They’ve now exceeded 8 million for 32 straight months — a threshold that they had never reached before 2021.
US hiring is slowing from the breakneck pace of the past two years.
Still, employers have added a solid 239,000 jobs a month this yr.
Despite dropping in October, job openings remain at historically high levels. AP
And the unemployment rate has are available in below 4% for 21 straight months, the longest such streak for the reason that Nineteen Sixties.
The job market has shown surprising resilience at the same time as the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark rate of interest 11 times since March 2022 to fight the worst bout of inflation in 4 many years.
Stay On the Money
Essential weekly read to fuel business lunches.
The resulting higher borrowing costs have helped ease inflationary pressures.
Consumer prices were up 3.2% in October from a yr earlier, down from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022.
The Labor Department will issue the November jobs report on Friday.
It is predicted to point out that employers added nearly 173,000 jobs last month.
That might be up from 150,000 in October, partially due to the end of strikes by autoworkers and Hollywood writers and actors.
The unemployment rate is predicted to have remained at 3.9%, in line with a survey of forecasters by the information firm FactSet.
Though unemployment stays low, 1.93 million Americans were collecting unemployment advantages within the week that ended Nov. 18, essentially the most in two years.
That implies that those that do lose their jobs need unemployment assistance longer since it is getting harder to seek out recent employment.
The unemployment rate has are available in below 4% for 21 straight months, the longest such streak for the reason that Nineteen Sixties. AP
Overall, the mixture of easing inflation and resilient hiring has raised hopes the Fed can manage a so-called soft landing — raising rates simply enough to slow the economy and tame price increases without tipping the economy into recession.
The cooling of the job market could mean a lessening of inflation pressures and fewer need for the Fed to maintain rates of interest high.
The drop in openings “shall be welcome news for policymakers’’ on the Fed, said Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics. ”Overall, the labor market stays strong, but it surely is cooling. And wages and inflation are decelerating. The info support our view that rates are at a peak and the Fed’s next move shall be a rate cut, likely in (the second quarter of) 2024.”