Job Openings Crash, We’ve Now Lost 4.5 Million Job Openings Since 2022, Layoffs Spike

Job openings slumped to their lowest level in 3½ years in July, the Labor Department reported. There were also a greater number of layoffs that occurred in June.

The department’s closely watched Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that available positions fell to 7.67. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 8.1 million.

Wall Street Silver: Job openings crash by 500,000, sending the Fed into panic-cut territory. We’ve now lost 4.5 million job openings since 2022.

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With just 61 days to the election, it’s too late for the Fed to make a difference to jobs — the most rate cuts will manage is one last donor bail-out.

With the decline, it brought the ratio of job openings per available worker down to less than 1.1, about half where it was from its peak of more than 2 to 1 in early 2022.

Job openings crash by 500,000, sending the Fed into panic-cut territory. We’ve now lost 4.5 million job openings since 2022.

With just 61 days to the election, it's too late for the Fed to make a difference to jobs — the most rate cuts will manage is one last donor bail-out. https://t.co/FFpvnyAy4t

— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) September 5, 2024

US job openings fall as demand for workers weakens

By: Christopher Rugaber, Yahoo, September 4, 2024:

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers posted fewer job openings in July than they had the previous month, a sign that hiring could further cool in the coming months.

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The Labor Department reported Wednesday that there were 7.7 million open jobs in July, down from 7.9 million in June and the fewest since January 2021. Openings have fallen steadily this year, from nearly 8.8 million in January.

Layoffs rose from 1.56 million to 1.76 million, the most since March 2023, though that level of job cuts is roughly consistent with pre-pandemic levels, when the unemployment rate was historically low. Layoffs have been unusually low since the economy’s rapid recovery from the pandemic recession, with many employers intent on holding onto their workers.

Overall, Wednesday’s report painted a mixed picture of the job market. On the positive side, total hiring rose in July, to 5.5 million, after it had fallen to a four-year low of 5.2 million in June. And the number of people who quit their jobs ticked up slightly, to about 3.3 million. The number of quits is seen as a measure of the job market’s health: Workers typically quit when they already have a new job or when they’re confident they can find one.

Still, quits remain far below the peak of 4.5 million reached in 2022, when many workers shifted jobs as the economy accelerated out of the pandemic recession. The spike in quits at that time helped drive up wage gains as companies jacked up pay to try to find or keep employees. The current lower level of quits suggests that wage increases will likely remain modest, which should help further cool inflation.

Stephen Stanley, an economist at Santander, noted that July’s job openings are still about 7% above 2019 levels, when hiring was healthy.

“Labor demand is still solid, albeit moderating,” he said.

Wednesday’s figures indicate that fewer companies are seeking to add workers despite recent data showing that consumer spending is still growing. Last week, the government estimated that the economy expanded at a healthy 3% annual rate in the April-June quarter.

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In July, job openings fell sharply in health care and state and local government and also dropped in warehousing and transportation. Openings rose in manufacturing and professional and business services, a category that includes legal services and engineering and accounting.

Even as openings have fallen for the past two years, there are still roughly 1.1 job openings for every unemployed person, Wednesday’s report showed. That reflects the economy’s continuing need for workers and marks a reversal from before the pandemic, when there were always more unemployed people than available jobs.

The July report on job openings is the first of several measures this week of the labor market’s health that the Federal Reserve will be watching closely. If clear evidence emerges that hiring is faltering, the Fed might decide at its next meeting Sept. 17-18 to start cutting its benchmark interest rate by a relatively aggressive half-percentage point. If hiring remains mostly solid, however, a more typical quarter-point rate cut would be likelier.

On Thursday, the government will report how many laid-off workers sought unemployment benefits last week. So far, most employers are largely holding onto their workers, rather than imposing layoffs, even though they have been slower to add jobs than they were earlier this year.