US job openings fall to lowest level since March 2021 as labor market cools
U.S. employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021, in a sign that the workforce is cooling due to higher interest rates but still at a healthy pace
By means ofPAUL WISEMAN AP economics writer
December 5, 2023, 10:19 am
File – An employee works at the Hanwha Qcells Solar factory in Dalton, Georgia on October 16, 2023. On Tuesday, the Labor Department will report on vacancies and employee turnover for October. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021, in a sign that job openings are cooling in the face of higher interest rates but still remaining at a healthy pace.
The Labor Ministry said on Tuesday that the number of vacancies was significantly lower than the 9.4 million in September.
U.S. hiring is slowing from the breakneck pace of the past two years. Still, employers have added a whopping 239,000 jobs per month this year. And the unemployment rate has been below 4% for 21 months in a row, the longest streak since the 1960s.
The labor market has shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times since March 2022 to combat the worst wave of inflation in four decades.
Higher borrowing costs have helped alleviate inflationary pressures. Consumer prices rose 3.2% in October from a year earlier – down from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022.
The Department of Labor will release its November jobs report on Friday. Employers are expected to have added nearly 173,000 jobs in the past month. That would be an increase from 150,000 in October, partly due to the end of strikes by auto workers and Hollywood writers and actors.
The unemployment rate is expected to have remained at 3.9%, according to a survey of forecasters from data firm FactSet.
Although unemployment remains low, 1.93 million Americans received unemployment benefits in the week ending November 18, the highest number in two years. This indicates that those who lose their jobs will need help for longer as it becomes increasingly difficult to find new work.
Overall, the combination of declining inflation and resilient hiring has raised hopes that the Fed can engineer a so-called soft landing — raising rates just enough to cool the economy and curb price increases without sending the economy into a tailspin. into recession.
