Writing in Making Money, Michael Gapen, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America Securities, discusses whether April’s jobs report will influence the Fed’s interest rate decision.
U.S. job openings fell to the lowest level in more than three years in April, the latest sign that the labor market is cooling as the economy slows.
The Labour Department said on Tuesday there were 8.1 million job openings in April, down from a downwardly revised 8.35 million reported the previous month. Economists surveyed by LSEG had expected 8.3 million.
The number of job openings fell to the lowest level since February 2021.
The number of high-paying jobs is declining
Elementary educators gather to talk with potential employees during a Prince George’s County School District recruiting event at Henry A. Wise Middle School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on August 2, 2023. (Amanda Andrade Rose/Courtesy of The Washington Post via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The labor market has been historically tough over the past year, defying the expectations of economists who have predicted an economic slowdown and expect it to continue to cool in coming months as rising interest rates push the economy along.
of Federal Reserve The U.S. government has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2022 in an effort to tame inflation and cool the labor market. Policymakers have suggested that rapid wage growth, the product of a robust labor market, is contributing to the inflation crisis that has ravaged the wallets of millions of Americans over the past few years.
Americans in these states will see a pay rise this year
Tuesday’s report is the latest sign that the labor market is starting to weaken in the face of rising interest rates and persistent inflation.
“The April JOLTS number is one in a series of recent releases that suggest the economy is losing steam,” said Oren Krachikin, financial markets economist at Nationwide. “The job market may be stabilizing, but there’s an important difference between slowing growth and contraction, and we’re not seeing any signs of the latter.”
A sign for a job fair hangs on 5th Avenue in Manhattan on September 3, 2021 in New York City. (Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Reuters Photo)
Still, job openings remain at historically high levels. COVID-19 pandemic The unemployment rate was a record high of 7.6 million when 2020 began. There are roughly 1.2 jobs per unemployed person, the lowest ratio since June 2021.
In addition to the decline in job openings, the report also showed that the number of Americans quitting their jobs increased slightly to 3.5 million, or about 2.2% of the workforce, suggesting that workers remain confident they can quit and find other employment.
Click here to get FOX Business on the go
Meanwhile, the number of layoffs fell to 1.52 million, the lowest level since December 2022.
