The number of job openings has declined by approximately 1.1 million since September 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in his prepared speech at the recent Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, said: “It seems unlikely that the labor market will be a source of elevated inflationary pressures anytime soon. We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions.”
Have the central bank’s tightening efforts since March 2022 finally doused the red-hot, post-COVID-19 pandemic U.S. labor market?
So far this year, the number of new jobs has totaled about 1.9 million, compared with 1.4 million in 2023. The unemployment rate is at 4.3 percent, compared with 3.5 percent.
Over the past year, market watchers have observed various other economic indicators that suggest the jobs arena is loosening and becoming better balanced, in line with pre-crisis conditions.
What has happened in the job market since last year’s Labor Day holiday?
Hiring, Quitting, Expectations
The number of job openings has declined by about 1.1 million since September 2023, with vacancies totaling a little more than 8 million, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Research has highlighted that employers are putting their staffing plans on ice.
RedBalloon’s recent Freedom Economy Index, for example, found that more than two-thirds (70 percent) of small businesses are neither hiring nor reducing staff.
Hiring is now at its lowest year-to-date level since 2012, according to the latest data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., which researches and analyzes job market trends.
Businesses’ reasons for not adding staff or trimming the fat vary economically and politically.
Troy Miller, president and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters, said that although some positions have been open for several months, the company is not looking to add new positions.
As a result, hiring plans have been frozen until the fourth quarter, and economic conditions will be assessed to determine how confident his organization is moving forward.
“We’re waiting to see after the election,” Miller told The Epoch Times. “This is what I hear from people in our association, quite honestly: The economy is not strong. They’re very concerned about where that’s going.”
