What’s going on:
Job vacancies in the United States cooled in February, sinking to their lowest level since May 2021 — indicating a lull in labor demand for some industries — yet still maintaining a job market that is far too robust for the Federal Reserve’s liking, according to Bloomberg.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey from the Labor Department on Tuesday revealed that the number of available positions dropped from 10.6 million (a downwardly revised figure) to 9.9 million, coming in below all predictions in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Why it matters:
The voluntary job departures, or the “quits rate,” increased slightly to 2.6%. Simultaneously, the ratio of openings to unemployed Americans decreased from 1.9 to 1.67, yet it is still higher than pre-pandemic figures of 1.2, suggesting there is still need to control wage pressures and inflation.
How it’ll impact the future:
The layoff rate was slightly lower and still trails 2019 numbers. The most remarkable uptick in the layoff rate was seen in the Information sector, where it is now five times what it was in February 2022.
With less jobs available and layoffs constantly occurring, it seems that the upper hand that workers once had on the job market is diminishing, for the time being.
